Nadiya Hussain has claimed she will “definitely make less money” in future work whilst having to “work 10 times harder” because she cannot replicate Mary Berry’s television longevity, stating: “I would have loved to have seen that for myself, but that’s a dream that I can’t live up to because I’m not white.”
The Great British Bake Off winner stated she would’ve loved to still be cooking on primetime TV into her eighties like 90-year-old Berry, who remains a stalwart on television screens and cookery programmes. However, Hussain claimed her faith and ethnicity mean she’ll never achieve the former Bake Off judge’s career trajectory.
“We don’t have longevity. I can’t even find another Muslim woman to equate myself to, or stand shoulder to shoulder with. There’s this show of, ‘Look, we’re inclusive’, until we’re not. But it’s not about being inclusive in the moment,” she told PA.
Hussain admitted the financial impact of her position, stating: “I’ll definitely make less money for it. And that is a subject that makes people really uncomfortable, because what I think lots of people don’t realise is that…I have to work 10 times harder.”
She added: “I have to constantly prove my worth and to constantly be grateful. I have to constantly show that I’m British enough or Bangladeshi enough or Muslim enough. But that’s hard to carry all of that and to do a job and to show up bright and breezy, and it’s quite a lot.”
The TV chef claimed a handful of brands have distanced themselves from working with her. “There aren’t that many brands that want to work with me anymore because there is a version of me that just makes them uncomfortable, but that’s okay for me because if our views don’t align, then I don’t want to work with you anyway,” she insisted.
Hussain suggested the reception to one of her previous cookbooks that incorporated Islam was a “turning point” for her career. “When BBC cancelled the show, and I thought to myself, ‘Oh, I see what’s happening’. And so from that point, I got rid of my management. I needed to start from scratch,” she stated.
She continued: “I cannot become this manufactured caricature version of myself that everybody thinks is sellable as a brand. It’s hard not to feel like a token, because it’s almost like we’re allowed a certain amount of space, until that space no longer exists for us. When the box has been ticked.”
Hussain repeated her desire to replicate Berry’s long-standing success, stating: “I don’t want to be a token, but because I’m good at it, because I know my shows were amazing.”
The baker has publicly criticised the BBC in the past year after the broadcaster decided to bring her on-screen projects to an end. She turned her back on the limelight to pursue a career in education, but earlier this week openly admitted she quit the teaching role after three months due to the impact on her physical and mental health.
In response to Hussain’s latest remarks, a BBC spokesperson repeated the same statement shared following her departure: “After many wonderful series, we made the difficult decision not to commission another cookery show with Nadiya Hussain for the time being. We remain open to working with her in the future.”
