Prue Leith Admits to Judging ‘The Great British Baking Show’ Contestants on Bakes From Previous Episode

Ever wonder how Pure Leith and Paul Hollywood decide who makes the cut on The Great British Baking Show? So do we, after seeing just a peek at the elimination process after all of these seasons. While we typically watch the two judges utter a few brief comments in a back room before sharing their decision with the tent, Leith is now pulling back the curtain a bit more to give us some insight into the secretive judging process.

“You don’t see this, but we actually score everybody, which is helpful to us,” Leith shared with E! News. Pretty simple, right? Not exactly.

She and Hollywood don’t always see eye-to-eye, and she explained that they sometimes disagree about which contestant should get booted. If they’re stumped over the the Showstopper, the judges will reevaluate based on how the bakers performed “the day before,” she said. 

Their judging is more quantitative during the Signature Challenges, which come in the second round in each episode and give the bakers an opportunity to add a personal spin to their dishes.

Leith explained that she and Hollywood score those dishes on a scale from one to 10 to summarize their findings. The restaurateur admitted that the nature of the competition isn’t to go back and judge the contestants on their previous bakes, but sometimes she and Hollywood have no other choice. When judging gets tight, it’s their only option.

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“Everybody starts on a level playing field. It doesn’t matter how badly you did the week before. It doesn’t matter how well you did the week before. It doesn’t count, except for when the judges are completely stuck,” she said.

Leith also shared the different perspectives she and Hollywood bring to the table, saying that she’s a “tastebuds judge” while he is more focused on the technicalities. Leith’s technique sounds more delicious, but despite their differences, she and Hollywood often come to the same conclusion, she said.

The two baking icons are “never, ever more than one mark away from each other,” she told E!.

The Great British Baking Show’s Season 13 finale airs Nov. 18 on Netflix.