Nadiya Hussain responds to critics

She is a Human being with feelings she is allowed to be irritated/angry/emotional she doesn't have to be "nice".

Also awaiting with interest to see @pikkumyy77's examples, IcedPurple - especially as it's claimed that the reasons for the axing are misogny/racism

For clarity I haven't the least doubt this happens, but "all the time" does seem a bit of a stretch on the face of it

She has always seemed nice, but it looks like her mask is slipping now that she's not getting her own way.

100% with you here. But Nadiya is actually only 40, not 46!

She said she was entitled to feel angry and in her past she was told she should be grateful when she had been treated unfairly. But has she been treated unfairly? She won Bakeoff, got several TV shows, and books off the back of it and now ratings are dropping the BBC has axed it. Shes literally been treated the same as hundreds of TV personalities over the years. Has she been told to be grateful because she's brown, or has she been told to be grateful because she has had a long career and lots of opportunities that she would likely not have got if she hadn't gone on Bakeoff? I dont know any other Bakeoff winner or contestant who has done more than a few guest slots on magazine shows apart from her.

“Over the top with her anger”?! I’ve seen Gordon Ramsey routinely get more angry about things as inconsequential as veg not being sliced thin enough. Did anything she said have to get bleeped out? Your entire comment is exactly what she’s referring to. Discourse analysis of the language used about white and non-white individuals in similar scenarios reaps very interesting results. The differences can be subtle but they are there and they’re there to denote that the non-whites (even when they’re being praised) are ultimately not from this country (whether they were born here or not).

Where did you source this, can I ask? I know enough about heterodox social sciences and how they like to deviate from what is “politically correct”, so I’d be interested to look at the research process for these predictions.

Practicing gratitude is actually very good for anxiety.

Nobody wants to be lectured at by an overreaching TV sleb. See also: Gary Lineker (who also got the axe).

I love Nadiya and think she is very talented. She seems to be a really lovely person too. Social media has made it very difficult to sustain a career on TV as a cook/baker/chef. I only really use instagram for recipes and inspiration rather than watching a TV show these days.

This sums up the general attitude perfectly. “Little brown woman, you must stay in the box that we have so generously given to you.”

There's already modelling which shows this as already happening, not unlikely to happen.

If you are white British in your 40s now immigration and births will mean your age group will be a minority by 65.
In your 30s it's going to happen sooner and so on.

The change is coming from immigration and births too.

It going to make racism very complicated.

She was given the show in the first place because she was the perfect poster girl for Islam and multicultural Britain. I'm not saying she didn't deserve it, she's talented, attractive, likeable and a natural in front of the camera. But so are many people who come through Bake Off and they don't get their own show.

She's learning a hard lesson now. When you are suddenly shot to the top it's hard work staying there. Ask just about every X Factor winner. If ratings slacken off you will have to watch your back and have a plan B up your sleeve. She's had a really good run but her honeymoon period is over and she's going to have to start really earning her place on the TV screen now, pitching her shows to smaller channels.

It's also a good idea to not wind people up by using your celebritry to preach to the rest of us about race, politics or religion or your views on anything else that may be divisive.

There are those who will agree with her viewpoint but then there will always be those who don't, and she risks losing support by stepping out of her box and assuming her audience are open to being lectured by her, instead of just watching her cook and look pretty in a range of colourful hijabs and turbans. She's made the mistake of thinking she's a bit more important and influential than she is.

So many people would love to be in her position and to come as far as she has…man, woman, black, white, brown whatever

I for one would be grateful (middle aged white woman)

I agree. I bought her book. The dishes were not that nice. The kind of stuff that if you'd cooked for your kids since they were born they like because they are used to it ( I have many dishes like this that they refuse to eat in restaurants because it 'doesn't taste right' (because it tastes like its supposed to taste most of the time!))
She shouldn't have to be grateful, and I can understand that if people have said that to her that its irritating but she should be glad she managed to outlast many TV chefs and pragmatic that if ratings for her show were dropping, they were dropping and she isn't entitled to another show just because there aren't many hijab wearing women on telly. That is patronising in itself.

It’s ok she can do Strictly. I think her outburst is more to do with her personality type than anything else . She suffers with anxiety doesn’t she so likely prone to emotional outbursts and also likely to take it personally. I say that as someone who also suffers with anxiety before anyone jumps to criticise me .

She mentions unfairness in some of the articles, I think @Puzzledandpissedoff has copied one above

I agree. I listened to what she said and I came to the same conclusion as you. It came up on my insta feed.

She literally explains the exact sentiment yet the point flies over some people’s head. Those who know, have experienced this, know exactly what she means.

This is one of the weirder things I’ve read on here. Brits aren’t permanently grateful because they were told to be in school assemblies. Plus Nadiya Hussain is a second-generation British person. She was born and educated in Luton in British state schools. She would have attended all those school assemblies you seem to imagine as so formative of the British psyche. She is part of your ‘we’. Unless you think that her being Muslim somehow meant she didn’t imbibe the cultural imperative to ‘gratitude’?

It’s not about not suiting the narrative; in the context of this debate comparisons should be made against her white peers, not random poor, white people.

I read the link provided in the OP and she's not angry about the programme being axed but about people telling her to be "grateful" which puts a very different perspective on it.

@EasternStandard You say she also talks about the unfairness of it (the programme being axed I presume?). I can't see that in the article, is it me?

@Extravirginolive Only about 13% of people in England (less in other parts of the UK) are BAME. It feels unlikely that in 25 years time white people under 65 will be in a minority, unless immigration rules change dramatically.

Poor Nadiya.

Must be awful having lifelong financial security for her and her children from something she enjoyed doing and let’s not pretend she won’t have any further opportunities.

Why can't people be grateful for good luck and good fortune? It's part of being a functioning adult. Is thankful a better word?

I completely understand her argument that women/brown women/brown anyone shouldn't be told to be grateful for the scraps on the table, for having a job in the first place, for having the basics in life and the same opportunities as everyone else regardless of sex or race. But this isn't what she had in the BBC employment. She had a fantastic, elite job that ran for 10 years! I think she's conflating (Mumsnet favourite word) two issues.

Unless of course she can show us hundreds of comments that are saying "you should be grateful because you are Muslim". I know that there will be some cunts who meant or implied this, but I don't think for one minute that they will be the majority.

In your professional experience, what puts white working class males at a disadvantage and what could be done to improve their circumstances?

What is the difference between a white working class girl that makes her more likely to excel, and the white working class boy who is less likely to do the same?