Great British Bake off judge Prue Leith has urged more people from Northern Ireland to enter for the hugely successful Channel 4 show.
In a TV interview with Gerry Kelly, the 84-year-old presenter said she was disappointed to hear from her host that only four contestants from here had been on Bake Off in its 17-year history.
And what made the statistic even more surprising, she said, was the fact that Northern Ireland has such a strong tradition for baking.
Prue Leith being interviewed by Gerry Kelly
Speaking on the latest episode of Conversations with Gerry Kelly which airs next Sunday night on NVTV and Sky channel 177, she said: “We need more Irish contestants.”
Leith thought that potential contestants were sometimes scared off by the “really daunting” Bake Off application form which were designed, she said, to establish if people were good bakers or just wanted to be on television.
But she added that people from Northern Ireland might be too modest about their skills.
Paul Hollywood and Prue Leith on the set of Great British Bake Off
Leith said she had a great affection for people from here, especially as she received her first ever standing ovation at a one-woman show in Northern Ireland which had sold out faster than any other venues on her tour.
However, she told Kelly she was brought down to earth in Dublin, the night after the Belfast show by a technician who was doing her soundcheck. After she told him about the standing ovation, he replied: “That’s because we’re Irish, we stand up for anyone.”
Introducing South African-born Leith at the start of the show, Kelly said there was much more to her than the Bake Off series for which she was best known.
“She’s also a Michelin star chef, a restaurateur, a political campaigner, cook book writer, a novelist, a designer and a highly successful businesswoman who at 84 is showing no signs of slowing down.”
Leith, who took over the judge’s role on Bake Off in 2017 from Mary Berry, said: “I hadn’t realised just how big Bake Off was because I didn’t watch it.”
Prue Leith with Great British Bake Off co-judge Paul Hollywood and presenters Alison Hammond and Noel Fielding
After she got the job she rang Mary Berry and asked her what it was like working with Paul Hollywood, her co-host on the show.
“She said he’s absolutely wonderful, he really knows his onions. But she said you have to hold your own because he could do the whole show without you. You have to elbow your way in and I have found that to be true.
“But I didn’t realise I was replacing a national treasure until all the press went on about how wonderful Mary Berry was and no one would ever be able to replace her.”
Prue said she was initially nervous of Hollywood’s steely blue stare but discovered he was a “real softee”.
Conversations with Gerry Kelly featuring Prue Leith airs next Sunday, December 15, at 8.30pm on NVTV and Sky Channel 177