Attheready
Big Brother star relishes the chance to present daytime telly programme he grew up watching, as new chefs add to the mix
BY ANNA BURNSIDE anna.burnside@reachplc.com a mackerel, a turnip and a bag of walnuts last time around.
The show is filmed in Glasgow, with guests brought in from all over the country to shake their eco-friendly jute bags of groceries on to the counter. And Rylan, who last year revived another old telly favourite, Supermarket Sweep, is relishing the chance to rework a show he watched as a kid.
The Big Brother star said: “I’m 31, Ready Steady Cook is what I genuinely grew up on. It was on the TV waiting for you when you came home from school.
“There’s nothing bad about it. It’s one of the rarest of shows I work on – I don’t have to go home and think about someone’s wellbeing at the end of it. I can sleep well after this show.”
He checked in with Fern and Ainsley to pick up some tips. He said: “Fern was more excited for me than I was. She said, ‘Just go out there and you’re going to love it’. Ainsley said, ‘Make it your own show’.”
He and the new chefs – Mike Reid, Romy
Gill, Akis Petretzikis, Ellis Barrie and Anna Haugh – are getting along like pasta and pesto. They’ve already got their own WhatsApp group and their own jokes. Akiz, who presented the Greek version of the show, struggles to pronounce pomegranate. Of course, Rylan asks him about pomegranates at every opportunity.
Akis is not the only one who is established and successful in his own right. Mike has worked in top restaurants in the UK and Australia. Self-taught Romy has published a book. Welshman Ellis has his own farm as well as a restaurant. Anna, who’s Irish, worked with Gordon Ramsay and runs her own place in Mayfair.
They were all viewers before they were stars on the show. Anna said: “If someone had said, when I was a little girl, I was going to be a chef up there, I would not have believed them. It’s really surreal.” Romy added: “When I came from India 27 years ago, it was Keith Floyd, Two Fat Ladies and Ready Steady Cook. It was something beautiful and quick. Back then, I would have loved to go and sit in that audience. Coming back as one of the chefs is very emotional.” Mike said: “I used to watch it with my mum. It was a big part of my life.” The show made stars of cooks such as James Martin and Antony Worrall Thompson, but Mike refused to speculate how it might play out for him. He said: “Being on Ready Steady Cook, I’ve hit the jackpot already.” Ready Steady Cook is on BBC1 every weekday from Monday at 4.30pm.