When she announced she was stepping down from Bake Off, Prue Leith explained she wanted to enjoy more time off work.

But now the 85-year-old has revealed another reason - she has become increasingly worried about 'being less steady on her pins'.

Prue announced her retirement from the TV baking show in January, previously stating how she wanted to enjoy more relaxing holiday time, especially summers in Europe.

But, sharing fears about her growing frailty, she has now admitted: 'I think the thing I found worrying is that I'm not very steady on my pins any more - not as good as I were.'

She revealed that it was while filming in a field for the series with co-stars Paul Hollywood, 60, and Noel Fielding, 52, that she first realised she was struggling to do things she had taken for granted before.

She added: 'We weren't judging cake - they wanted us to dance round this field. And it was a very hummocky, uneven, field, which of course Noel could really leap over brilliantly and Paul perfectly good.

'But I suddenly realised 'I'm going to go A over T, you know, this is going to be humiliating beyond belief'. So I said 'I don't want to do it', and they understood - they were fine.

'And that was the first time I had to say 'I can't do that'. Gradually there had been more and more of those things.'

Prue added on The Shift podcast: 'Ever since I've been on Bake Off Paul has always teased me because I'm so much older than him.'

The pair have a 25 year age gap. 'He'd say things like 'Come along deary, upsy daisy', 'time for your nap' or 'time for your tea', or something or other. This is a running joke... but of late I've thought 'Actually, you're right mate'.

'If I had stayed on Bake Off, I'd have asked for a ramp to get into my Winnebago. Paul's teasing would have become absolutely true, so he would have probably stopped doing it.'