Nadiya Hussain has said she felt pressured to become a “palatable version of a Muslim” to succeed in television, describing the industry as “broken”. The 41-year-old, who won the sixth series of The Great British Bake Off in 2015, went on to front several BBC cookery shows, publish bestselling books, and bake a cake for Queen Elizabeth II’s 90th birthday.
Last year, Hussain released Rooza: A Journey Through Islamic Cuisine, a tribute to Ramadan. Shortly after, she revealed the BBC had decided not to commission a TV series based on the book, nor a promotional programme for her subsequent title, Nadiya’s Quick Comforts. The BBC said it had made a “difficult decision not to commission another cookery show with Nadiya Hussain at the moment”.
In an interview with The Guardian, Hussain said she had become “a version of myself that was manufactured and comfortable for everybody”. She added: “I’d become this palatable version of a Muslim that could be on television… I’d become this really comfortable version of myself that was easy to digest.” She suggested that after Rooza, audiences were reminded of her faith, and she “wasn’t palatable any more”.
However, an insider told the Daily Mail that her departure from the BBC was unrelated to faith, claiming her popularity had “waned”, her recipes had become “tired”, and she had grown “increasingly hard to work with”. The source said: “Nadiya was a major star when she won Bake Off… but she’s not really kicked onto the next level.”
Following the end of her BBC shows, Hussain took a job as a teaching assistant at a local primary school but stepped down after less than three months due to health issues. Her business accounts show net assets of almost £2 million, reflecting continued strong book sales.
