if you speak up, often it’s considered ‘being difficult’
Nadiya Hussain has suggested that she might still have her TV job if she kept her mouth shut.
Speaking to Radio Times, Nadiya reflected on the end of her BBC cookery programmes and shed light on the potential reasons behind the axing of her programmes.
She said: “If I was less vocal and I’d shut my mouth and did as I was told all the time, there’s a likelihood that I would have jobs that I don’t have now.
“Unfortunately, as a woman, and a woman of colour, if you speak up, often it’s considered ‘being difficult’ or ‘being a nuisance’, whereas I know, from experience, that if I was a man, they’d be like, ‘Oh, you know what he’s like’.”
Nadiya Hussain became a household name after winning the 2015 series of The Great British Bake Off.
She went on to host several successful BBC shows, including Nadiya’s British Food Adventure, Nadiya’s Everyday Baking and Nadiya’s Everyday Spices.
However, the BBC cancelled her show in 2025.
Nadiya claimed she was never given a definitive explanation for the decision.
She said she had raised concerns about the direction of her programmes and the people involved in their production:
“I’d had really difficult conversations.
“I was like, ‘These are the people I don’t want to work with any more. This doesn’t align with me any more. I need the recipes to be the focus. I need it to be less about what I’m wearing, the props and the colour of my lipstick. It needs to be about the food’.
“Not long after, my show was cancelled.”
In response to the cancellation, a BBC spokesperson said:
“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.”
Since stepping away from her BBC projects, Hussain has also reduced her television appearances despite receiving offers from other broadcasters.
She told The Independent that future work would need to have a stronger sense of purpose:
“Unless it’s with purpose, I’m not doing it. I’ve been doing this for 11 years, and I very rarely see a diverse set or meeting.”
“Often, people of colour and from ethnic minority backgrounds don’t have that person who works in television, so they don’t get a little step stool into the industry. I’d like to be that step stool.”
Nadiya Hussain has considered starting her own production company to create opportunities for people from underrepresented backgrounds.
She recently worked as a primary school teaching assistant but she left the role due to health issues.
Nadiya previously suggested that the end of her BBC shows may also reflect a wider shift in how she fits within the broadcaster’s programming.
“I can’t see why there’s a reason why my show wasn’t recommissioned,” she told the We Need to Talk podcast, adding that she believes she simply “no longer fit that space anymore”.
Nadiya added: “To be fair, I’m not comfortable in boxes anyway.
“I prefer a glass ceiling to smash through, thank you very much. But I suppose there’s no space for me, and I’m kind of alright with that.”
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