‘The Great British Baking Show’ Judge Prue Leith Addresses Backlash of Mexican Week

After facing intense backlash earlier this month for its “Mexican Week” episode, The Great British Baking Show‘s Prue Leith is breaking her silence on the controversy. Although the Netflix-distributed baking competition came under scrutiny for what many viewed as cultural appropriation and the perpetuation of stereotypes for an episode that featured cooking challenges inspired by Mexican cuisine, Leith that “there would have been absolutely no intention to offend.”

Leith addressed the controversy while speaking with The New Yorker magazine to promote her new cookbook Bliss on Toast. Questioned about the response to the “Mexican Week” episode, Leith, who noted that judges set the challenges, said the competition never intends to offend anybody, adding, “That’s not the spirit of the show.” Leith went on to share her belief that at its core, The Great British Baking Show is a feel-good watch, telling the outlet, “whole phenomenon of Bake Off is, to me, absolutely extraordinary. This is rather a cliché thing to say, but I do think that it is a force for good, most of the time.”

“Everything we do in life is a bit stressful – we are always short of time, we’re short of money, there are all sorts of horrible things happening all over the world,” she continued. “And Bake Off is this safe space where the worst thing that can happen is somebody will drop their bake. And everybody will be sympathetic!”

Leith’s comments came just weeks after the Channel 4 series, which is distributed internationally on Netflix, was swept up in controversy. Airing on Oct. 4, the “Mexican Week” episode was meant to be a celebration of Mexican cuisine where contestants tackled Mexican dishes like pan dulce, tacos, and a tres leches cake. However, it quickly faced backlash. The episode opened with Noel Fielding and Matt Lucas wearing sombreros and serapes as Fielding said, “I don’t feel like we should make Mexico jokes. People will get upset.” Lucas responded, “What? No Mexico jokes at all? Not even Juan?” Later in the episode, Fielding asked, “So, is Mexico a real place?” to which Lucas responded, “I think so. I think it’s like Xanadu.” Throughout the duration of the episode, many viewers noted the use of both visual and verbal stereotypes. Leith and her fellow judge Paul Hollywood frequently told bakers that things look Mexican if they just have “vibrant color” and mispronounced terms like tacos, pico de gallo, and guacamole.

As the episode aired, backlash grew, with viewers taking to social media to call The Great British Baking Show out, with one viewer tweeting, “This was a very offensive episode. All the jokes and stereotypes.” An Instagram commenter said the show “had a chance to explore some great Mexican baked good instead you took stereotypes and made tacos.” Netflix and Channel 4 did not comment on the backlash.