This Morning viewers have slammed Prue Leith for saying she felt “suicidal” over her Great British Bake Off gaffe.
The judge accidentally revealed Sophie Faldo to be the winner of the Channel 4 show on Twitter hours before the final episode aired.
And appearing on ITV’s This Morning on Wednesday, she admitted to feeling “suicidal” over the error.
She said: “[I felt] suicidal. I mean awful. The thing that upset me most was that it would take attention off the winner.”
However, viewers blasted Prue’s choice of words.
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One tweeted: “Suicidal. That’s rather insulting to those suffering mental health issues. Unwise choice of word.”
Another said: “Prue Leith needs to watch what she is saying! When asked by the presenters how she felt after tweeting the winner of Bake Off too early she said she felt suicidal. Disgraceful!”
A third added: “She didn’t actually feel ‘suicidal’ though, did she? One of those people who obviously doesn’t think before she tweets or speaks.”
Prue has said she made the shocking gaffe because of a time difference: she’d been in Bhutan on the day the Bake Off final aired on Channel 4 in the UK.
“I was Bhutan and when I got reception in the hotel, there was this mass of tweets [about Bake Off’s final] and one said ‘Don’t forget to congratulate the winner’,” she explained.
“It was past 10.30pm [in Bhutan] so I quickly tweeted what I did and then as soon as it went out, I thought, ‘Oh my God’ and went into panic mode where I couldn’t work my phone.
“I did not know how to delete it quickly and I couldn’t think. In the end I rang my PA. She’d already deleted it 89 seconds after I had done it but it was too late.
“I felt suicidal. Awful. The thing that upset me the most was this would take attention off the winner.
“The Bake Off winner had been kept secret for eight years, until I come along and screwed it up.”
This was Prue’s first year as a Bake Off judge, having joined the new-look show on Channel 4 following its big money move from BBC.
But it was a debut she’ll want to forget after she accidentally tweeted the name of the winner hours before the show aired.
She had tweeted: “No one told me judging a final would be so emotional. I wanted them all to win. Bravo Sophie.”
Although the tweet was swiftly deleted, it had already been retweeted and the damage was done.
Prue issued a grovelling apology afterwards, saying: “I am so sorry to fans of the show for my mistake this morning. I am in a different time zone and mortified by my error.”
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Luckily for Prue, her error didn’t stop the final episode of The Great British Bake Off giving Channel 4 its biggest overnight performance in five years.
7.7 million viewers – an audience share of 34.6% – tuned in to watch as Sophie was crowned the winner, making it the most successful instalment of the series.