Come Dine with Me



Come Dine with Me is a popular Channel 4 television programme shown in the United Kingdom. It was produced by ITV Studios (formerly known as Granada) until 2013, when Shiver Productions took over. First broadcast in January 2005, the show has either four or five amateur chefs competing against each other hosting a dinner party for the other contestants. Each competitor then rates the host's performance with the winner winning a £1,000 cash prize which was announced by the competitor who hosted the dinner party on Friday. An element of comedy is added to the show through comedian Dave Lamb, who provides a dry and bitingly sarcastic narration.

The format has been franchised internationally by many other broadcasters throughout the world.

International broadcasts
As well as being repeated on Channel 4, their sister channel More4 also regularly broadcasts past episodes on Saturday evenings and Sunday afternoons, with all five programmes from a week shown consecutively in a block. Episodes from the first series are also regularly shown on Discovery Real Time, DMAX UK, Discovery Travel & Living, and Discovery Home & Health.

The programme is shown:
 * in Australia on LifeStyle Food channel and Nine Life
 * in Canada on the W Network
 * in New Zealand on TVNZ 1 and Food Television
 * in the United States on BBC America
 * in Ireland on TV3
 * in Italy on La7
 * in the UK on Manoto 1, a Persian language channel, for Iranian and Persian viewers
 * in Scandinavia and Poland on BBC Lifestyle
 * in Germany on VOX (Das Perfekte Dinner)
 * in South Africa on BBC Lifestyle and BBC Entertainment
 * in Belgium on Vier (Komen Eten)

Derivative formats
On 21 March 2007 it was announced that rival broadcaster ITV1 had commissioned a new daytime programme, House Guest from Granada Productions, a part of the same company which also produces Come Dine With Me. The format for House Guest is very similar to that of Come Dine With Me, in that several contestants visit each other's houses over a week, in which they host dinner parties and grade each other out of 10 in private, even the scoreboard layout is the same. The difference is that in House Guest, guests 'draw toothbrushes' to see who will stay overnight at the host's house, to judge their hospitality skills, awarding them a separate grade.

Another show from ITV which was extremely similar to the format of Come Dine with Me was May the Best House Win, with the only real difference being that there was no meal served, contestants instead rating each other on things such as cleanliness, comfort and hospitality. Both shows involved four contestants, both carried a £1,000 prize and both had a sarcastic voice-over during proceedings.

Series 2: Daytime
Series 2 premiered on 12 September 2005 with the first Celebrity Come Dine with Me.

The episode shown in Bristol was not shown during the original run but first aired in 2007. Two years later than the premiere of series two, and a year after the premiere of series three. This episode premiered on LifeStyle FOOD in Australia the week of 21 to 25 August 2006 as part of the second series.

Gloucester was also not shown during the original run but first aired in 2008. Three years later than the premiere of series two, several months after series four had aired, and after a run of held over episodes from series three. This episode premiered on LifeStyle FOOD in Australia the week of 4 to 8 September 2006 as part of the second series.

Both of these episodes are seen as series 2 on the official Come Dine with Me website from Channel 4.

In the episode held in London, contestant Isabelle Goldstein gave low scores to other competitors to improve her own chances of winning. The show's producers instructed her to re-mark her scores or risk being disqualified. Goldstein gave new scores and, having been in first place with 28 points, finished second to fellow contestant Bill Buckley.

Series 3: Daytime
The third series premiered in the summer of 2006. As with the second series the first week featured celebrities. The first five weeks aired on weekdays at 4:30pm while Deal or No Deal took a summer break. After a one-week absence it then returned for a further three weeks at 4:15pm. The remaining programmes from the series were held back and aired sporadically during 2007 and even as late as September 2008.

Manchester, Birmingham and Kent were not shown during the original run but first aired in 2008, two years later than the premiere of series three and a few months after series four had aired.

Series 4: Primetime
An hour-long primetime Christmas special was also produced during the middle of the series, using a slightly different format to suit the shorter timeslot. Only four contestants took part with each making a separate course for the dinner: starter, fish course, main course, and dessert. After each course the person cooking the next part of the meal would leave to complete their dish at home, which had been prepared earlier, before being joined by the other guests.

Series 5: Extra Portions
Series 5 consists of re-edited versions of the daytime episodes, to a single primetime episode. So for a usual shows of 22-24mins with 5 contestants in daytime slots, the episodes were joined and re-edited, with footage being cut, to become a single episode of 62–63 minutes long.

Series 6: Primetime
In late 2007 Channel 4 announced on their website that they would be producing a fourth series for 2008 and issued an appeal for contestants living in Bath, Newcastle, Oxford, Exeter, the Fylde Coast, and Shropshire. Unlike previous series it would be aired in primetime and only feature four guests so that it could be aired as a single weekly hour-long episode. It is alternately titled "Come Dine with Me All in One" (as it is listed on the Channel 4 website). In episode 22, Lee Pritchett received a record breaking low score (for 4 contestants) of 7, obtaining scores of 3, 3 and 1.

