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.
Peter Kay adds MORE hometown charity gigs in aid of Bolton Hospice
Danny Jones
Local comedy icon Peter Kay has added even more homecoming charity gigs, adding some extra shows at the historic Albert Halls.
You can guarantee these tickets will be snapped up quicker than you can say garlic bread.
Performing on behalf of his hometown’s Bolton Hospice, the Lancashire legend and stand-up veteran might be winding down his hugely successful career on stage, but not before raising as much money for charity as possible.
Confirmed on Monday, 13 July, a further four ‘Peter Kay: Better Late Than Never (Again!)’ dates have been tacked on the regional tour run – but there’s a catch.
Yes, in case you missed the initial announcement back in April, the 53-year-old from Farnworth is only catering to his native Boltonians.
With seats being made exclusive to those with specific postcodes only – after all, his previous record-breaking tour saw people all over the country treated to plenty of dates – this latest update gives them even more of a chance of getting tickets.
Speaking ahead of the sets scheduled for early next year, Peter says, “There was such a big demand for tickets for the shows that I really want to do more and give the people who missed out the chance to come along.”
If you want to check if you’re eligible to grab one, you can read more down below.
The Phoenix Nights and Max and Paddy creator goes on to add: “I’m putting on four more shows in the New Year and playing at the weekend means I can also perform matinees, as well as evening shows and increase funds for the hospice, which is what it’s all about.”
Kay has already raised huge sums for various charities throughout his career, and with all proceeds from these upcoming performances going to the organisation, these funds can make such a difference in so many lives.
Adding matinee and evening slots on Saturday and Sunday, 9-10 January 2027 (3:30 and 7:30pm), respectively, the quartet of additional comedy shows go on sale at 10am this Friday, 17 July.
A Wigan dad is searching for the ‘hero’ who helped calm his son’s panic attack while on a busy train
Emily Sergeant
A former rugby player from Wigan is searching for the ‘hero’ who came to his son’s aid when he was having a panic attack on a busy train.
Shaun Ainscough – a former rugby player who played for Wigan Warriors at the start of his career from 2009-10 – was on a packed train home from the match between his former team and St Helens at the Hill Dickinson Stadium on Sunday 5 July when his son started having a panic attack.
The 11-year-old boy was crying, screaming, shaking, taking his clothes off, and begging to get off the hot train carriage that was full of people travelling home from the match.
“All the fans [on the train] were singing and we were having a laugh, although because we were all stood up, we literally couldn’t sit anywhere,” Shaun explained to the BBC in an interview.
Shaun says he then became overwhelmed with emotion himself as he saw his son in distress, to the point where he also started crying.
But then, a woman – whose name is still unknown – came to the rescue and spent the entire rest of the journey trying to calm the boy, reassuring him with words and using a handheld fan to calm him down.
Shaun has since put out a post on social media – which has been seen by thousands of people – asking for the woman to come forward, as the pair are desperate to thank her in person and ‘give her some flowers’.
“It might not have seemed like a big deal to her but the small act was massive and we just want to say thank you,” Shaun explained.
“She could read something over text, but in person means so much more, and maybe we could give her some flowers just to show how much we appreciated her that day.”
He concluded: “This hero came over and ended up being the strongest person on the train.”
Emily Sergeant -
8th July 2020 
