It’s hard to imagine daytime terrestrial television programming in the UK without picturing a pair of strangers who have never met arguing about the consistency of a chocolate mousse.
Since Come Dine With Me first aired on Channel 4 20 years ago, it has changed the reality TV landscape in Britain, as viewers tune in to watch four people (of varying culinary abilities) welcome each other into their homes for a three-course dinner over the course of a week.
It’s a simple format that has since spawned spin-offs of similar competitive shows, but Come Dine With Me remains king as, 20 years after it first aired, people still diligently tune in to judge each other’s culinary skills.
While it stands the test of time compared to other reality cooking shows that have been short-lived in comparison, the show, which has been narrated by Dave Lamb since its inception, has produced some standout moments over the years.
These so-called “memeable” moments have helped introduce the series to the social media generation, including hilarious clips featuring sore losers and highly unusual cooking techniques.
Come Dine With Me turns 20 and we reveal how it has stood the test of time and achieved cult status with viral moments. Pictured: Peter Marsh in 2017, before attacking fellow contestant Jane
Come Dine With Me began production in the summer of 2004 before first airing on Channel 4 in January 2005. Initially, each group of amateur chefs and dinner guests consisted of five people, with each person’s dinner being broadcast in a 30-minute episode on Monday to Friday.
However, after a few years, the format changed to include four people in each group, with hour-long episodes and each dinner condensed into a 15-minute slot.
At the end of each dinner, in the taxi back home, guests rate their host out of 10, taking into account the quality of the food, the hospitality and the entertainment of the evening.
Claire Phillips, from Pontycymer, Wales, served her guests dinner on wooden planks after being inspired by a meal she had at Las Iguanas.
Wedding DJ Kev Riley left viewers horrified and entertained in equal measure in 2013 when he stuck a mixer in his mouth.
In 20 years, no one had ever gotten a perfect score on the show, but in 2006 Ian Cook surprised his guests with three near-perfect dishes and got a score of 39/40. The contestant who gave him a score of nine instead of ten said she did so because Ian served water in plastic bottles instead of glass.
But it’s often not the excellent hosts who achieve legendary status on the show, but those whose culinary skills leave much to the imagination or who didn’t take their losses very well.
One such contestant, who has gone down in Come Dine With Me history, is Peter Marsh, from Oxfordshire, whose ungrateful speech against the winning contestant, Jane, has become the most famous clip of the show’s two decades, with lines from his speech even entering common dialect.
Marsh, who appeared on the cooking competition in 2017, was the final host of the week on his episode, which meant he had the job of reading out the final scores and announcing the winner of the £1,000 prize to his three other guests.
When he revealed the final scores, Peter looked dejected to learn that he had come in last place. But the real explosion came when he announced that his fellow contestant, Jane, had won.
In words that have since echoed around the internet, Peter told a stunned (and seemingly embarrassed) Jane: “Enjoy the money. I hope it makes you very happy.”
And she continued with the famous line: “My God, what a sad life, Jane. You ruined my entire evening so you could keep the money.”
He asked the winner to spend her winnings on “some lessons in grace and decorum,” while the three contestants sat awkwardly on the couch.
He continued: “Because you have all the grace of a dump truck reversing without tires.”
Dave Lamb, who has narrated the TV show since it first aired, says he believes the show has endured because it is “relatable.”
When fellow contestant Charlotte did not understand what Mr Marsh was saying, he replied: “You wouldn’t understand. Let’s be honest, there’s no one there, darling.”
Shortly after, he kicked the winner and two other contestants out of the house: Jane, Charlotte and Peter.
Once the episode aired, Peter defended his tirade against his fellow contestants in a conversation with Mirror.
He said: “What is shown is not all that happens and people will believe what they are shown.”
Another contestant who has become an unexpected internet star is Claire Phillips from Pontycymer, Wales.
The spa therapist, who appeared on the show in 2018, won hearts across the UK not for her culinary skills, but for her lack of them.
