Come Dine with Me (2005– ) User Reviews (20)

undemanding television for the reality era

[didi-5 · 7/10 · 16 May 2009]

In an age where the reality programme is king, alongside cookery, makeover shows, and murder mysteries, 'Come Dine With Me' is one of the better offerings, mainly because of the absolutely awful contestants and the witty, sarcastic voiceovers by Dave Lamb. Without his input, this would not have much going for it.

Originally the format was one dinner party per episode, with a group of episodes representing each contest - more recently, this has changed so everything is dealt with during one edition. This has probably gained more viewers as there isn't so much of a commitment involved should you want to see the whole contest leading to the £1,000 prize.

Dangerously Addictive Reality Television Show

[l_rawjalaurence · 7/10 · 22 January 2014]

COME DINE WITH ME now occupies a large slice of Channel 4's daytime schedule, with episodes running at lunchtime, late afternoon and most of Saturday afternoon. Channel 4's sister station More4 runs more episodes in the early evening. Watching several episodes back to back allows certain themes to emerge: the food selection by each contestant is often repetitive; the contestants have entrenched attitudes; their judgments are affected very much by the desire to win the competition; and all of them are more than ready to act in front of the ubiquitous television camera. Dave Lamb's narration contributes to the overall jokey atmosphere, as he makes fun of the contestants' pretensions. From a sociological perspective, however, COME DINE WITH ME is a fascinating text, as it encapsulates within each twenty-five-minute episode the enduring class, gender and age prejudices of most of the contestants. Anyone who thinks that contemporary Britain has changed in terms of its social structure, as compared with, say, half a century ago, would have their assumptions readily undermined here. Snobberies, racial prejudices, and gender jealousies still exist, even if they are perhaps more politely expressed than they might have once been.

Where do they find the contestants ?

[welshNick · 6/10 · 2 March 2010]

This is shown on Channel 4 in the late afternoons and as late afternoon programmes go is really quite good.

Five people who do not know each other each have to throw a dinner party for the other four on consecutive days and are secretly marked by the other diners. The winner at the end of the week receives £1000. All of this is narrated by a rather sarcastic Dave Lamb who does get on my nerves sometimes.

The problem I sometimes have with this is the appalling manners of some of the contestants who take part. When at a formal dinner party you do not ask for any condiments that are not on the table. When the main course arrives, asking for salt before you have tried it is the biggest insult you can give whoever cooked it. I appreciate that this is an entertainment show but showing such low social standards does not reflect well on the British particularly as this show is now being exported abroad.

Where have standards of politeness gone ? You can say what you like afterwards to the camera but don't have a go about the dessert to the host. I have been to many dinner parties both formal and informal but hopefully I will never have to endure any of the people who appear in this show.

Fun fun fun.

[Obbykins · 10/10 · 1 January 2008]

Come Dine With Me is a really wonderful programme. My favourite week so far and probably ever is the week with Isobelle and Bill Buckley (Bill being one of many presenters (but my favourite) of a London radio station).

It involves 5 contestants, each whom invite the other four into their homes and hope for a 40/40 score - this, I've never seen done apart from maybe once.

The creators usually pick a slightly more hostile person to be in a group of people. They do not tolerate tactical voting.

All in all, I love this programme, with much of it's charm coming from the witty lines provided by narrator Dave Lamb.

A certain charm to this reality cook-off

[safenoe · 7/10 · 21 February 2020]

There are no pretentions to this series, and its charm is the interaction of five guests and a daily cook-off for the 1,000 pound prize. It's not the money that counts so much (depending on which part of the UK you live I guess), but how the guests get along with each other in the course of the dinner. I especially like the part when the contestants are driving in a cab giving their critique and scores. I'd love to see a celebrity episode featuring all the former prime ministers of the UK.

Reality foody series

[roxmewild · 29 August 2020]

5 strangers vie to win £1000 prize each stranger hosts and prepares a 3 course homemade meal the diners then score the meal each out of 10 In secret. At the end of the week when all have hosted the scores are revealed and the highest score wins the money. I love this show the people who are hosts are all so different and interesting the narration in between is done by Dave Lamb he is excellent his dry sarcastic humour has me in fits of laughter and he really makes this show .

