A show that first aired back in 2005 and now has more series aired than we care to count. A show with some of the quirkiest ‘characters’ to grace our television screens, a voice-over presenter armed with a never-ending list of witty comments and comebacks, and a theme song that builds tension like no other.
It’s a real pillar of British 00s TV viewing and it needs celebrating.
Now, you might be thinking that a countdown list of the most hilarious Come Dine With Me moments has essentially been rendered pointless at this point thanks to everyone’s favourite, and objectively one of the best TV meltdowns of all time – “What a sad little life Jane” – but there’s plenty of other noteworthy moments, that are equally as iconic in their own right, which often get overlooked.
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Let’s take a look back at a few of these more underrated, but no less iconic, Come Dine With Me moments.
Narrowing it down to just five moments was a pretty tricky task as well, considering it’s been on air for 15 years after all, but we’ve plucked out a few gems.
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5. Tina Get’s Exposed
“So tell me about the flatbreads Tina”.
There certainly hasn’t been a shortage of people who have pretended to cook all of their meals from scratch on Come Dine With Me when, in reality, they’ve substituted a few shop-bought items in there, but Tina thought she could finesse a whole shop-bought meal and blame it on the fact she injured her foot.
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Spoiler alert – she get’s found out and it’s excellent.
4. Tina’s Had Enough
Yes, we’re back to Tina.
Tina’s the Come Dine With Me gift that keeps on giving, and whilst it might seem a bit much to award her two spots on this list, she does deserve it. This time she’s not having it and storms out of the room after Reece (it wasn’t even Recce who did it by the way) makes a joke at her expense that she’s not too happy with and it’s just underrated TV gold.
3. The Sore Loser
Think of this as the sister meltdown to “What a sad little life Jane”.
We bet a good number of people who appear on Come Dine With Me probably think their meals have been the best that week, but most just know how to bite their tongue and let it slide if they don’t come out on top.
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Not Heather though.
2. That ‘Whisk Guy’
You really shouldn’t need more than that to jog your memory of what we’re on about here.
Still to this day, we have no idea whether this is a genuine moment.
Did he really mean to stick the whole whisk in his mouth like that? Is that really how he ‘tastes’ his cooking? He can’t be serious, right? Or is he just purposefully trying to trigger everyone?
Look, if he was aiming to be remembered as one of the strangest blokes to ever appear on Come Dine With Me, then he’s undoubtedly succeeded.
To top our list of hilarious Come Dine With Me moments, we’re taking it back to 2017 when poor Hali gloriously went, and there’s no other way to describe this, arse over tit as she made her way to one of the week’s dinner parties.
Curb 1 – Hali 0.
We know people falling over is pretty cheap comedy, but there’s no denying it’s funny. She went on to completely style it out and rock up like nothing ever happened too, if you were wondering.
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So, there you have it.
Thank you Come Dine With Me for never failing to give us a chuckle when we need it, and just in case you clicked on this article hoping to see “What a sad little life Jane”, then it’d be wrong for us to deprive you of it.
Adventurous cat caught taking a train from Yorkshire to Manchester Airport
Daisy Jackson
Train conductors have reunited an adventurous senior cat with her owners after she was caught taking a train all the way to Manchester Airport.
15-year-old Angel was discovered on board an hour-long TransPennine Express service from West Yorkshire to the airport.
The black-and-white moggy had been strolling along the train making friends with passengers on board, following conductor Will Saunders through the carriages.
It turns out Angel is something of a local legend in Brighouse, and has been caught riding rail replacement buses in the past too, as well as making herself at home in the local pub.
On this occasion, she fancied herself a little holiday and hopped on board the 3.55am service from Brighouse to Manchester Airport.
Will kept a close eye on the gorgeous cat all the way to Manchester Airport, where they settled her into a cardboard box at the station.
Will then took Angel home to Stockport for the night to keep her safe, later discovering a phone number on Angel’s collar.
He and his partner then drove Angel all the way back home to Brighouse.
Will Saunders, conductor at TPE, said: “As a cat lover myself, I couldn’t leave her to fend for herself. She was so calm and confident on the train – it was like she’d done it before!
“I’m just glad we could keep her safe and get her back home. She’s clearly a much-loved cat.”
Andrew McClements, Customer Experience & Transformation Director at TPE, added: “Our teams are used to helping customers reach their destinations, but this was definitely one of our more unusual passengers.
“We’re just glad we could make sure this adventurous feline made it home safely.”
Now back where she belongs, Angel’s tale shows that even the most curious traveller can count on TPE to help them land on their paws.
Mulligans are making butties with the team behind some of the best sandwiches in Manchester
Danny Jones
We feel like we say this almost every time they set up one of these crossovers, but Bada Bing might have just hit it out of the park with their latest collaboration, as they’re teaming up with beloved Irish bar Mulligans to create what could be the sandwich of the century.
In case you’re wondering where we’ll be when this butty becomes available, we’ll be in the legendary Manchester pub, clutching at least three of these while asking the live band to play The Sopranos theme tune in full Celtic reel fashion.
Yes, two of our very favourite places in the city centre are teaming up not just for a one-off special, the Deansgate boozer – widely considered one of the best Irish bars (if not THE best) in Manchester – is actually going to be supplying the crucial ingredient in their limited-time menu item.
Teasing the collab earlier this week, the Bada Bing boys roped in Mulligans owner, Pádraig Brady, to play his role in the announcement that quickly went viral.
Now, in case you weren’t already salivating at the mere thought of it, wait until you hear what concoction they have come up with.
Simply titled ‘Split the B’ (nice), the Bada Bing x Mulligans special edition sandwich features Mulligans’ Guinness-braised short rib, crispy spuds, greens, pickled cabbage and crispy onions. Oh. My. Word…
With punters’ favourite ‘Mullies’ pouring in more than 13,000 pints of the black stuff every single week, it won’t surprise you to learn that those lines have to be cleaned and maintained almost constantly.
It also goes without saying that wasting even a single drop of that liquid gold is a tragedy, so they had the ingenious of using that surplus stout to create a limited supply of slow-roasted, Guinness-flavoured beef fit to grace any authentic Irish stew.
Slap that meat between bread, and what do you get? Perhaps one of the greatest culinary creations we Manchester foodies have ever seen.
Speaking on the collab, Pádraig said: “At Mulligans, we take pride in every pint of Guinness we pour, so when the chance came up to team up with Bada Bing and create something special for Mancs to enjoy beyond the pub, it just made sense. Quality recognises quality.”
“We’ve always admired Mulligans for how they do things – with no shortcuts”, says Sam Gormally, co-founder of Bada Bing.”
He went on to add: “This collab celebrates everything we both love about Manchester hospitality – craft, quality and a bit of heart. It’s a proper Manc sandwich, made with a proper pint.”
In case it wasn’t already blatantly obvious, we cannot wait to try this thing, and since it’s only being served for a few days, we intend to eat as many as possible.
The ‘Split the B’ Mulligans x Bada Bing Guinness Sandwich will be available exclusively at Bada Bing, 125 Oldham St in the Northern Quarter from Thursday, 6 November – and once they’re gone, they’re GONE.
Emily Sergeant -
8th July 2020 
