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Dame Prue Leith, one of the judges on Great British Bake-Off—known as Great British Baking Show in the States—has become known for being unafraid of a bold look, from her eye-popping mixes of colors to her wild eyeglasses and perhaps especially, her big, whimsical, technicolor jewelry pieces.
That last part has drawn particular attention lately, however, after Leith chose a rather... let's say eyebrow-raising necklace to wear on The Great Celebrity Bake Off For Stand Up To Cancer, a recent special edition of the show in the UK benefitting the cancer charity.
The necklace, composed of a black cord with a large, fluorescent orange ball, was certainly an off-the-beaten-track choice and right on-brand for Leith's playful style. But there's just no way around it—it also looked like a ball gag.
Naturally, Bravo host Andy Cohen couldn't help but ask Leith about her fetish-gear-as-jewelry look when Leith appeared on a recent episode of his talk show Watch What Happens Live, and her response was of course priceless.
See the moment below.
\u201cFrom Countess Luann to Dame Prue Leith, statement necklaces always deliver an iconic fashion moment! @PrueLeith #WWHL\u201d— WWHL (@WWHL) 1683256105
Cohen gamely began with the question likely on many of our minds—does a prim and proper lady of British society even know what a ball gag is? Turns out she didn't, but she certainly does now.
She told Cohen:
“I do now, but only because of the furor about that necklace. And so now I feel sort of obliged to wear them... I just think it’s such nonsense."
Fellow panelist Ellie Kemper applauded Leith for this take, telling her to "lean into it!," prompting Leith to go on to say:
"I don’t want to be intimidated by lots of chaps on Twitter who’ve got dirty minds."
Leith got a round of applause from the studio audience as well as Cohen and Kemper for her defiant advocacy for ball gag jewelry.
Leith's necklace definitely generated plenty of uproar on Twitter when it showed up on British TV screens back in March.
\u201cGreat that Prue feels so accepted on #GBBO that she can wear her ball gag\u201d— Parody Simon Plotkin (@Parody Simon Plotkin) 1679255809
\u201cWatching Celebrity Bake Off. It appears Prue Keith\u2019s ball gag has slipped out\u2026.\u201d— PeteBrissenden (@PeteBrissenden) 1679257232
\u201c@PeteBrissenden At least the first thing I thought was Gobstopper!\u201d— PeteBrissenden (@PeteBrissenden) 1679257232
\u201cJust catching up on #GBBO and Prue is wearing a ball gag?! \ud83e\udd23\u201d— Phil Hunt. \ud83c\udff3\ufe0f\u200d\ud83c\udf08\ud83c\uddea\ud83c\uddfa (@Phil Hunt. \ud83c\udff3\ufe0f\u200d\ud83c\udf08\ud83c\uddea\ud83c\uddfa) 1682277975
March wasn't the first time Leith wore the seeming fetish gear either.
She previously wore versions of it in the colors red and green back in 2017 and 2022, though it mostly slipped under the radar.
\u201cROCKING THE BALL GAG, PRUE. YOU SLY SEXPOT. #GBBO\u201d— Lee Binding (@Lee Binding) 1508873288
\u201cNot being funny but is Prue wearing a ball gag around her neck?? #GBBO\u201d— frankie \ud83c\udff5\ufe0f (@frankie \ud83c\udff5\ufe0f) 1508877465
\u201cWho's going to tell Prue that's a ball gag, not a necklace? #gbbo\u201d— Sarah Allen (@Sarah Allen) 1508871924
\u201cBrain: Watch something new?\n\nMe: Nah, let\u2019s watch Bake Off again and laugh at Prue\u2019s ball gag necklaces.\u201d— Charlie Moore (@Charlie Moore) 1618921871
\u201cWhy does Prue Leith have a ball gag for a necklace on GBBO Christmas special?\u201d— \ud83c\uddec\ud83c\udde7\ud83e\uddc0\ud83e\uddd1\ud83c\udffb\u200d\ud83e\uddb2 (@\ud83c\uddec\ud83c\udde7\ud83e\uddc0\ud83e\uddd1\ud83c\udffb\u200d\ud83e\uddb2) 1671972877
Anyway, if baked goods and fetish gear are your thing, you can catch Dame Prue and Kemper together on a new season of the American version of the show, The Great American Baking Show, on the Roku Channel.
No word yet on whether the ball gag will make an appearance, however.