Nadiya Hussain responds to critics

[PruthePrune]

Nadiya Hussain responds to critics

I can understand her being upset that her shows have been axed, apparently ratings were falling, However, I find it hugely disappointing that she has brought race/religion into it. No one is entitled to a BBC show and I think she has had a bloody good run. AIBU?

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

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.

Dup

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.

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.

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'

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.

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.

Are you calling her comments on her Instagram an outburst?

I surely hope not.

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

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.

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.

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

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

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'.

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.

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.

She is a great example of female power and has more to give than the failing BBC. Do your best and go for your future and put the naysayers down to the pits.

I've never watched her programmes, surprised it's been 10 years. That's good innings for who is basically a home cook.
Would never entertain me, I want to watch the best in their field.

This! I remember her Jubilee cake on Good Food . Strawberies mixed with cream,etc - super basic recipe, I wouldn't expect this to be on cover.
She definitely had very good management team .

What about if a British-born white male Bake Off winner had a 10 year career at the BBC, moaned about it ending and didn't like comments that he should be grateful for a decade of work opportunities? How could he blame it on race? Because “be grateful” comments would be equally valid directed at both.

it is frustrating

I am white and j have also been told to be grateful. Hope that clears up any assumption that only brown skinned people have ever been told to be grateful.
Hth

I saw her post in Instagram and really felt for her. I didn't think she was responding to the bbc, but to poster's who were telling her she should be grateful for the bbc taking her own and giving her work when her contract with them hadn't been renewed.

It was also the second time in a matter of weeks I'd heard that someone should be grateful for something like this. The first was Scandinavia with Simon Reeve, the final episode, and there was a young woman who was born in Denmark I think it was, who's mother, an immigrant from Somalia told her she should be grateful to the country for her opportunity. The daughter was telling her mum, no she was born in Denmark, she is Danish, and she is made to feel like a second class person in her own country. She has never been to Somalia, wasn't born there.
I guess it would be the same as my mum telling me that I should be grateful for the opportunities I have had during my life, even though I was born here. But my mum was born in Germany to Polish parents and she came over as, well, an immigrant as a young teen. I have never been to Poland either, though have been to Germany a couple of times in my life.