Since its launch in 2005, Come Dine With Me has given us 27 incredible series so far of awkward dinner interactions, cooking disasters and bizarre evening entertainment.
That’s without counting the celebrity, couples and international spin-offs that the series has inspired over the past 15 years.
But the series isn’t planning to stop any time soon! Channel 4 recently confirmed that they were looking to film new episodes of the show later this year.
The channel is currently looking for contestants in multiple locations across the UK. The main criteria for applying is that you’re over 18. You also can’t have trained as or currently work as a professional chef.
Prize money of £1000 is up for grabs for the contestant who can host the best dinner party, but as anyone who’s ever watched the show will know, it’s not always that straight forward.
Contestants often play the contest strategically, sometimes deliberately underscoring the other contestants or trying to make them look bad in front of the other guests.
In one of the most famous scenes from the show, Manchester-based Peter gets upset with winner Jane and tries to kick her out of his house after losing the competition. It led to the now infamous ‘what a sad little life, Jane’ line from the show.
When does the new series start?
Despite having to halt filming due to Covid-19, the new series of Come Dine With me is ready to go ahead, this time choosing an independent location to host dinner in.
The contestants will alternate over the course of a week, with a different person hosting a dinner party each night in a bid to win over the other guests.
While there’s no official release date for the new series yet, applications for the show are currently open.
The show will be filming over the summer, which means we should be hoping for an autumn release date.
How to apply for Come Dine With Me
Come Dine With Me culinary hopefuls can apply to be part of the show directly on the Channel 4 website or by emailing the production company at [email protected].
However, it’s a competitive process to get on the show.
According to The Sun, to apply for Come Dine With Me, you can be put through up to ten steps to win a place on the show. This includes a written application, phone interview and an audition tape.
It’s not a process for the faint heated and if you get through to the final show, it doesn’t stop there.
Each contestant is allegedly given £125 to go towards their food and drink.
While the dinner parties in the show look seamless, they can take up to eight hours to film per night! Cars drop off the guests at around 4pm to start the filming process. With so many courses and different show segments to film, they often don’t leave until around 1am.
And those taxi scenes you see at the end of each episode where contestants give out their scores? That’s actually not real.
The taxis do a few laps around the block for each contestant while they film the scoring segment. The diners are then dropped back at the host’s house to get a much less glamorous mini-cab home.
The good news is that the £1000 platter served up at the end to the winner is made of real money. Better get practising those dinner speeches!
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