Nadiya Hussain responds to critics

Another shit stirring thread. No sign of OP coming back.

I watched the video clip and think Nadiya sounds perfectly reasonable. She’s not a robot programmed just for gratitude. People sending her messages telling her how she should feel are being patronising and rude. They need to shut up and mind their own bloody business.

I don’t know any non-white people in this country who need to be convinced that racism still exists. If you don’t see it as pervasive or problematic, you obviously don’t find yourself at the wrong end of it.

I watched the insta talk, I think it's mixture of things. The main one being her time is up - if pop bands last an average of 3 years, a reality show winner/cook is a good innings at 10 years. I believe she is the most successful Bake Off winner, I have one of her early books and I enjoyed the first series but where is she going to go with it?

As others have stated TV chefs go in and of fashion - Gary Rhodes before he passed away, Delia Smith, Anthony Worrel Thompson, Hugh Fearnly-Whittingstall and Lorraine Pascal even Nigella hasn't had a series since 2020.

But also, she has become more political - her 'sorry I've not been on here it's hard to cook because of what going on in Palestine' is taking a different slant. She is perfectly entitled to her opinion and her own content but others are entitled to turn over or click unfollow.

Of course she is upset and disgruntled who isn't when they are sacked off but she won a show and did well filling in the 'ready steady cook' gap in cooking shows. But I think her recent rants are sour grapes. I think the same when I read about Pop Idol/talent show winners who say 'Simon used me' 'Cheryl wouldn't take my calls six after I won'.

Yeah this. She's sabotaged her own brand of being a nice, warm, relatable person.

Well said. If you’re white and British, you have no idea how lucky you have landed to live in this country. If you feel hard done by, then it just proves how ignorant you are

All the pps stating with such authority that a white woman would definitely newer be told to be grateful. How exactly do they know that? And all the posters going along with it.
There is a whole industry that has built up around convincing people racism still widely exists. Reading this thread, I think that industry has done a very good job.

I think she has a point and it is up to her if she wants to share her feelings although I think it was risky for her to do that in terms of public support.

She did have a ten year collaboration with the bbc which is a good innings for someone from Bake Off. I occasionally watched her programme and didn’t love it or get the urge to make anything. I prefer other chefs.

She has done other programmes (didn’t she do a travel programme? and she was good on Loose Women - probably not what she particularly wants to do) but she could diversify as she is very intelligent and eloquent.

Exactly ten years is a long time. People move on.

Are you calling her comments on her Instagram an outburst?

I surely hope not.

But it isn’t just ratings. They have limited budget and they can invest in programmes that are established and they can invest in those which are new. I expect there was a discussion with the programme commissioners who went, we’ve had a good 10 years. She’s exhausted much of the content that she could conceivably do and we risk just diluting and diluting her show if we keep commissioning more. People on here have said that her last series wasn’t that great and that is what probably swung the decision. The BBC can now use that money to invest in the next Nadiya and give someone else a go and freshen up the offering. I am sure Amazon or Netflix etc might be interested to take her show in a new, fresh direction.

There can't be many cooking shows on iPlayer, surely? And I doubt cooking shows get particularly high ratings in comparison to other BBC content. Mainstream cooking shows feel like a bit of a relic in the influencer era. I expect YouTube is now the main venue for all lifestyle-based media.

One of my relatives works at the BBC and analyses ratings, she said Nadiya’s shows are among the top 3 highest cooking shows on iplayer

I suspect there is a difference between 'highly rated cooking show on iplayer' and 'highly rated live TV show at peak viewing time'

If racism were the issue, why would she have got a TV show in the first place?

Exactly. In fact she was given the show because she was brown and Muslim. Having it taken away for being brown and Muslim makes no sense.

If racism were the issue, why would she have got a TV show in the first place?

And I will criticise the BBC for all sorts of things, but do you really think they don't understand how TV ratings work? There aren't that many cooking shows on the BBC now, so getting 'among the top 3' in that category isn't neccessarily enough for the show to be renewed.

Dup

One of my relatives works at the BBC and analyses ratings, she said Nadiya’s shows are among the top 3 highest cooking shows on iplayer and has filed a complaint to the bbc because she feels racism and an inability to understand how modern tv ratings work is at play.

One of my relatives works at the BBC and analyses ratings, she said Nadiya’s shows are among the top 3 highest cooking shows on iplayer and has filed a complaint to the bbc because she feels racism and an inability to understand how modern tv ratings work is at play.

Yes, you do. Stop playing dumb, it's not a good look.

You are right of course, she can be as angry and outspoken as she likes on whatever topic she likes. But she should understand that there may be a heavy price to pay for that. To indulge that side of herself so publicly will almost certainly set her career back a few pegs and knock her popularity.

She's been emboldened by a fabulous career in TV that was constructed very suddenly, but like a house of cards it can be destroyed just as suddenly. She's going to need to stay likeable, relatable and anodyne unless she's prepared to risk it all. People want to be entertained by people who work in light entertainment not hectored by them or preached to by them. We want escapism and a distraction from a troubled world and our everyday worries. We get enough hectoring and preaching and lecturing from journalists and politicians.

Gary Lineker is finding out the same thing, except that Gary Lineker, much like JK Rowling can afford to put two fingers up at anyone who thinks they should just shut up and stick to their day job. It doesn't matter financially to either GL or JKR if they never work again. NH on the other hand, would be a fool to think she can afford the same luxury.

Do you remember that weird slidey cake thing she presented to Her Maj?

It is the same thing , by saying otherwise we are reducing people to race and not just people who can share an experience regardless of race or colour. Poor white people are often told to be grateful too! A lot of it is classism not racism . Nadia has had an exceptional good run and no doubt will have another show in the future.

TV is brutal. Every show gets axed sooner or later with very few exceptions. If she's popular enough to pull in the numbers, she'll get another show elsewhere.

@dietmonkey correct.

Look at Jeremy Clarkson No Thanks

Nadiya is such a likeable and skilled person but for me her in front of the camera was a little flat.

You implied it, though. As if her annoyance is an indication that, deep down, she’s not as nice as she first appeared.