HOW long must it take television producers to find the socially backward people who actually want to appear on this programme?

If anyone doesn’t know the concept by now, four people from the same city cook for each other in their own homes on four consecutive nights, say how much they’ve enjoyed their fellow contestants’ culinary delights then slag them off and give them three out of 10 in the secret vote.

First up in the Manchester heat was camp as a set of fairy lights Stuart Donnelly, who announced that as soon as he walked through the door it would be ‘true theatre’. The wine flowed freely, Stuart knocked out some steaks and cooked his dessert ‘live’ in front of the other guests, generally behaving himself.

He made friends with unwitting accomplice Angela Daly, but began to sow the seeds that eco-warrior Josh Steiner might just be a little bit boring.

On night two, with Angela cooking, Stuart buddied up with Rachel Vose and the two laughed and joked behind her back, increasing the paranoia.

On night three, Stuart made friends with Josh and on the final night he disobeyed orders to dress in black and white and told Angela she shouldn’t have bothered entering the competition.

Having secured high points on the opening night, it was too late for the others to mark him down and his tactic of pitting the rest against each other worked, with Stuart walking off with the £1,000 prize.

Basically he was right to treat it as a competition and won the prize as a result — but he didn’t win any friends. Then again, he probably wasn’t bothered. The sort of people who appear on this programme, worth watching only for Dave Lamb’s superbly sarcastic commentary,