A father who became known as the “battleman” after a Dine With Me appearance went viral around the world, but has also been physically attacked due to the notoriety.
Wedding DJ Kev Riley became a meme when his dinner stunt on the Channel 4 show became an internet sensation in 2013.
The 44-year-old self-employed cooking novice has been recognized by foreign waiters abroad, was plastered on a flag during a Coldplay Glastonbury performance and also stops by the street every day.
Kev, who uses the clip seen millions of times online to promote his DJ events, says the moment of battle changed his life forever.
He told MailOnline: ‘It’s just been incredible. It still is, even after all these years, I’m getting fame for it. It doesn’t disappear. It’s still viral.
‘He’s quite angry. I am recognized wherever I go. I can’t care about my own business. Social media and Tiktok in particular have made it incredible.
‘It’s like being a full-time celebrity. It was filmed in 2012 and aired the following year and I would say there has been more fame in the last year or so because of Tiktok.
However, he has also revealed a darker side to his internet fame, after being randomly punched on a night out in his hometown of Burnley, Lancashire, while with his wife.
Wedding DJ Kev Riley, 44, became a meme when his dinner stunt on the Channel 4 show became an internet sensation in 2013

Kev’s viral clip filmed in 2012 has been viewed millions of times online
He said: ‘I was having a good night out with my wife in Burnley a while ago.
‘This guy came up to me and asked if I was the guy from Come Dine with me and the mixer.
‘I said yes and he punched me in the face. It was really horrible. I was with my wife and we were having a good night.
‘It’s a real shame. I also ignore a lot of comments on social media. It was a laugh and some people have taken it in different ways.
Kev, who says everyone in Burnley knows him as the “whiskey guy from Come Dine With Me”, even revealed he has been recognized internationally.
He said: ‘I was relaxing in Corfu a few years ago and these Greek waiters turned up and started cheering me on, saying he was the shaker man. It was incredible. They weren’t even British, they had seen it online.
‘When it was filmed, my daughter was a newborn baby. Now, she is also fully aware and makes people talk to her about it. It has totally changed my life.

Kev, who says the beater moment changed his life forever, says he is often recognized in public but also revealed a dark side to fame after being punched in the face on a night out.

In a ‘surreal’ moment for Kev, he flew a flag with his iconic battle moment at Glastonbury Festival last year.

Kev even uses the famous clip to help promote his DJ events
Come Dine With Me has aired 41 series and a staggering 1,600 episodes, featuring tens of thousands of different contestants.
But no one has had the same level of fame as Kev.
However, he is eager to stress, that fortune has not followed as a result.
He added: ‘I haven’t made any money from this. If he had done it, maybe he would have been a millionaire. But it’s just about laughter.
It has been very fun. I have always had a peculiar personality.
Of those thousands of contestants, few have probably been as poorly prepared to participate in a cooking competition as Kev.

KEV works as a DJ and also owns a business providing card machines. He insists that he has not made any money from his fame, but he finds it “very fun”

The DJ has said that everyone in his hometown of Burnley knows him as “the come-to-dinner-with-me battle guy”
He revealed: ‘I’ve never seen him come to dinner with me, I haven’t seen him since and I don’t like cooking. It’s not for me.
‘A classmate had introduced my name as a laugh. It was all an accident really. Everything came from there. I didn’t practice or prepare and I actually made it to the end.
‘Now I know how big the program is, but back then I didn’t do it. It hasn’t inspired me to cook. I still don’t like it.
The Whisk moment occurred by pure luck when Kev was making his cheesecake dessert.
This was following a starter of stuffed peppers and a main course of ‘disco chicken’.
He said: ‘He was being filmed in the kitchen getting ready. In reality, it was all a split-second thing. It was madness.
‘I was stirring the bowl and there was a producer there. I turned around and did that.

Kev, who I had never seen come to dinner with me before appearing on the show, says he still “doesn’t like” cooking
‘It felt strange being filmed and I wasn’t used to cooking. The cameraman started laughing. I asked him if it would be included and he said he absolutely would.
‘I didn’t really think about it anymore until it was broadcast on TV. Now I get notifications all the time when he makes the rounds on social media.
Notifications also started flooding his phone when a flag was spotted at Glastonbury during a Coldplay performance with his face on it.
He added: ‘That was surreal. My phone didn’t stop. It took me a little time to get used to it. I was surprised by that.
‘I’m a normal guy who can’t cook and it just goes viral. Everything is very angry.
(Tagstotranslate) DailyMail (T) TVShowBiz (T) Channel 4 (T) Glastonbury (T) Coldplay (T) Tiktok