I'm a terrible cook, admits Come Dine With Me narrator Dave Lamb

Oct 29 2010 By Roz Laws

The narrator of TV hit Come Dine with Me tells Roz Laws why he prefers anonymity to fame.

He is the main reason why millions of viewers regularly tune in to one of the most successful shows on television.

But you’ll only ever hear Dave Lamb narrating Come Dine With Me. He vows he would never appear on the show to be a contestant – mainly because he’s a terrible cook.

The Midland graduate is adamant: “It would simply not happen, I wouldn’t go on if you paid me £1 million.

“I don’t cook at all at home because my wife Nikki is so good at it. She has a chef’s qualification and is really passionate about food.

“When we were first going out, I invited her round for a meal. She took one mouthful of my mushroom stroganoff and pushed the plate away.

“That was quite rude and a very cheffy thing to do, and the end of my cooking career!”

When Dave started narrating the show back in 2005, he had no idea it would turn into almost a full-time job.

He thought it would last one series. He has now provided amusing comments to other people’s dinner parties for more than 800 episodes.

There are daily shows every teatime on Channel 4, plus a primetime show every Friday night and the occasional celebrity special.

There are more than 30 local productions in other countries, with everyone from America to even Iran signing up. In Germany it’s called Das Perfekte Dinner.

Dave’s latest project is a DVD, released on Monday, called Come Dine With Me: The Tasty Bits.

It features the best moments of outrageous behaviour, such as the woman in Preston who went to bed after serving the starter, leaving her guests to cook the rest of the meal themselves.

The rows and cock-ups are there, plus 30 minutes of unseen footage including scenes too rude for TV.

“There’s some pretty fruity stuff,” laughs Dave, who doesn’t write his script but often ad-libs as he watches the footage.

“There’s a lot of unusable filth from me that ends up on the cutting room floor. If you’re sitting in a dark studio for five hours, it’s good to keep morale up by throwing in the odd scandalous comment.”

Dave, 42, started his performing career at Warwick University where he studied philosophy and literature.

“I was actually supposed to do law, for which I needed an A and two Bs. But I got an E. My mum still made me ring up the university to see if I’d got in! I retook my A levels and was accepted for philosophy, though I had no idea what I wanted to do.