Dine on TV gold
DINNER DATE: BAD TELEVISION THAT’S JUST SO TASTY
Come Dine With Me South Africa is coming back to our screens.
Sometimes trash burns better than wood, so get ready for your TV to be set alight. Yesterday, BBC Worldwide revealed they’re adding another ingredient back on to their screening list – a fourth season of trash TV’s cream of the crop Come Dine With Me South Africa.
Earlier this year, SABC 3 picked up the show format for the public broadcaster, promising a July start.
They failed to deliver and millions of hopes across the country smashed on the floor.
But, lovers of so-bad-it’s-good TV will still be rewarded when the new series starts early next year on BBC Lifestyle.
More good news is that the move to BBC Lifestyle widens the entrants eligible for the show.
Under the SABC, only residents of Gauteng would have been able to enter. BBC Worldwide will allow entrants from Cape Town, Durban, Johannesburg and Port Elizabeth on the show. If you like to stir up trouble, make sure you enter before August 6.
Come Dine With Me is the epitome of good reality TV. Mix in various personalities, tension and the chance to win some money if you manage to host the best dinner party for three strangers, and watch the sparks fly as four people who never met have to navigate the complexities of manners, conversations and different tastes. Add alcohol to the mix and, well, you are left with TV gold.
The formula in South Africa is even more riveting with the country’s different cultures, economic status and languages.
It delivers something that gets you glued to the telly, possibly shouting at it, too.
The show is not without its controversies.
Hints of racism and sexism, and definite adult content, means it’s a tough biscuit to wilfully bite into.
But isn’t the show also reflecting our society?
It’s going to be interesting to see how producers navigate South Africa’s difficult political and cultural climate in the new season – making it not-to-be-missed TV.
Filming starts this year and each episode winner of the 12part series will walk away with R10 000.