If you have never watched it and get the chance I would highly recommend

"Come dine with me?"... No way!

[chrisbishop5000 · 1/10 · 23 September 2011]

This is one of the most irritating, cocky, brash, exasperating TV shows ever! My mum loves it and it's just finished on Channel 4 (sarcastically) but, fear not, I'm writing this review on a Friday and tomorrow, as always on Channel 4 on a Saturday late afternoon, multiple episodes of the show are broadcast (but thankfully we're all out tomorrow and so we'll probably miss it - YIPPEE!!!

It's such a lovely idea which makes it even more of a shame that it is so god-damned ANNOYING! I feel like pulling my hair out when I so much as catch snippets of this programme and, do you know the most annoying bit of the show? DAVE LAMB!!!!!!! He never appears to know what "shut up" means nor how to! He's enormously annoying and, I'd say, what his active mouth needs is a strip of duck-tape - JUST so I can regain sanity for a little while! A very, very poor television programme which had long overstayed its welcome! I'm surprised the show saw its first month running!

strangely compelling

[alexeberlin · 8/10 · 3 March 2009]

I normally loathe reality television but this series is quite addictive.

It offers the viewer into the homes and lives of a group of ordinary people who , thankfully, and unusually in terms of reality TV , don't expect to get a career out of it.

Its fascinating to see the way that "normal" people conduct themselves on TV.Vanities are often reduced to a million tiny pieces, sometimes amusingly so.A fine example being the hairdresser who wanted to be surrounded by beautiful people " like you'd find in the pages of Hello".

Clearly this individual has no self awareness and no mirror. I watch this show religiously.

Dave Lamb makes the show

[pdg-55625 · 7/10 · 13 April 2024]

Come Dine With Me, a staple of British and Irish TV screens during dinner time. Some of the memorable TV moments came from CDWM. It must be said, the show would just not be what it is without Dave Lamb, the voice-over host/narrator. His dry-wit always delivers a chuckle.

The format is simple but very fun, and all the recipes are put up on the channel's website (for better or worse!) I used to watch this show all the time as a kid, and I put that down to Lamb. One of the first meals I cooked was an Indian curry dish I saw on the show. If you're ever flicking through the channels, it's worth a stop at CDWM.

No hope left for CDWM

[zsrnhktf · 2/10 · 1 June 2022]

I've been a fan of CDWM for years but I have to pipe up now and say what has been aired this week is total crap tv. Very disappointed. At this rate I can't see any future series being made.

Best binge show ever

[karate_koala · 10/10 · 15 February 2021]

Always an upper to watch Come dine with me is a sure bet Raise your appetite with some laughs A truly reliable winning horse

Dining as backbiting

[trimmerb1234 · 3/10 · 23 May 2008]

Much of the world regarded France as the home of good food. If the English ate to live then the French lived to eat it was said. But much has changed in England in the last 30 years or so. Never have so many taken such interest in good food. The dullness and poor quality of English "cuisine" has been replaced by ultra-cosmopolitan and much more skillful versions. All stimulated very largely by television.

The model for civilised dining both at its most formal and as a refined pleasure was French. In a sense it became the European ideal of civilised living - good food, good conversation overseen by a host who combined cooking as well as subtle human skills.

But England has very recently produced an illegitimate and ugly offspring - a boorish variant which (and who) while skilled in the technicalities - the preparation and the judging of food, even the aesthetics of the dining environment is entirely deficient in feelings. Worse than psychopathic where there may be attempts to conceal this, boorishness can be worn as a badge of pride.

