Come Dine With Me is known for its dramatic scenes and famous lines, who can forget "you have all the grace of a reversing dump truck?" However, the Welsh episode of the new spin-off series, Come Dine With Me: The Professionals, proved that not all the contestants end up at loggerheads.
Come Dine With Me: The Professionals features restaurant owners across the UK trying to impress each other from their restaurants and win £1000 with their dishes. You can read more about the show here.
In the Welsh episode, airing on Wednesday, June, 29 at 5pm on Channel 4, the restaurateurs proved that although you can be competitive you can still by friendly. The three restaurants on the show are Lamb & Flag in Cowbridge, La Cocina Tapas in Bridgend, and Prego in Cardiff.
Martine Hidbbard, who runs Lamb & Flag, was full of praise for her competitors. She said: "It was really nice to see other businesses, how they do it and the kitchen, to meet other people we haven't met before... it was lovely to celebrate independent businesses, we had a really good laugh."
The competitors have all remained friends since the show was recorded with Daniel Apsee and Rhys Sloper from La Cocina Tapas visiting Lamb & Flag for Sunday lunch and Martine and her family have visited La Cocina Tapas. Martine said it was "super-lovely" to visit La Cocina Tapas and she hopes to visit Prego soon.
Daniel, who runs La Cocina Tapas, echoed Martine. He said: "We got on great, we are all in the same industry, we are all supportive of everything going on... we had a good insight into how other people's restaurants and businesses run and how they think."
Brothers Toni and Andrea Venditto, who run Prego, have been in the hospitality and restaurant business for many years. Working in kitchens and owning restaurants is the only job Toni, aged 66, and Andrea, aged 60, have ever known.
Daniel spoke about how good it was to be able to learn from Toni and Andrea, he said: "They are obviously vastly experienced, we stayed having a chat to them and hearing their journey."
Toni and Andrea also enjoyed being around other people in the same business. Toni said: "It was quite interesting because they were a bit different from us, lovely people, we had a lot of fun. It is all about a bit of fun."
The episode featuring the Welsh restaurants of Come Dine With Me: The Professionals will air Wednesday, June, 29 at 5pm on Channel 4.
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