Viewers fell in love with his cheerful personality and unusual serving suggestions (such as serving food on wooden boards) as he attempted (unsuccessfully) to cook steaks to different levels for his guests, before topping them with barbecue sauce and grated cheese and finishing them off in the microwave. He called the dish “American steak.”
Additionally, Claire served her guests triple-cooked fries, which, despite the name, looked almost raw when guests tried to eat them.
After going viral for her hilarious hosting skills, Claire took her newfound fame in stride and was able to laugh at herself.
She said Wales online In 2021: “I hadn’t bought any food and I was exhausted, I wasn’t organized at all. I didn’t realize that you have to film all day and all night during the week, I thought it was just an evening thing and then maybe we’d meet up during the day to go over the menu.”
Claire added that she had not had time to do the shopping herself, so she had to ask her parents to go to the supermarket for her before her dinner.
Explaining the infamous boards she served her guests food on, Claire revealed she had bought the wooden pieces in different sizes after particularly enjoying a meal at Las Iguanas in Cardiff; ‘prawns on a board’.
The amateur cook said: “They served it on boards and I thought it would be great, but then I went a bit overboard and ordered the dinner plates too. In my head I thought it was going to be amazing. I had to buy five of each plate.”
And in an image that has become truly iconic since it first aired on national television in 2013, wedding DJ Kev Riley became a cult favourite when he licked whipped cream off a whisk by putting the entire utensil in his mouth.
The moment has become a classic of British reality TV, with viewers simultaneously repulsed and fascinated by his actions.
Speaking to the camera, Kev said he was “really nervous” as he embarked on making a malted milk cheesecake.
“Cooking and baking is not something that comes naturally to me,” she said shyly, but her confidence grew as she stirred the filling into her cheesecake.
Without a second thought, he popped the whisk into his mouth, cementing his place as a British legend forever.
When later asked why he decided to put the whisk in his mouth, Kev said he “didn’t know.”
He told the Curios Cast podcast: “You know what? A lot of people ask me that and I don’t think I know the answer.
“It was something I did to make her laugh. And I knew at that moment that I had done it, because everyone laughed so hard and I thought, ‘That’s definitely going to be on the show.'”
As expected, Kev finished the dinner show in last place.
Despite leaving some people horrified, Kev became an internet sensation; last year he poked fun at himself in a Ritz cracker advert to mark 10 years since he popped a whisk in his mouth – and did exactly the same thing again.
Of course, while such quirky and brilliant contestants have kept viewers coming back to Come Dine With Me for 20 years, it’s sarcastic and sassy narrator Dave Lamb that is the show’s unsung star.
Lamb’s dry, sardonic commentary is what turns the comedic moments into pure television gold as he shudders along with the viewer at the culinary disasters and petty arguments shared by the contestants.
Speaking about the show in 2019, Lamb revealed that Come Dine With Me was originally created with a straight-forward narrator, before feedback from the pilot episode revealed that viewers wanted a edgier tone; that’s when he came into the picture.
The announcer said Vice How he tried so hard on the commentary at the beginning, that he ended up losing his voice regularly.
However, Lamb added that in recent years he had managed to “tone it down” and found a middle ground with his sarcastic comments.
Speaking about some of the show’s most memorable moments over the years, including contestants’ meltdowns, he said such displays of frustration were always “great fun” to narrate.
“It’s amazing how people get carried away by these kinds of crises. I think they start to forget that the cameras are there, you know? And they react the way they would react themselves,” he said.
“Plus, there’s a lot of alcohol. I think it relaxes the tongue a lot. A lot of people like to drink to calm their nerves.”
When asked why he thinks Come Dine With Me is still so popular with viewers after all these years, Dave said he thought the format was “relatable” to most people who watch it.
He said, “I think we can all imagine what that would be like, and I wouldn’t want to go through that. Or maybe you would.”
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