Here’s what’s in the secret sauce of ‘Come Dine With Me’ success

There is no other way to describe the BBC’s Come Dine With Me than hilarious.

It’s a foodie show that’s not so much about the meal as it is about the personalities that it brings together.

After a decade, audiences can still not get enough of it, and the South African incarnation of the show is back on air every Wednesday night at 8pm.

Executive producer Ryan Deacon has been the showrunner since the fourth local season, and to him, the magic still lies in the show’s unpredictable cast.

“The least important part is really the cooking. We don’t focus on the food; it’s about the contestants. We want to meet the characters, the personas, where they live, what they do. Are they weird? Have they got chickens in the kitchen?”

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Nothing is out of bounds on the show, bar a bunch of expletives.

That’s why casting Come Dine With Me is a fine art, and Deacon’s team has had a knack for finding the kind of contestants who make for unforgettable television.

“People always ask how we find them,” Deacon said.

“They find us. It’s such a niche pool of viewers, and they love the show, so the right people tend to enter. Within 30 seconds of watching someone’s casting video, you know if they’ll work on the show.”

Do they have live chickens in the kitchen?

Finding willing participants is only half the battle won. Then there’s the squaring up, the who goes dining with whom. Assembling the perfect combination of personalities is where the real alchemy happens.

Deacon said that the team aims for a mix of characters who will either complement or grate against one another just enough to keep things interesting.

“We stress-test—who will clash, who will get along?” he said. “But you can never be sure. Two out of four contestants might behave exactly as expected, and then one throws a curveball that shifts the entire dynamic.”

The guests at the dinner table may appear civil, but once contestants retreat to their confessionals, things can take a U-turn, as Come Dine With Me audiences know too well.

“You’ll see someone saying, ‘Oh, I really loved your steak, you cooked it perfectly,’ and then they go upstairs and say, ‘I thought I was eating a piece of horse,’” Deacon said. “That’s the show.”

The math then becomes a bit more complicated. Contestants also need to have a home that can accommodate the production. “even if their kitchen is an absolute disaster, we don’t care, unless it’s a health hazard,” Deacon said.

“But we’ve had situations where people don’t even bother to dress up or spend the money, we give them to set it all up. We provide a decent budget for a dinner party, and they buy a piece of chicken and make some jollof rice. That’s not a dinner party.”

Not everything makes it to air

Not everything recorded for Come Dine With Me airs. The entertainment segments at the dinners often end up on the cutting room floor.

“Everyone wants to show off. ‘I’ve got a friend who’s famous, my daughter plays the piano, I’ve hired a fire thrower.’ But we’ve only got 52 minutes, and we want the contestants to shine, not have them standing around clapping for a belly dancer,” he said.

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Winning, like the show, is also not often about the food served at the table.

“Personality matters more than anything,” Deacon said. “People vote for who they had the best time with, not necessarily who made the best meal. Looking after your guests, making them feel comfortable, and yes, giving them a drink or two, that helps too.”

The cherry on top of the crazy is, as always, Dave Lamb’s sardonic narration. It has become synonymous with the show and the comedian can elevate even the most mundane moments to a hilarious gross-out.

“We always edit the show and write the script with Dave in mind,” Deacon shared. “Then it goes to his team, who add those little tweaks that make it pure magic. When his voiceover comes back, you’re rolling on the floor laughing at something you knew would be funny, but hearing him say it just makes it irresistibly laughable.”

Irresistibly laughable

For Deacon, the show is as fun behind the scenes as it is for audiences.

“We get to see what contestants really think, so we know when someone is being fake at the dinner table,” he said.

“That inside knowledge makes it even funnier. I’ve done a lot of shows, but this is the one where I genuinely laugh the most.”