The Great British Baking Show Scraps Country-Themed Challenges After ‘Mexican Week’ Blunder
The Great British Bake Off is scrapping its historically underbaked country-themed challenges in its upcoming season.
Last season, the series (known Stateside as The Great British Baking Show) was met with criticism for its ham-handed approach to Mexican cuisine. The episode’s challenges failed to celebrate Mexican culture and instead, perpetuated outdated stereotypes. Not to mention the taco-making challenge — tacos aren’t even baked!
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“We didn’t want to offend anyone but the world has changed and the joke fell flat,” executive producer Kieran Smith told the UK’s The Guardian. “We’re not doing any national themes this year.”
Instead, Smith said the upcoming Season 14 is “very traditional.”
“We’re doing all the regular weeks: Cakes, Biscuits, Bread, Patisserie, Chocolate, plus Party Cakes is a new theme,” he added. “No spoilers, but it features challenges I think viewers will love.”
The challenge shake-up isn’t the only change impacting Season 14. Matt Lucas who co-hosted the series for three seasons announced back in December that he’d be leaving the series. Alison Hammond, of ITV’s This Morning and a contender on a 2020 celebrity edition of the baking competition, was tapped to replace Lucas and joins returning co-host Noel Fielding and judges Paul Hollywood and Dame Prue Leith.
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