So we have Come Dine With Me - reality TV in which contestants in fact competitors, sometimes aggressive, are brought together in a latter day bear pit to chew at each others food - and legs - in return, like most distasteful activities, for a large amount of cash. As in a version of The Prisoners Dilemma each must decide a strategy - be nice and hope to get good marks from the others or be nasty all round. Many opt for compromise: publicly complimentary to the host then rude about everything and everyone each time they are alone with the camera. Many confide to the camera their own immeasurable skills and the others' manifold defects. Meals, unsurprisingly are frequently tense affairs where a host who had previously boasted on camera struggles to match a quarter of his or her boasts. We the audience look with interest as sometimes there are glimpses of skill and originality but more interestingly we see vanity crushed before our eyes, if we are lucky one or more of the competitors become distressed and tearful. Like Big Brother its conceptual stable-mate we are encouraged to watch bloodless combat. Civilised dining has become in Come Dine with Me simply eating and backbiting.

Come Dine with Me

[jboothmillard · 8/10 · 11 September 2010]

"Come Dine with me, let's dine, let's dine away" (LOL) When I first heard of this programme I thought it was going to be a pretty boring alternative look at the cookery show, but when I tried an episode it actually turned out to be better than I initially thought. Basically four or five strangers or celebrities (I mostly watch the celebrity versions, but I may watch the occasional public version) are invited to each others houses to compete for a £1000 prize. The game is simple, one of the group has to cook a three course meal for the other three or four guests, the guests only have a menu as a guide and clue. So the guests eat the three courses, starter, main and dessert, and after the evening is over we see them driving away in a taxi, and it is there that they mark both the food and the evening out of ten, the winner of the £1000 is obviously the person with the highest score. Narrated by Dave Lamb gives it a little something as well, it is not just a mini guide of how the people are preparing their meals, but he also adds some little comedic one-liners about the people themselves, and what they are getting up to. Celebrity guests have included Ulrika Jonsson, Helen Lederer, David Quantick, Aggie MacKenzie, Anneka Rice, Rowland Rivron, Linda Robson, Toby Young, Lesley Joseph, Linda Lusardi, Paul Ross, Abi Titmuss, Barry and Paul Chuckle, Big Brother 5's Nadia Almada, Big Brother 9's Brian Belo, Big Brother 2's Brian Dowling, Big Brother 10's Sophie Reade, John Fashanu, Neil 'Razor' Ruddock, Michael Barrymore, Jenny Powell, Pat Sharp, Edwina Currie, Janice Dickinson, Samantha Fox and many more. It was nominated the National Television Award for Most Popular Factual Programme. Very good!

Jumped the shark years ago

[phynesse72 · 1/10 · 7 March 2023]

CDWM was an enjoyable watch for the first few seasons before it morphed into an unwatchable mess of a program. The heart of the show was about amateurs trying to out-do each other's cooking. Now it is a clown show and most contestants seem more interested in auditioning than cooking. The producers wear their biases on their sleeves as in each episode it is easy to see from the contestants they choose and their agenda of keeping the social order/hierarchy as they believe it needs to be.

If you were to look at all the winners of each program over the years it would be easy to see why the show is problematic and not authentic.

Not Always Hygenic Food Preparation

[highpriestess32 · 8/10 · 13 January 2010]

I am consistently amazed by the total cleanliness that the homes of the contestants boast only to then observe some decidedly poor cooking hygiene.

That goes for the celebrity versions too. On one Celebrity Come Dine With Me, we see Anneka Rice drop a bag full of fresh squid rings onto her kitchen carpet, only to scoop it up, request that the clip not be included before throwing it all unrinsed back into the paella pan. Inexcusable lenience for the most basic food handling laws.

The ongoing narration adds well to the humorous side of the show although many recipes are not helpful for regular home-cooking since in order to impress the dinner guests, hosts have a frequent tendency to push the boat out and many dishes are decadent in terms of calorific content and unsuitable for daily consumption. Contestants also have an allocated budget meaning they can afford a more upmarket joint of meat or the better catch of the day.

What is appealing is the "fly on the wall" aspect of this programme. Once the small talk is over with, we the viewers get to see the real opinions of the guests as they are interviewed separately and on occasion the over-the-table banter leads to upset and disquiet as we see dominant personalities clash.

