“I don’t get it. But it always looks a bit pathetic to go, ‘I don’t know’.
“I mean, sometimes I’m aware just afterwards that there is something. I have, in the course of filming, sometimes said something and there is sniggering, and I just look amazed.
“But you cannot proceed in life, whether it’s just normal or TV, if you’re guarded, so of course some things will come through. And I don’t really mind.”
The success of Lawson’s unguarded persona was brought to life in 2020 when she referred to her microwave as a “meecro-wah-vay” while preparing mashed potatoes, with the clip nominated for a Bafta as one of the TV moments of the year.
In the past, she has connected her love for food to her Jewish roots, attributing her anxiety around not having enough food as a “refugee” mentality thanks to her heritage.
“My family is Jewish, which is also why – not to stereotype – food is quite important. Food, family and Jewishness are inextricably entwined,” she told The Splendid Table in 2018.
Nigella Lawson poses during a photocall for 'Simply Nigella' at the MIPCOM audiovisual trade fair in Cannes, France, on October 5, 2015 (Getty Images)AFP via Getty Images
Meanwhile, speaking about her and fellow judge Paul Hollywood’s dynamic in the upcoming series of Bake Off, Lawson told The Times that she plans to let him be the show’s taskmaster, while joking that she feels she has reached the “Old Ma Lawson stage in life”.
“I’m ready with a life lesson. Also, I think that I am ridiculously downcast if something doesn’t taste good, and I’m jubilant if I’m given something that I love eating,” she went on.
“I can’t imagine her putting up with nonsense. No. I don’t put up with an awful lot. One of the crew said to me, ‘You don’t have a poker face; I just thought you’d like to know.’ I am quite direct. You just have to be.”
The Great British Bake Off will air on Channel 4 from September 22.