Series 8: Extra Portions
Series 8 consists of re-edited versions of the hour long, prime-time episodes, to the daily format of separate episodes. So for a usual show of 48mins with 4 contestants in a prime-time slot, the episodes were re-edited, with more footage being added, to become 4 separate episodes, shown over either 4 days or all on a single day, each being the usual 22–24 minutes each.

Series 9: Daytime
The daytime episodes from series 9 were held back and aired sporadically throughout 2009 and even into the start of 2010, filling gaps in blocks of repeats and later runs of the show. The channel 4 website still classes all these episodes as series 5.

During filming of the Basingstoke edition, Spencer Uren told his fellow contestants that his sister had cancer and that, if he won the competition, he would be donating the £2000 prize money to the hospital that was treating her. Shortly after filming, Uren was himself diagnosed with cancer and died after a short battle with the disease. The episode in which Uren cooks was dedicated to him.

His fellow contestant Gill Buley, with the support of Gabrielle Hennig and Richard Carpenter, started a charity, Come Dine For Spencer, to raise money for the hospital that treated him, Basingstoke and North Hampshire Hospital.

Series 10: Primetime
A third primetime series began airing on Sundays at 8pm from 15 February. There was an episode aired on 22 March, however it was a repeat of the Coventry episode from series 4a.

Series 12: Extra Portions
Series 12 consists of re-edited versions of the hour long, prime-time episodes, to the daily format of separate episodes. So for a usual show of 48mins with 4 contestants in a prime-time slot, the episodes were re-edited, with more footage being added, to become 4 separate episodes, shown over either 4 days or all on a single day, each being the usual 22–24 minutes each.

Series 22: Daytime
Although normal daytime episodes air Monday to Friday, the Cardiff episodes all aired consecutively on 22 January 2011.

Series 24: Primetime
Seamlessly continuing on from the Series 20 Primetime episodes, Series 24 began on Channel 4 in July 2011.

Series 25: Daytime

 * 1.Jasmine Lennard left following the second episode therefore never hosted her night. Her scores, however, were allowed to remain and Margi Clarke scored the following two nights.

Series 26: Primetime
Seamlessly continuing on from the Series 24 Primetime episodes, Series 26 began on Channel 4 in February 2012. Episodes 63 onwards are shortened versions of episodes in the series to fit into a 50-minute timeslot.


 * 1.This episode was first shown on More4 rather than Channel 4 which usually premieres each episode. It was first broadcast on Channel 4 on 7 December 2012.

Series 27
Channel 4 does not list there ever being a Series 27.

Series 28: Daytime
Series 28 featured "Extra Portions" episodes of the primetime Series 14 episodes. A total of 56 episodes have been broadcast to date.

Series 29: Primetime
Seamlessly continuing on from the Series 26 Primetime episodes, Series 29 began on Channel 4 in January 2013 with the Comedy Mash up. The latter half of the series, commencing 2 September 2013, was broadcast weekdays during the 5pm timeslot with the typical primetime format. Episode 28 was erroneously described by the voiceover as being in west Lancashire but in fact the episode took place in north Lancashire (Lancaster and Morecambe).

Series 30: Daytime
Seamlessly continuing on from the Series 25 Daytime episodes, Series 30 began transmission on Channel 4 in March 2013.

Series 31: Daytime
Seamlessly continuing on from the Series 30 Daytime episodes, Series 31 began transmission on Channel 4 in April 2014.

Series 32: Daytime
Series 32 began transmission on Channel 4 in September 2014.

Series 33: Primetime
Series 33 began transmission on Channel 4 in December 2014.

Series 34
Series 34 began transmission on Channel 4 in March 2015.

Series 35
Series 35 began transmission on Channel 4 in September 2015.

Series 37
Series 37 began transmission on Channel 4 in January 2016. (Note: Channel 4 website calls this Series 37, with Derbyshire from Series 35 labelled as the only episode in Series 36.)

Episode 1 of this series has become particularly infamous, with an ending that made top stories on national news sites. Peter Marsh had an outburst after finishing in 4th place (with scores of 7, 4 and 3 out of 10) saying that the winner (Jane) had deliberately sabotaged his evening to win. He said that she lived a "sad little life" and suggested that she should use the £1000 prize money to pay for some "lessons in grace and decorum".

Special episodes
On 19 November 2010, a special short episode of Come Dine With Me aired during the annual Children in Need telethon featuring the UK cast of Dragons' Den except for James Caan, who opted out. The premise of this show was that the male dragons Duncan Bannatyne, Peter Jones, and Theo Paphitis each cooked a course for their guest Deborah Meaden.

On 6 June 2012, More4 aired a "top 30" episode which featured clips of previous episodes. This episode is filed under Series 27 by Channel 4 which does not currently contain any other episodes.