Just about every TV fan has imagined what it would be like to take part in Come Dine With Me. The hit Channel 4 show - one that's been a staple on our screens from the early noughties - is equal parts bonkers and brilliant.
So it's no surprise many have dreamed about taking part in the competition, which sees five strangers take turns to host a dinner party in a bid to outdo each other and win a £1,000 cash prize.
Some will have even picked out their ideal menus or tested their creations on friends and family members.
But what is it really like to appear on the show? The answer might be quite different than you imagine, at least according to one former contestant's account.
Katy Spence appeared on a series of the hit show in 2014, and she's since lifted the lid on what supposedly goes on behind the cameras.
In a Q&A posted on TikTok, a follower asked Katy whether contestants get given loads of money to participate in the show, and her answer was a big, fat no.
"You get £250 and that covers your food, your entertainment and any cutlery that you need," she explained.
"Being that you take a gift to each contestant's house, it cost me five or six hundred pounds - that's not even including the fact that I couldn't work for the week because I was filming from about three or four o'clock every day."
But if that wasn't shocking enough, Katy alleged producers used to fix the results to get the people they wanted to win to get the highest score.
"During my week, one of the people absolutely should have won, their food was the best," she thought. "But, it's hugely edited, massively staged - and they know who they want to win right from the get-go."
In a follow-up clip, Katy went on to claim that producers would encourage contestants to go higher or lower on their scores while filming the scenes in the taxis.
When asked whether people tend to get drunk on the show, Katy added: "Sitting down for dinner for about six hours, all the while you're being stared at by four or five people around you. You barely even properly eat, let alone drink."
She also suggested that the scenes involving people rooting around in each other's knicker drawers and the like were heavily staged and producers would point to what they wanted people to look at.
"My heart has been shattered," one Come Dine With Me fan commented after learning the news, while another added: "Staged. I feel betrayed." You're not the only one.
A third wrote: "Ngl that's really upset me. I thought Come Dine With Me was a lot more real than that."
Do you have a story to sell? Get in touch with us at yourmirror@trinitymirror.com .
