BBC star branded ‘utterly disgusting’ in furious TalkTV row

TalkTV’s Julia Hartley-Brewer issued a furious tirade at a former Great British Bake Off star.

Presenter Julia-Hartley Brewer issued a furious rant on TalkTV (Image: TalkTV)

TalkTV presenter Julia Hartley-Brewer branded BBC star Nadiya Hussain “utterly disgusting” during Thursday’s (February 26) episode of her self-titled show. The host admitted that since the Great British Bake Off has been on screens, the 2015 champion was the only contestant from the series that she knew. Julia explained: “She had this massive career afterwards, she was interviewed on every station, she was on the front page of newspapers and magazines, her books were best-sellers, and she was always around.”

The conversation turned into a scathing blast after the 57-year-old noted: “I think we all knew she was Muslim, she wore a headscarf, she was very clear and open about her heritage, which she’s perfectly entitled and right to do.” Nadiya became a topic of discussion after the chef claimed her faith was the reason that her TV career went downhill. After more than a decade on screens, the 41-year-old revealed last year that she had been dropped by the broadcaster.

Nadiya Hussain famously won Bake Off back in 2015 (Image: BBC)

In her brutal observation, Julia claimed: “She [Nadiya] was being held up by the BBC and everyone else in the woke media ‘what a wonderful representation of multicultural Britain.’ Frankly, they were creaming themselves that they had a woman of colour and a Muslim, winning such a high-profile show. They were loving every second of it.”

The presenter stated: “She has since lost various BBC contracts … and she thinks it’s down to the fact that her latest book is about cooking largely Muslim-style food … and that the BBC is racist.”

In her brutal rant, Julia raged: “You’ve had a 10-year career with people who have celebrated every aspect of your heritage, and now we’re told that this is the thing that got you to lose your job … I think it’s such an absolute outrage that she should claim this.

“It’s literally slapping the hand that’s been feeding you for the last 10 years. This is genuinely disgusting. It’s so utterly disgusting for somebody to claim that the reason why, when nobody’s really interested in you anymore, is because you won 10 years ago.”

“You’re not actually that interesting a character, and we’ve all moved on with our lives. To claim that that’s racism and anti-Muslim prejudice as the reason you’ve lost work, I think that is a disgusting claim to make, and I think there needs to be a big backlash to that,” the presenter concluded.

The TV chef claimed that she lost three brand deals the day she announced her Ramadan cookbook and described the moment as a “turning point” for her career. Nadiya explained to Press Association that the cookbook was for “everybody” but was just “a little bit closer to home as a Muslim woman who cooks for her family”.

Explaining how she attaches “faith and food together”, she said: “And the second I did that, and I lost those brand deals. These brands have clocked that I’m a Muslim, and that’s made them really uncomfortable.”

Saying she was the “digestible version” of herself until that point, she added: “Everyone was like, ‘Whoa, hold on a second. It’s a little too much for me.’ And I thought, ‘You know what? In that case, I have not been enough.’”