Alison Hammond has defiantly hit back at critics who complain she’s on TV too much, saying their anger “partly” stems from being a Black woman.
The prolific presenter, who hosts The Great British Bake Off, For the Love of Dogs and This Morning, said “it’s still not the norm” to see people like her on screen.
In a new interview, Hammond, 50, noted how fellow presenters Davina McCall and Ant and Dec don’t face similar complaints despite being on plenty of TV shows.
“It looks like I’m on TV a lot, sure, but I stand out partly because it’s still not the norm to see a Black woman doing this,” she told The Guardian.
“I don’t want to bring race into it but no one says that about Davina or Ant and Dec. I’ve worked hard for 22 years to get here.”
Hammond said she is “good at saying no” if she “needs to rest up or a job doesn’t appeal”, adding: “I turn down 10 things per day, no exaggeration.”
Addressing her critics, including a TikTok user who went viral for saying she was ‘sick of the sight” of Hammond, she added: “That woman is allowed her opinion. It keeps me grounded.”
Hammond, who embarked on a TV career following a two-week Big Brother stint in 2002, said her critics “humble” her and remind her that “I’m not all that” – but she insisted that she “knows” her worth.
“I’m not a national treasure. I’m just me, doing a job that I adore to the best of my ability, trying to be better than I was yesterday.”
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Hammond’s many gigs over the past two decades, which have also seen her a voice cameo role in Hotel Transylvania 3: Summer Vacation (2018) and co-host the Baftas with Richard E Grant in 2023, have led to an estimated net worth of £1m-£4m.
The presenter faced backlash in 2024 after being hired to replace the late Paul O’Grady on For the Love of Dogs. which focuses on rescue animals in need of owners at Battersea Dogs and Cats Home.
She previously said she “was surprised with how much” blowback she got after the announcement.
“I could understand in the sense that Paul was so loved and people were saying: ‘How can she do Love of Dogs when she doesn’t have a dog? How does she love dogs when she doesn’t have a dog?’ It’s like saying: ‘How can you love children when you haven’t got kids?’” she told The Sun’s TV Mag: “
“It’s such a flawed argument for me and all I would say is: ‘If you don’t want to watch it, don’t watch it.’ That’s what I would say to those trolls: ‘Don’t watch it then.’”
She continued: “Trolls will be trolls and I’ll still do what I do best, which is TV presenting.”
