Since Come Dine with Me moved to CH4, it's had rapid success and a cult following, inspiring many to re-create the show in their own homes with their own groups. Though one would hope with friends the competitiveness of the contestants wouldn't reach the same the levels of animosity.
Simplicity is the Key
As with all successful reality shows, Come Dine with Me's structure is simple. The contestants take it in turns to cook each other a meal in their own homes. They willingly let 3 strangers (plus a film crew) into their homes and are then subjected to their colleagues' scrutiny and criticisms who mark them out of 10 for the standard of the meal. The chef with the highest mark wins, wait for it, a grand total of £1000.
That's right. For the canny producers of this show, no set is required, just a camera, a relatively small camera crew and a measly cash prize. And let's not forget the added gem guaranteed to create brilliant television: a taxi in which to escort drunken contestants home which is of course filmed; people drunk on tv? Inspired, because let's face it, we all love watching people degrade themselves.
The Winner Takes it All
Despite this humiliation and degradation, which seems hugely disproportionate to the 25% chance of bagging a pathetically small token of money, winning seems vitally important to all who sign up for this domestic scrutiny. Perhaps it is less to do with the cash (certainly some probably spend more on the preparation of their feasts, for instance, how much does it cost to hire out Elvis, or to create a fake snow scene outside your dinning room window?) and more to with good old British hospitable pride; everyone wants to be considered the hostess with the mostess.
Survival of the Fittest
It is this competitiveness that provides a rich supply of humour for the viewers. The stakes are high for the contestants because it's not simply their culinary prowess that is being tested, it's their home and lifestyle also. So with a personal reputation to lose, the contestants invariably take the strategy of knocking the others down.
The strong survival instinct of humanity is so aptly demonstrated when intermittently through the evening, the guests slip invariably into their host's bedroom to bitch to the camera about the meal in drunken, whispered tones, before returning out, smiling and guzzling down more of their host's best vintage wine. There is something delightfully appalling about a man being criticised for his champagne prawns on national TV, broadcast from his very own bedroom.
Generosity,Anyone?
None of the contestants seem to have clocked that if you slate and degrade someone's lovingly cooked meal, chances are, they'll slate you back. Whilst this backstabbing and bitchiness is great fun to watch (especially as the wine flows freely throughout- how else do you expect four British strangers to get along?) the real winners are not in fact the ones who take home the wad of £20 notes, but the rare few who still practice generosity in today's greedy, competitive world.
Take, for example, Alison Balfour Lynn from Luton (series 4) whose own meal was yes, a disaster, but saw in her fellow competitors the time and effort that went into each meal and rewarded them accordingly. You may have come last, Alison, but you're first in the viewer's hearts.
- Come Dine With Me is aired on Ch4 Sundays at 20.30
- Voice over by David Lamb
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