The Great British Bake Off judge Prue Leith was forced to hastily delete a tweet on Tuesday, after she named the winner of this year’s show before the final episode had been broadcast.

The celebrated cook and television presenter tweeted “Bravo” and the winner’s name, after saying: “No one told me judging a #gbbo final would be so emotional. I wanted them all to win.”

The tweet was deleted just a few seconds later, but not before it had been widely shared, causing much wailing and gnashing of teeth among GBBO fans looking forward to Tuesday evening’s finale.

As shockwaves rippled through social media, Leith apologised and said she was “mortified by my error”.

She told the Press Association she was overseas and the error was the result of confusion over the time difference. “I’m in Bhutan,” she said. “The time difference is massive. I thought that they got it six hours ago. I’m in too much of a state to talk about it. I fucked up.”

The Sun’s Dan Wootton retweeted the mistake to his 342,000 followers with the words “OMG PRUE! No baby no!” But the gossip columnist was attacked by some who had seen his tweet. “There was really no need was there. Why RT and spoil it for everyone?” wrote one fan of the show.



“Have you just ruined the GBBO final?” asked another follower, while the reality TV star Cara de la Hoyde‏ tweeted: “This is absolutely devastating. Let’s hope Prue is confused and thinks it’s April fools day.”

Leith had earlier announced that she and fellow judge Paul Hollywood would both return for the next series of Bake Off on Channel 4, along with the presenting duo Sandi Toksvig and Noel Fielding.

Leith confirmed the news on Twitter, writing: “It’s the GBBO final! Who will win? Thrilled to say Paul, Noel Sandi & I will all be back! Do you want to join us?” She then sent the tweet containing the winner’s name.

The error was seized upon by fans of the show’s previous incarnation on the BBC, several of whom suggested it was a mistake that the former judge Mary Berry would never have made.

Just saying our Mary wouldn’t of leaked the winner #GBBOFinal tutus @PrueLeith pic.twitter.com/0l6WHZyt8w — Ricky Gwilliam (@Mr_Ricker79) October 31, 2017

The gaffe is bound to cause consternation at Channel 4, which is paying £25m a year for Bake Off, with executives likely to be concerned that the revelation could depress viewing figures for the finale of the first series on the channel.

Bake Off has been a major success for Channel 4 despite the substantial price it had to pay for the programme.

The show has been watched by more young people than any other series on TV so far this year – although Blue Planet II could eventually overtake it – and it has been the biggest Channel 4 series since Big Fat Gypsy Weddings in 2011.

Bake Off has generated an average overnight audience of 6 million viewers per episode, and this rises to 8.9 million per episode when viewing over a seven-day period is taken into account. This is smaller than the audience for Bake Off on BBC1, with an average of 10.7 million tuning in for each episode in last year’s series. However, Channel 4 executives expected this and insiders say the broadcaster had budgeted to break even with the show at around 3.5 million viewers per episode, with income coming from advertisers and sponsors.

This is not the first time that a Bake Off judge has revealed the outcome of the show before it has aired or that Leith has made a gaffe.

In 2015, while Bake Off was still on the BBC, Berry revealed who had left the third episode of the series during a radio interview. Leith, meanwhile, said at the launch of the new Bake Off series in August that viewers who were concerned about advert breaks should just fast forward through them. She made the comments despite the success of the programme on Channel 4 depending on attracting advertisers.

Half-baked: competition cock-ups to remember





The Oscars 2017

As millions of people watched across the world, Warren Beatty hesitantly stared at the name in the envelope before co-presenter Faye Dunaway confidently announced La La Land as the winner of the 2017 Academy Award for best picture. As it turned out, the actual winner was Moonlight. They had been handed the wrong envelope.

Strictly Come Dancing

Because both Saturday and Sunday night editions are filmed back to back on the Saturday, live audience members know who will be sent home a full day in advance. This means that Strictly superfan Dave Thorp is able to run a site where show attendees can send him tip-offs up to a full day ahead.

The Apprentice

Last year, the business mogul Lord Sugar followed one of the finalists, Alana Spencer, on Twitter before the final episode had aired. Eagle-eyed viewers assumed this meant they had entered into a business partnership. They were proved correct when Spencer went on to win.

The X Factor

In 2015, host Olly Murs tried to send X Factor contestant Monica Michael home after he thought three out of four of the judges had opted to remove her. In fact, only two of the four of them had voted her out, meaning they actually needed to go to the public vote.

Miss Universe

One of the most awkward moments in television history also occurred in 2015 when comedian Steve Harvey wrongly named Miss Colombia, Ariadna Gutierrez Arevalo, as Miss Universe. She had begun crying tears of joy before Harvey realised his error. Arevalo was then obliged to hand over the crown to the actual winner, Pia Alonzo Wurtzbach of the Philippines.

Additional reporting by Beatrix Willimont