Come Dine With Me

Infobox television
show_name = Come Dine With Me
producer = Granada London Productions


caption =
format = Cookery
runtime = 30 minutes
creator =
starring = Various
country = United Kingdom
language = British English
network = Channel 4
first_aired = January, 2005
last_aired = TBA 2009
runtime = 30 minutes. 60 minutes for special episodes.
num_episodes = 126 (as of January 4, 2008)
website = http://www.channel4.com/dine
imdb_id = 0820392 |

"Come Dine With Me" is a Channel 4 television programme shown in the United Kingdom, first broadcast in January 2005. The show has 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. An element of comedy is added to the show through comedian Dave Lamb, who provides a dry and sarcastic narration. The fourth series began airing on 10 April 2008.

Other Broadcasters

As well as being repeated on Channel 4, their sister channel More4 also regularly broadcasters past episodes on 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, Discovery Travel & Living, and Discovery Home & Health.

The programme is also shown in Australia on LifeStyle Food channel.

Derivative Formats

In March 2008 it was announced that rival broadcaster ITV1 had commissioned a new daytime programme, "House Guest" from ITV Productions, a part of the same company which also produces "Come Dine With Me". [cite web
url=http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2008/mar/10/itv.television
title=ITV1 commissions dinner host series
publisher=The Guardian
date=2008-01-25
accessdate=2008-03-10 ] The format for "House Guest" is very similar to that of "Come Dine With Me", in that several contestants visit each others 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 straws' to see who will stay overnight at the host's house, to judge their hospitality skills, awarding them a separate grade.

International Versions

The format to the programme has been sold to television channel VOX in Germany where it airs as "Das perfekte Dinner", to TLC in the USA as "Dinner Takes All", RTL Televizija in Croatia as "Večera za 5" and RTL Klub in Hungary as "Vacsoracsata". All five international versions are produced by local subsidiaries of British company Granada International. Also Spain will have an own version of the format, Ven a Cenar Conmigo, produced by Antena 3 and ZeppelinTV (Endemol Group). France also have their own localised version of the show under the name "Un Diner Presque Parfait" which translates as "An Almost Perfect Meal". The show is broadcast on the large private broadcaster M6 and has proved popular with older audiences. The show has also fared well in the face of public broadcaster TF1's "Un contre 100"

eries 1

The contestant in pink is the winner of the week. Week 2 was a tie.

An hour-long primetime Christmas special was also produced with 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.

eries 4

In late 2007 Channel 4 announced on their web site 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 Aberdeen. [cite web
url=http://www.channel4.com/life/microsites/C/come_dine/index.html
title=Appear on Come Dine with Me
publisher=Channel 4
date=2007
accessdate=2008-04-18 ] 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.

Additionally in January 2008 it was announced that another series of daytime episodes will also be produced. These will be in the traditional format of five daily half hour programmes. [cite web
url=http://www.digitalspy.co.uk/tv/a88247/primetime-version-for-c4s-dine-with-me.html
title=Primetime Version for Channel 4's Dine with Me
publisher=Digital Spy
date=2008-01-29
accessdate=2008-04-18 ] This report also contradicted the previous claim that the primetime version of the programme will only feature four guests in each location.

References

External links

* [http://www.channel4.com/dine In Search of the Perfect Dinner Party] at Channel4.com - Official site.
* [http://www.lifestylefood.com.au/shows/show.asp?id=280 "Come Dine With Me"] at Lifestyle FOOD - Australian broadcaster's site.
*imdb title|id=0820392|title=Come Dine With Me
* [http://cdwm.gastoasters.co.uk/ Come Dine With Me] - Page showing results from each episode.