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Privacy NoticeShowbiz journalist Benjy Potter has spilled the beans on all the behind-the-scenes secrets he discovered when he appeared on Come Dine with Me back in 2020 – including a surprising fact about the iconic black cab scenes. Come Dine with Me is one of the UK’s most cherished competition TV shows, where a group of strangers battle it out to be crowned the ultimate dinner party host and bag themselves £1,000. The show, narrated by Dave Lamb, has been a staple on Channel 4 since 2005. Brits adore the unique format of the show, which sees each contestant host a dinner party each night, with their fellow contestants rating it at the end. Now, former contestant Benjy Potter has lifted the lid on all the secrets he learned about the filming process from his stint on the show in June 2020. In a series of TikTok clips, Benjy confessed that he came last in the reality show, but described it as “one of the best experiences” of his life.
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He came last in the competition
(Image: Youtube/Come Dine With Me)
However, there are plenty of things happening behind the scenes that viewers aren’t privy to. For instance, according to the showbiz journalist, each dinner party lasts an incredible eight hours. He revealed that you get dropped off at a “random house usually no more than 45 minutes away from yours” at around 4pm, and filming wraps up at midnight. As the dinner parties last so long, he claimed that producers often had to confiscate alcohol from contestants who’d overindulged. “It didn’t happen on our show, but apparently it happens a lot,” he shared. He also revealed that due to the lengthy filming process, the food served is “always cold”. “They have to take so many different shots of it but by the time it gets on our plate and you eat it, it’s cold.”
He revealed what it’s like to really film the show
(Image: Youtube/Come Dine With Me)
In a surprising revelation, Benjy confessed that the iconic black cab sequence at the end of the show is staged. “One thing people don’t actually realise is that the black cab is fake. And by that I mean it picks you up just to do the scoring, goes twice around the block, and then brings you back to the house you’re in, and you go back in a mini cab later.” However, when you’re the one hosting the dinner party, things are quite different. Benjy explained that the crew arrives at 8am and doesn’t leave until midnight. They first capture exterior shots of the property, then remove artwork, calendars, and clocks because they don’t have the licensing to display them. The host begins preparing dinner with the ingredients bought from the £125 budget they’re given. The meal prep starts at 10am, and it’s done to a point where “to a state where you just have to warm it up in the oven or pan fry it to warm it up just before it’s served”.
By 3pm, the host sets the table and gets ready to welcome their guests at 4pm. Benjy then revealed another interesting fact – there is a camera crew change at this point, and this is the only time during the day when there are two cameras. This allows them to capture both the arrivals of the guests and the host’s reaction. “Otherwise there’s only one camera and that’s why it takes so long to film because you can’t get reaction shots”. This means if someone cracks a joke around the dinner table, they might be asked to repeat it to capture everyone’s reactions. When the winner is announced, fans will know that there’s usually a shot of the winner tossing the money into the air – and according to Benjy, the cash we see is real. He added: “It’s 100% real. I know that because we threw ours up at the end and £20 was missing so we spent half an hour trying to find it.” Channel 4 has been approached for comment.Story SavedYou can find this story in My Bookmarks.Or by navigating to the user icon in the top right.Follow OK! MagazineFacebookTwitterCommentMore OnCome Dine With Me
