Nadiya Hussain describes brutal BBC exit for the first time

Yahoo

5 days ago

Nadiya Hussain has spoken out on her BBC exit for the first time, claiming she felt that her TV career had been a "tickbox exercise". She claimed of her experiences with the BBC: "The second you don't fit the neat little box, there'll be no space for you. I don't fit that space any more."
The baker and TV cook found fame after winning The Great British Bake Off in 2015 and went on to present a number of cooking shows at the BBC, as well as publishing recipe books. But in June, she released a statement on social media saying that she hadn't been recommissioned, adding: "As a Muslim woman, I work in an industry that doesn't always support people like me or recognise my talent or full potential."
Now, Hussain has given her side of the story to Paul C. Brunson for his We Need To Talk podcast, where she also claimed to have made complaints about her treatment on unnamed shows which she says were ignored.
Elsewhere, she opened up on how uncomfortable she felt walking into the Bake Off tent for the first time, her experiences with the publishing industry, and being bullied and abused during childhood.
Hussain gave an account of her exit from the BBC after 10 years of making cooking shows with them, as well as a series of Remarkable Places to Eat co-hosted with Fred Sirieix. She said that she had learned to keep her TV personality "unbiased and neutral", but said: "I am not neutral. I have opinions. I have things to say."
The Bake Off winner claimed: "They'll (BBC) keep you until you're of no use to them. I think that's what happened. I had lots of reasons but no definitive 'this is the reason we're not recommissioning your show'. My show got great ratings every year. I can't see why there's a reason my show wasn't recommissioned."
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She continued: "My husband and I always spoke about it and he just said, 'there's going to be a point where they're not going to need you anymore. They have a neat little box and the second you don't fit the box… there'll be no space for you.'
"I suppose I don't fit that space any more, and I'm not comfortable in boxes anyway. I prefer glass ceilings to smash through. I suppose there's no space for me and I'm kind of alright with that."
In June, Hussain posted a video on social media where she explained that she had not been recommissioned by the BBC and that she hadn't always felt the industry was a supportive place for a Muslim woman.
A BBC statement at the time read: "After several wonderful series, we have made the difficult decision not to commission another cookery show with Nadiya Hussain at the moment."
However, she claimed to Brunson that the "back and forth" with the BBC over how to announce her exit had suggested something quite different. She said one email had read: "This is a proposed statement, I think Nadiya should say 'I no longer want to do my show on the BBC because I'm focussing on different projects'. I said, 'That's not the truth, though. I do not OK that statement and I'm not going to put that out.'"
Read more:
Nadiya Hussain 'won't always be grateful' after BBC axing (BANG Showbiz, 2 min read)
BBC cancels Nadiya Hussain's cooking show (BANG Showbiz, 2 min read)
Nadiya Hussain says BBC dropped her after 10 years for no 'definitive' reason (The Independent, 3 min read)
Hussain has now chosen to work without an agent or team, saying: "I wanted to start from scratch as if I had won Bake Off ten years ago when I had nobody but myself, my husband and my instinct. It's been the most freeing thing to know every decision I make is my own and no one gets to filter me.I will figure it out and find a space where I'm welcome. It might not be in this industry and I'm OK with that."
She also made allegations about her treatment on various shows, claiming that she had made complaints that had not been acted on. She told how feedback on one series had requested that she stop wearing jumpers because they made her appear larger, and explained why she had not pushed back.
"I was always made to feel like my trophy was just going to get taken away from me, because I felt like I always had to be grateful for the opportunity that I was given. A Muslim who was relatable. The people's Muslim. The people's person of colour. The digestible version of myself. Gratitude should not sit on your face like a muzzle, and that's what it felt like, I felt muzzled."
She added: "When you complain, you're considered a nuisance. They protect the men in our industry, and they make excuses for men." Hussain continued: "In every job that I've done, I've felt discomfort...Now I look back and think they just needed to look diverse. They had the Muslim - tick. They had the person of colour - tick...It was all a tickbox exercise until they didn't need me any more."
Hussain also detailed two experiences that had hugely affected her, although she did not name a particular show, broadcaster or TV star. She said: "I filed a complaint with a very big breakfast show. They were mocking a recipe out of my book. I can almost guarantee if a Jamie Oliver or James Martin was on there, they would not sit at the end of the show and mock a recipe out of their book."
The recipe had been for "chaat in a bag", which the show had suggested sounded like "s*** in a bag". Hussain called the comments "really distasteful and really hateful... deeply disrespectful" but said that the show had refused to apologise.
Hussain also added that she had been "quite badly bullied" by a man that she had worked with, to the point that she had such a bad panic attack that she wet the bed. She said that she had filed a complaint with the show they worked on, but that nothing happened.
"I've walked on sets and heard I'm not working if she's working. I'm not working with her," she added.
Yahoo UK contacted the BBC for comment on all of the claims made, although the BBC was not directly mentioned in connection with Hussain filing complaints, and the "very big breakfast show" was not named.
A BBC spokesperson told Yahoo UK: "After several wonderful series we have made the difficult decision not to commission another cookery show with Nadiya Hussain at the moment. Nadiya remains a much valued part of the BBC family, and we look forward to working together on future projects."
The star also spoke about feeling like her voice didn't matter when her idea for a book about parenting children with two cultures was turned down by a publisher, and said that when she published her book Rooza with recipes for Ramadhan, various brand partnerships dried up.
Hussain spoke about feeling uncomfortable as the only Muslim woman on her series of Bake Off, recalling: "I walked into the tent and was like, 'oh great'. I know that feeling, I know what it's like to be me and to walk into a room of people who all feel familiar to each other, but I felt like the alien...I stuck out like a sore thumb, and I felt different."
She added: "My whole life I've constantly shrunk myself to make everyone else feel comfortable. So even when I was in that tent, I would speak, but I would try so hard not to sound like I was from Luton. I was like, sound as not bilingual as possible. Pronounce your Ts. Speak slowly. Say every word properly. I'm thinking that while trying to bake, while being judged."
"I want to say that I stepped away feeling like my self-worth was at its best and I felt amazing," she continued. "But what happened to me so quickly after winning Bake Off was that I fell into a career I never expected to have and didn't want. Winning Bake Off did not prepare me for the cesspit that it is to be in the public eye.
Hussain told how at one point production staff had to live in her family home with her as she had received death threats, and she had to have panic buttons installed.
But she said that her TV work had been important, saying: "I didn't know how important it was to be the voice for the voiceless."
She added of her children: "I tell them, 'elbows out...You are going to work 10 times harder for 10 times less than everyone else.' I know because I have worked 10 times harder than others in my industry for 10 times less."
Paul C. Brunson's We Need To Talk podcast is available to stream now.