The Great British Bake Off's newly appointed judge Nigella Lawson has revealed how her "basic" attitude to baking will shape her approach to judging alongside fellow chef Paul Hollywood.
Nigella appeared on ITV's This Morning on Thursday to chat with hosts Ben Shephard and Cat Deeley about her new TV gig, which will see her take her place opposite Paul to taste and judge the contestants' bakes.
The exciting news of Nigella's addition to the show came on Monday, when Channel 4 confirmed the TV chef and food writer would be replacing Prue Leith after her nine-season tenure.
Nigella's approach to judging alongside Paul
When asked by Ben how she was feeling about judging the contestants hoping to impress her, Nigella said: "I am the clumsiest person in the world, you know, so as long as I don't knock any of their cakes off."
When it comes to her judging style, Nigella plans to keep it simple. "I'm not someone who looks for fault," she said. "I look for pleasure as a basic, that is my basic, I can't say it's a philosophy, my basic attitude in life.
"I feel that Paul Hollywood is Mr Technical – I'm all about the eating. If I see my job as eating, I feel it's not too daunting. I can eat."
It's this relaxed, warm-hearted attitude that makes Nigella so successful in Cat's eyes, and the host commended her for the laid-back approach that makes her cooking so relatable.
"How you cook at home, how you bake at home, it's not the same as how you would bake in Bake Off," said Nigella, "so it's this coming together, of the excitement of competition."
Admitting she'd be "terrified" to go on the show as a contestant, Nigella added: "I'm not very good at competition, because I just enjoy things. I get derailed as I am now, chatting.
"But what I feel is, [Bake Off is] mixing the cosiness of baking with this adrenaline of competition and it's drama. And I feel that in a way, what's important is not to lose either. And I think that's what people love about it."
Despite Ben's impressive efforts to coax Nigella to reveal when filming was due to start, the chef gave nothing away. "Why should I tell you?" Nigella joked, before adding: "I do know a bit. But I'm frightened of getting things wrong. It'll start filming soon."
Why did Prue Leith leave Bake Off?
Prue first joined Bake Off in 2017, and she recently revealed the reason she chose to step away.
Writing in The Spectator, the Dame wrote: "I have been dithering for years about when to stop judging The Great British Bake Off. When I joined nine years ago, I thought, since I was in my mid-seventies, that I'd be lucky to manage two years.
"At that age, my mother was deaf as a post and away with the fairies, believing her son was her father and that her cat was the one she'd had 40 years before. But my marbles stayed more or less in place and there seemed no good reason to give up a job I loved.
"Finally, though, the desire to work less and play more got to me."
Explaining that filming often took place over the summer, meaning she couldn't take a holiday during that period, Prue knew it was time to step away.
"I suddenly realised that if I don't give up Bake Off, I'll never again have a holiday in the south of France, in Italy, in Spain, or even in Cornwall or Scotland."