Joe Swash might not be known for his culinary skills but that hasn’t stopped him landing a lucrative deal to release a cook book.
The 40-year-old former soap star has struck it lucky by landing a deal with Harper Collins to create a new cook book – titled Joe’s Kitchen – which will be released this October.
The new book will include recipes rustled up by the former EastEnders star and promises to contain “Fantastic food for a happy family.”
Family man Joe, who is engaged to 33-year-old Loose Women star Stacey Solomon and who share five children between them including two-year-old son Rex and six-month-old daughter Rose, thrilled fans when he announced the news on Thursday.
Taking to Instagram, the dad-of-three wrote: “I’m so excited to tell you that I’m going to be an author! My brand new cookbook Joe’s Kitchen will be published by @pavilionbooks in October.
“The recipes in the book are for simple, tasty meals the whole family will love.”
He continued: “Sharing a great meal with family is something really close to my heart. I hope I’m recreating these memories for my own kids, and I’d love to help you do the same.
“The recipes in my book are for people like me with busy lives who want to do the best for those they love.
“I want to tell you what works for me and the tips and hacks I’ve been lucky enough to pick up over the years. I’ve learned a lot and I know that I can provide good, tasty meals for my family without complicated techniques or expensive ingredients.”
Fans were quick to praise Joe on his deal, with one writing in response to his announcement: “Amazing! Congratulations Joe” – while another gushed: “Can’t wait for this! Well done.”
However, some fans questioned how qualified Joe is to create a cookery book.
One fan screeched to a halt while scrolling to react to Joe’s post and typed: “Hold on can you cook?”
And another asked: “I did not know he could cook.”
Elsewhere, other fans shared their fears that Joe’s ‘simple’ recipes will be far from it, with one writing: “Are they actually simple? Not 32 ingredients per recipe. Found so many celebrity cook books a let down.”
Fans of Joe will already know that he has actually demonstrated his cooking skills before – as he was a contestant on Celebrity MasterChef last year.
The actor impressed the show judges, but ultimately did not win the series and was beaten out by Paralympic athlete Kadeena Cox.
Joe’s cook book announcement did, however, spark a slight backlash among devoted fans who are already aware that his fiancée, Stacey, promotes pre-packaged meal company Hello Fresh.
One fan grumbled: “Stacey says they always use hello fresh as they are so busy, but now he's saying he cooks these recipe's as they are busy.”
And another raged: “Baffled by this as Stacey has said so many times that you dont go near the kitchen and Stacey cooks Hello Fresh meals.”
Joe’s book is being sold for £22 for a hardback copy or £14.99 for a digital version.
The little earner is sure to boost the income of the Swash-Solomon household as it was revealed recently that Stacey commands as much as £12,000 per social media post when she promotes a product.
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