It was three gruellingly long days for competitors featuring in a Nottinghamshire episode of Come Dine With Me: The Professionals today (Wednesday July 20). The Red Lion in Thurgarton, Paris in Nottingham city centre, and The Plough in Normanton-on-the-Wolds can be seen in the Channel 4 TV series, battling to show they have the winning food and hosting skills.
Viewers will tune into a 60-minute episode but one of the restaurant owners taking part said hours and hours of footage is shot. Antony Crossman, co-owner of Paris, in High Pavement, said: "It was a hellish filming schedule. On our day of filming the taxi picked me up from home at 6.45am and I didn't get home until 1.30am. That's how long the days are. They do warn you in fairness.
"On the day of filming, even though I've never cooked a thing in my life they insisted that the owner is there with the chef, all day, for every single piece of filming in the kitchen. I think I chopped one thing for about ten seconds but I had to be in every single shot they might use. "
