Nadiya Hussain feared she was the 'token Muslim' on Great British Bake Off

Nadiya Hussain has admitted that she “struggled” with being labelled “Muslim” when she appeared on the Great British Bake Off in 2015.

In the two years since winning the show the mother-of-three from Leeds has become a professional baker, author, TV presenter and columnist but admits she struggled to understand the negative reaction to her religion during her first year in the limelight and feared she was defined by it.

She told the Radio Times: “I struggled at the beginning, because I thought, ‘Am I the token Muslim?’ I’d never, in all my years, been labelled like that. I heard it constantly, ‘Oh, she’s the Muslim, she’s the Muslim’.”

Nadiya – a second-generation British Bangladeshi who began wearing the hijab at 14 – says she did not expect religion to become her identity but from day one she was described as the “30-year-old Muslim”.

The baker, 32, said her mother and sisters are not particularly religious and none wore a headscarf when she was growing up.

“I certainly didn’t enter a baking show in the hope of representing anyone. Being a Muslim for me was incidental, but from the day the show was launched, I was ‘the 30-year-old Muslim’ and that became my identity.

“I was so shocked by the amount of negative comments I got.”

Nadiya’s victory in the popular contest pulled in a record average of more than 13 million viewers

She was subsequently invited to produce a cake for the 90th birthday celebrations of Queen Elizabeth II and to present her own BBC documentary, The Chronicles of Nadiya, and also admitted that the negativity was nothing compared the warmth she received from the British public.

“We are so much more accepting than that. I never realised Britain had such open arms.”

And Nadiya – who has three children with her husband Abdal – is proud to be a role model.

“When I went into Bake Off, I never imagined I’d come out the other end elevated and a role model – for Bangladeshis, bakers, Muslims, women and all; I didn’t expect any of it. If I am a role model, in a positive manner for anyone, I’m very happy to bear the burden.”

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