The Great British Bake Off showrunner admits the much-criticised season 13 was “not our strongest”.

The Great British Bake OffThe executive producer of said people were right to criticize the 13th season of the popular competition series.

Critics, including Scott Bryan, are dedicated Bowl Superfan said the Channel 4 show’s challenges were getting too complicated and judging Paul Hollywood and Prue Leith was too harsh.

Bowl, known as The British Baking Show on Netflix in the US, has also been criticized for being culturally insensitive to Mexico, with hosts Matt Lucas and Noel Fielding wearing sombreros for a taco task.

Richard McKerrow, Managing Director of Bowl Producer Love Productions, narrated The media podcast that the production team is gearing up for season 14, which begins filming in April.

“I’ll be the first to put our hands up and say I feel like the last series wasn’t our strongest,” McKerrow said. “You have to look at it and say, ‘Shit, [are] the challenges too complicated?’ We are doing everything to make this the best series possible.”

He suggested there may have been fatigue last year after producing under closed conditions the past two seasons during the pandemic.

“We had two series that we had to shoot during Covid. The team here has put in tremendous effort and great sacrifice to bring this filming into a bubble,” said McKerrow.

He said Bowl belongs to the people and the audience is very sensitive to the over-emphasis of the show. “You have to be very, very, very careful with it. So if people criticize, the challenges have become too complicated or whatever, you know we take it seriously.”

McKerrow said Love Productions will soon name a successor for Lucas, who left the series last year.

“It’s safe to say we’re getting there. And I think given that we have to start filming in April, I hope we have something new for you in the coming weeks,” he said.

“The most important thing is to find someone who sees the real heart behind it Bowl is: likes the bakers, likes baking. Someone who is curious and someone who cares and understands.”