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.
A ‘legacy walk’ in memory of the Joe Thompson is taking place across Greater Manchester
Danny Jones
The ‘Walk With Me for JT’, a.k.a Joe Thompson ‘Legacy Walk’, is back next month, and Greater Mancunians are being encouraged to take part.
Returning this year following his tragic passing last April, the now annual charity walk has already raised thousands for charity and is set for another big turnout.
Joe Thompson, an ex-Rochdale AFC and Bury FC player, sadly died at just 36 following a long battle with lymphoma, having been diagnosed three different times in 12 years.
While the young husband and father of two’s story is a heartbreaking one, it has also become a source of inspiration for so many across the North West and, indeed, across the UK, with people once again gearing up to complete a fundraising walk in his name.
Set to honour him by making the journey from his adopted home of Rochdale all the way to Old Trafford, with Thompson having come through Man United’s youth academy, the 15-mile trek will start at his former club’s Crown Oil Arena and stop at Bury’s Gigg Lane as well as Salford City’s Peninsula Stadium.
First held in 2024 under the ‘Walk With Me for JT’ banner, the initial legacy walk saw the Bath-born footballer and countless others complete 21 miles in an effort to raise money for treatment.
Gone but never forgotten, the charity walk survives not only in the hearts and souls of his family, friends and other people’s lives he touched, but in the community spirit that his struggle and immense bravery in the face of illness helped spur on throughout the region and beyond.
Writing on social media, the Thompson family and the Foundation in his memory said, “Last year, he walked beside us. This year, we walk for him. This isn’t just a walk… It’s a promise. A promise to carry his strength, his belief, his light forward.
For every family facing illness. For everyone experiencing loss or hardship. For anyone who needs hope right now. Every step matters. Every mile has meaning. Whether you’ve walked before or this is your first time. You won’t walk alone.”
Join the annual Joe Thompson legacy walk on Saturday 2nd May 💙
Departing from the Crown Oil Arena, the 15-mile walk will finish at Manchester United's Old Trafford 🏟️
They signed off by adding: “Be part of something bigger. Be part of Joe’s legacy. Be part of the movement. Get a team together, invite your friends, colleagues and family and let’s raise funds to support The Joe Thompson Foundation.”
With the event beginning at 11am on Saturday, 2 May, there have already been numerous sign-ups, and you can expect even more to lace up their shoes and pay tribute to a local hero.
If you want to join in the effort and help do your bit, you can register for the 2026 Joe Thompson Legacy Walk right HERE.
Manchester rent is now ‘41% more expensive than five years ago, according to a recent study
Danny Jones
Yes, that’s right, as per some of the latest data on leased housing in central Manchester, it’s now approximately 41% more expensive to rent here than it was half a decade ago.
If you’ve lived in and around the city centre for long enough, chances are that you’ve already been feeling that difference, especially of late.
The ongoing cost-of-living crisis roughly began in 2021, following the economy and the world essentially opening back up after multiple lockdowns, so it’s little surprise that new research has shown affordability when it comes to renting has been on a slump ever since, too.
As well as the price of seemingly most things in everyday life going up post-pandemic, the average rental rate for even just a one-bedroom flat/apartment has jumped up significantly between 2020 and 2025.
Even some ‘available’ housing in town is being hampered by claddin (Credit: Valienne via WikiCommons)
That’s according to the numbers crunched by credit card experts, Zable, anyway.
Not only did their recent report cite the rent prices going up even before the cost of living crisis – essentially following the outset of the Covid-19 outbreak – but if their figures, the rate of inflation and the unwaveringly high demand for housing are anything to go by, this trajectory is likely to continue in 2026.
As of February this year, around one in three UK households is now a single-person occupancy, which already comes with its challenges (the Manchester City Council tax discount being a thin lifeline for countless), not to mention energy bills and the cost of groceries continuing on an upwards trend.
Put in the simplest and most reductive terms, it’s now almost £300 dearer for most people to live on their own than it was back in 2020, and besides Liverpool clocking in as second on the list of increasingly expensive cities to live (a 42.12% increase), Manchester came in third.
You can see the full table down below:
Rank
City
% increase – 2020-2025
Difference from 2020 to 2025 in £
Average rental cost for a 1 bed 2025
1
Newport
47.39%
£2,611
£8,121
2
Liverpool
42.12%
£2,290
£7,727
3
Manchester
41.00%
£3,364
£11,569
4
Edinburgh
40.28%
£4,620
£16,090
5
Leicester
39.93%
£2,391
£8,379
6
Wolverhampton
39.22%
£2,049
£7,273
7
Nottingham
39.07%
£2,400
£8,543
8
Glasgow
38.02%
£2,679
£9,725
9
Colchester
37.63%
£2,617
£9,572
10
Cardiff
37.06%
£2,828
Average rental cost for a 1-bed 2025
Another fear is that with lots of people finding it hard to manage living in other major cities like London, even those moving to Manchester are also having an impact on how available affordable housing is here.
That’s why schemes such as the new ‘social rent’ development over in Wythenshawe are so important to the current generations of renters, with the possibility of owning your own property in the future becoming increasingly difficult for so many.
It’s also worth noting that Manchester ranked fourth among the British locations where the cost of living is said to have increased the most over the past five years, with the average difference in annual spend growing by an estimated 22.84%.
Emily Sergeant -
8th July 2020 