Somewhat of a cult show, it is definitely worth one watch, even if, like me, you do not necessarily favour cookery programmes. The comedic element is what sells this truly worthwhile programme!

Annoying and coompletely fake

[AMAZINGzingzing · 1/10 · 17 June 2020]

During the first few years come dine was a reasonably enjoyable show, i could easily watch an hour of it

now it has become so scripted fake and annoying, every episode features the same format , dave lamb wont be quiet and let us enjoy the show , his comments are not funny,

every episode is the same thing the guests look in the home ownwers cupboards and pretend to be shocked by finding a thong or some nude artwork,the guests have a minor argument and dave acts like they are having a huge physical fight

and the same dumb conversation happens, they ask what kind of animal would you be. they guess their ages and jobs,this is 100% scripted

And the prize money is nothing to get excited about, they film the show over 5 days, one thousand pounds is nothing to get excited about

i really hope this garbage gets removed from tv

Like the show but.....

[alenshields · 8/10 · 2 July 2019]

Great idea for a show but I'm constantly amazed at what the contestants don't know when it comes to international foods.

The Anoying Narrator

[youngkaren-25330 · 1/10 · 28 March 2021]

The guy who narrates this show has no sense of humor.

I don't get the negative reviews

[Just-Being-Me · 8/10 · 5 March 2014]

I think this cooking programme is one of the better ones, a cooking show with a difference, i don't get why it has any negative reviews. The negative reviews don't even give valid reasons for hating the show, don't like it? then don't watch it.. problem solved.

Yes it has its boring shows, what show doesn't? every show has boring ones, great ones and OK ones... you can't expect great all the time but i personally really like this programme. It's the first cooking show that makes me laugh. I think the comments from the narrator are funny, sometimes he doesn't make sense but hey give the guy a break, he can't be funny all the time.

All i will say bad about it is that it sometimes has annoying people on it, stuck up people, people who can't stop yapping, people who feel the need to shout even though the person they are talking to is just arms length away from them, judgemental people, people that think they are the best cook in the world then they always end up losing, but the show overall... GREAT. I would recommend people giving this programme a try if you are into cooking with a difference.

8 out of 10 from me.

Come Dine with Me

[jboothmillard · 8/10 · 19 December 2010]

"Come Dine with me, let's dine, let's dine away" (LOL) When I first heard of this programme I thought it was going to be a pretty boring alternative look at the cookery show, but when I tried an episode it actually turned out to be better than I initially thought. Basically four or five strangers or celebrities (I mostly watch the celebrity versions, but I may watch the occasional public version) are invited to each others houses to compete for a £1000 prize. The game is simple, one of the group has to cook a three course meal for the other three or four guests, the guests only have a menu as a guide and clue. So the guests eat the three courses, starter, main and dessert, and after the evening is over we see them driving away in a taxi, and it is there that they mark both the food and the evening out of ten, the winner of the £1000 is obviously the person with the highest score. Narrated by Dave Lamb gives it a little something as well, it is not just a mini guide of how the people are preparing their meals, but he also adds some little comedic one-liners about the people themselves, and what they are getting up to. Celebrity guests have included Michelle Heaton, Lee Ryan, Peter Stringfellow, Caprice Bourret, Jimmy Osmond, Vic Reeves, Nancy Sorrell, Antony Worrall Thompson, Christopher Biggins, Edwina Currie, Philip Olivier, Raef Bjayou, June Brown, Dani Behr, Dane Bowers, Bobby Davro, Laila Morse, David Gest, Sherrie Hewson, Mickey Rooney, Hannah Waterman, Javine Hylton, Claire Sweeney, Kim Woodburn, Nadia Almada, Brian Belo, Brian Dowling, Sophie Reade, Julie Goodyear, Ken Morley, John Fashanu, Neil 'Razor' Ruddock, Michael Barrymore, Jenny Powell, Pat Sharp, Brian Capron, Nicola T., Calum Best, Jeff Brazier, Janice Dickinson, Samantha 'Sam' Fox and many more. It was nominated the National Television Award for Most Popular Factual Programme. Very good!