TV & Showbiz

A Come Dine With Me spin-off series is looking for restaurants and chefs in Manchester

Daisy Jackson Daisy Jackson - 20th January 2022

A new spin-off series of Come Dine With Me is on the hunt for chefs and restaurateurs in Greater Manchester.

Come Dine With Me: The Professionals is a new twist on the classic daytime reality show.

It will see hospitality professionals, rather than amateur home cooks, battle it out to be crowned the best independent restaurant in their city.

Each self-contained episode will feature three local restaurants competing for a cash prize to be shared amongst the staff.

Due to air later this year, the programme will be formatted in a similar way to Four In A Bed, with two people from each restaurant representing the whole business.

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The hit show is on the hunt for restaurants. Credit: Channel 4

The competitors will dine in each other’s restaurants during a normal service and mark their experience out of 20.

Come Dine With Me: The Professionals will still be narrated by the iconic voice of Dave Lamb.

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Simone Haywood from MultiStory Media, which produces the show, said: “Come Dine With Me: The Professionals pays homage to one of the nation’s most-loved industries.

“We’re looking forward to heading across the country to meet some of the UK’s best restaurateurs and chefs in this new twist on our classic format.”

Come Dine With Me. Credit: Multi Story Media

MultiStory Media’s CEO Tim Carter said: “For 15 glorious years, we’ve been celebrating the culinary creations and epic fails that pour forth from the Nation’s home kitchens.

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“Now, as they recover from the battering of the last couple of years, Come Dine With Me cheers on Britain’s restaurants with its customary love note to gastronomic endeavour.”

Channel 4’s Jo Street added: “Come Dine With Me continues to be one of Channel 4’s best loved programmes with many memorable dinners served all over the UK in over 2,000 episodes.

Read more: Top 5 hilarious moments that actually happened on Come Dine With Me

“CDWM: The Professionals promises to really raise the stakes and we’re delighted to dish up this new extension on Channel 4 in 2022 to complement existing favourites Come Dine With Me and Couples Come Dine With Me.”

If you own or work in a Greater Manchester restaurant that would like to take part in Come Dine With Me: The Professionals, email [email protected].

Featured image: Channel 4

TV & Showbiz

New Hairy Bikers documentary to take viewers on ’emotional journey’ in tribute to Dave Myers

Emily Sergeant Emily Sergeant

A new documentary paying an emotional tribute to late Hairy Biker Dave Myers is set to air on the BBC in the run up to Christmas.

Dave Myers – who was most well-known for being one half of the famous Hairy Bikers duo that starred in the BBC cookery and travel show of the same name, alongside Si King – died earlier this year (28 February 2024) after revealing back in May 2022 that he had been diagnosed with cancer, and was undergoing chemotherapy treatment.

He passed away at the age of 66 – with a tribute released by fellow Hairy Biker Si revealing his family and friends were by his side.

The final Hairy Bikers episode aired on 19 March following Dave’s passing, and viewers tuned in in their tens of thousands to watch the beloved show that had been entertaining the masses for close to two decades.

But despite that being the final episode with Dave involved, there’s still one last chapter left to tell.

Set to air on BBC Two on Monday 23 December, viewers will be invited on an “emotional journey” through the Hairy Bikers story with Si King, as he celebrates the life of his best mate and former TV partner.

The documentary follows Si as he leads a motorcycle convoy to Dave’s hometown of Barrow-in-Furness, while archive material, new interviews, and previously-unseen footage is shown to help celebrate Dave’s life.

A new Hairy Bikers documentary will take viewers on an ’emotional journey’ in tribute to Dave Myers / Credit: BBC / South Shore Productions

You can relive the journey that took Dave around the world while cooking up a storm as one of television’s greatest-ever double acts.

“I’m incredibly proud of the programme because it’s a tribute to my best mate,” Si King said.

“It was an amazing experience, I didn’t quite know what to expect. That was the whole thing, none of us did. We thought at the most we’d get 10,000 bikes, we didn’t dream it would be 46,000 motorcycles and a 30-mile tail, it was just insane. I just felt enormously privileged.”

Read more:

Hairy Bikers: You’ll Never Ride Alone will air on BBC Two on Monday 23 December at 9pm, and will also be available to watch on BBC iPlayer.

Featured Image – BBC

TV & Showbiz

Snoop Dogg says he wants to replace Gregg Wallace on MasterChef – and so do we

Danny Jones Danny Jones Snoop Dogg wants to join MasterChef UK

With Gregg Wallace having been axed from MasterChef, one man has put himself forward to replace the long-standing presenter: Snoop Dogg.

Make that Snoop ‘Doggy’ Dogg, esquire and all-round foodie fancy pants, to you.

No, as we often feel we have to clarify sometimes, we’re not joking – the rapper and hip-hop legend apparently is very keen on the idea of becoming the next co-host of UK MasterChef.

It also goes without saying that we will never EVER get bored of writing headlines like these.

Credit: The Martha Stewart Show/BBC

Speaking to The Mirror, the 53-year-old music icon said, “You’ll best believe You better believe Snoop could be the new MasterChef judge.”

According to Snoop, his time working on Martha & Snoop’s Potluck Dinner Party with well-known American cook, food writer and TV personality Martha Stewart means he already has prior experience and he also believes he has the backing of another big culinary name.

“My boy Gordon [Ramsay] judges on the US version of the show, and I know he would back me to be able to judge on the UK version”, he told the outlet, going on to add: “He knows I am not playing when it comes to food. He knows I can cook – I have even given him some tips.

“I hosted a cooking show over here and I have always been vocal about wanting to work on a UK show. I love the place – and for real, this could be the perfect opportunity.”

His bid to join the BBC show might be less likely than many others, but we’ve already seen how well getting familiar entertainment faces on works for the Celebrity version of the show, not to mention juicing up the comedy with less serious analysis as seen on Channel 4’s rebrand of The Great British Bake Off.

You can see a selection of Snoop’s on-screen cooking highlights here.

Read more:

As for the latest on Wallace, he is still officially denying being involved in any inappropriate behaviour of a sexual nature on the show and various other TV projects, with a total of 13 people filing official historical complaints against the long-standing host over the course of a 17-year period.

The 60-year-old is now accused not only of sexual comments in the workplace but groping and touching multiple former contestants and colleagues.

Despite sticking to his official position he has, however, come out to apologise for a response video he made following the second raft of allegations, in which his comments were deemed offensive and misogynistic by a Downing Street official.

We’re confident we already know the answer, so we’ll ask you this instead: just how much do you want to see Snoop Dogg presenting the next series of MasterChef?

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Featured Images — Super 45 (via Flickr)/Glenn Francis (via Wikimedia Commons)/BBC

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