Bake Off's Prue Leith shares gutting reason she's dropping out of new celebrity series

Channel 4 has confirmed the full line up of celebrities who will be donning their apron for the Stand Up To Cancer specials of The Great British Bake Off - but Prue Leith won't be present

Prue Leith has stepped down from her role on the next series of Celebrity Bake Off, with Channel 4 revealing a new star-studded lineup for the celebrity specials.

The BBC baking show's spin-off is set to return with a fresh face joining Paul Hollywood in the iconic tent. Last year, it was revealed that Prue, 84, had chosen to focus on the regular series and step away from the special editions of Bake Off.

Prue previously admitted that she wanted to leave the show before producers asked her to, and that she wanted to go out at the right time before she's forced to hobble on stage.

The much-loved TV star previously admitted that show tried to quit the show in the in recent years. Prue had hoped to skip the celebrity version of the show because of the demanding filming schedule.

It comes after Prue also made a confession about her health as she admitted she is "conscious it's nearly the end". The veteran Bake Off host was appearing on Tuesday's edition of ITV's Loose Women when she spoke to the presenters. Prue and the panel were discussing what the best thing about getting older is. However, she bluntly said: "Well, I think old age stinks.

As the audience and panel gasped and asked why, she added: "It takes me 10 minutes to get myself out of bed in the morning. If I don't do the exercises I can't move. There's all sorts of things that are wrong with old age.

"You know, you are very conscious that this is nearly the end, though I agree that you then decide that you're going to make the most of it and have fun. I think what we're all saying is that we don't care what people think as much as we did and to be honest I don't even really care if I'm cancelled."

Channel 4 has now confirmed that Prue's close friend Caroline Waldegrave OBE will be stepping into her shoes. Caroline, 72, is also a former co-owner and managing director of Leiths School of Food & Wine - a business venture of Prue's.

Alison Hammond will be back as host alongside Noel Fielding, with the special being filmed prior to his AppleTV+ show being cancelled due to health concerns.

This year's Bake Off features a married couple as well as TV siblings among its contestants. A host of actors including Jim Howick, Gbemisola Ikumelo, Maxine Peake, Self Esteem AKA Rebecca Lucy Taylor, Meera Syal and Sophie Willan will be taking part.

Broadcaster Sarah Beeny, creator of Chicken Shop Date Amelia Dimoldenberg and sibling TV presenters Scarlette and Stuart Douglas will also be donning their aprons. Other familiar faces include GMB's Kate Garraway, model and author Ellie Goldstein, Loose Women Gloria Hunniford OBE, Roman Kemp, Chris and Rosie Ramsey as well as comedians Tommy Tiernan, Adam Buxton and Phil Wang.

Celebrity Bake Off is part of C4's Stand Up to Cancer campaign for Cancer Research UK. The show is anticipated to make a comeback this Spring.

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