''Come Dine with Me'' is a British

reality series Reality television is a genre of television programming that documents purportedly unscripted real-life situations, often starring unfamiliar people rather than professional actors. Reality television emerged as a distinct genre in the early 19 ...

that has aired on

Channel 4 Channel 4 is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network operated by the state-owned enterprise, state-owned Channel Four Television Corporation. It began its transmission on 2 November 1982 and was established to provide a four ...

since 10 January 2005 and is narrated by

Dave Lamb David Alexander Lamb (born 17 January 1969) is an English actor, comedian, narrator and presenter. He is best known for his narration work on '' Come Dine with Me'' as well as appearances in British television and radio programmes, especially co ...

Format

The show features five amateur chefs who live in the same town or area, who each host a three-course dinner party for the other contestants at their own home. Each competitor then rates the host's food and hosting skills during the taxi journey home, with the highest-scoring chef winning £1,000 cash. The show often features guests with clashing personalities. The episodes featuring the same group of chef contestants are broadcast in sequence. Early series included groups of four chefs rather than five.

provides a voiceover, which sometimes includes sarcastic comments on the chefs' food and interior design.

Notable moments

A 2016 episode attracted particular attention, when contestant Peter Marsh made ungracious remarks upon losing to the winning contestant Jane. He said to her and the other contestants: "What a sad little life, Jane. Enjoy the money. I hope now you will spend it on getting some lessons in grace and decorum, because you have all the grace of a reversing dump truck without any tyres on." Another episode gained attention online, when a clip on video sharing site

YouTube YouTube is a global online video platform, online video sharing and social media, social media platform headquartered in San Bruno, California. It was launched on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim. It is owned by ...

of contestant Kev Riley fitting a balloon whisk into his mouth went viral. In an 'ask me anything' session on

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in 2022, Kev claimed that this was the result of a "spur of the moment" decision intended to make the producer laugh. This clip has had over 100m views on various threads across social media. This has resulted in the sale of merchandise, flags appearing at

Glastonbury Glastonbury (, ) is a town and civil parish in Somerset, England, situated at a dry point on the low-lying Somerset Levels, south of Bristol. The town, which is in the Mendip district, had a population of 8,932 in the 2011 census. Glastonbury ...

, and Riley being a regular contributor on Cameo. From 2020, due to

COVID-19 Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by a virus, the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The first known case was COVID-19 pandemic in Hubei, identified in Wuhan, China, in December ...

, all five contestants cooked and ate in the same house; this is instead of having the contestants visiting each others houses to dine. The location of the house would vary depending on which city the five episodes were taking place.

Spin-offs

''Couples Come Dine with Me''

On 7 July 2014, the first episode of the

spin-off Spin-off may refer to: *Spin-off (media), a media work derived from an existing work *Corporate spin-off, a type of corporate action that forms a new company or entity * Government spin-off, civilian goods which are the result of military or gove ...

series - ''Couples Come Dine with Me'', premiered on

. The series uses a similar format to the original series but features three couples competing to win £1000.

''Celebrity Come Dine with Me''

There have been occasional celebrity groups of chefs since the first episode of Series 2.

''Come Dine with Me: The Professionals''

On 12 January 2022,

commissioned ''Come Dine with Me: The Professionals'' where local restaurants went head to head in the contest. The series premiered on 27 June 2022 on

International versions

English

Spanish

Other languages

Notes

References

External links

* * * * * * * {{Come Dine With Me 2000s British game shows 2010s British game shows 2020s British game shows 2000s British cooking television series 2010s British cooking television series 2020s British cooking television series 2005 British television series debuts Channel 4 game shows Cooking competitions in the United Kingdom English-language television shows Come Dine With Me Hospitality industry in the United Kingdom Television series by ITV Studios