Nadiya Hussain | Bake Off star recalls job rejection over skin colour

Great British Bake Off star, Nadiya Hussain, has revealed that she experienced racism while interviewing for jobs as a teenager, adding that on one occasion she was told that she couldn’t work as a hand model due to the colour of her skin.

Sharing her experience on Instagram, she revealed that she attended an interview after finding the advert in a newspaper, but said that the panel of white recruiters had already made a decision that ‘black hands don’t sell jewellery’, reported the Daily Mail.

Writing on the social media platform, Hussain said: “The room went quiet, the room filled with white faces and white hands. The receptionist stumbled. I sat down while she called someone in. I was met by a women who came and greeted me. I figured it was my turn to show off my hands. She told me: “I'm sorry I didn't know you were black.” (sic)

“The blood rushed to my face. I was so embarrassed, I was now a deep shade of burgundy. I never really thought about my hands, till the colour of the skin that covered them stopped me from getting a job. When you are a teenager, already a little lost, words like this stick.”