Prue Leith Recalls Early-Career Catering Disaster: 'Not One Person Noticed'
Prue Leith Recalls Early-Career Catering Disaster: 'Not One Person Noticed'
Adam EnglandFri, June 19, 2026 at 4:18 PM UTC
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Prue Leith and Kelly ClarksonCredit: Weiss Eubanks/NBC -
Speaking to Kelly Clarkson, Prue Leith recalled a memorable "disaster" from her time working as a caterer
The Great American Baking Show judge, 86, planned to make raspberry ripple ice cream for an event with 300 people, but mistakenly thawed beet soup rather than raspberry puree
She admitted that she went ahead and used the soup in the ice cream, and "not one person noticed"
Prue Leith might spend her days judging the culinary skills of budding bakers, but even the seasoned chef has had a kitchen mishap of her own.
Leith, 86, who joined TheGreat American Baking Show as a judge in 2022, discussed an awkward moment she had while working as a caterer during an appearance on The Kelly Clarkson Show on Thursday, June 18.
Prue Leith and Kelly ClarksonCredit: Weiss Eubanks/NBC
After telling Clarkson, 44, that she was initially hesitant to join the Roku show because the contestants are "too loud and too desperate to win," Leith was asked if she'd ever had a food-related "disaster" in her career.
"I used to be a caterer," she told the host, explaining that her first "really big" job was a dinner for 300 people. She said she wanted to keep things simple and make a raspberry ripple ice cream for dessert, and took the raspberry puree out of the freezer to thaw the night before.
"It was sitting there nice and ready," she explained, adding, "Then I looked at the label more carefully, and I had thawed beet soup, not raspberry puree," to laughter and gasps from the audience.
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Paul Hollywood and Prue Leith on 'The Great American Baking Show'Credit: ROKU
Leith explained that it was too late to rescue the dessert, so she simply put "a ton" of sugar into the soup and used it instead of the raspberry puree. "Do you know, 300 people, not one person noticed. They all ate and enjoyed it," she said.
Clarkson joked, "They're like, 'This is the best raspberry ripple cake with ice cream I've ever had.' "
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Leith, who was a judge on The Great British Baking Show from season 8 to season 16, also mentioned that The Beatles visited her restaurant Leith's in London's Notting Hill in the 1970s, joking that she's a "very old lady."
From here, she went on to discuss her new book, Being Old and Learning to Love It!, which was published on May 12. "It's actually a sort of series of rants," she told Clarkson. "My theme is that I love being old, and lots of people love being old. It's actually dedicated to my grandchildren. It says, 'This is to prove to you that being old is not as gross as you think.' "
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Source: “AOL Entertainment”
