Whine and dine

Victoria Collett, from Grove, is unhappy, claiming filming the Channel 4 show – which is screened this evening – left her feeling “exhausted and manipulated”.

However, fellow contestants Heidi Kelloway, of Bicester, and Marlon Williams, of Oxford, said they enjoyed their time alongside James Hearle, from Shirburn, and Richard Barraclough, from Kirtlington.

The show’s format is based on five amateur chefs who take turns to host a dinner party for the other contestants, and afterwards each competitor scores the host’s performance, with the winner getting £1,000.

But the sting in the tail comes from the show’s narrator, comedian Dave Lamb, who spices it up with his often sarcastictake on the evenings.

Mrs Collett said she will not be watching the programme when it is aired by Channel Four today at 5pm, because she says contestants were not portrayed in a fair way..

She feels from the way filming went that she will come across badly.

She said: “Taking part was not an experience I would recommend, what you have to go through is not worth the £1,000.

“I was left feeling exhausted in every way and manipulated.

“I was rather naive as to how the media works and what they do to make a show ‘interesting’.”

In the weeks before the broadcast she said she lost two stone and couldn’t sleep through stress.

But two of the other contestants, Ms Kelloway and Mr Williams said they had enjoyed their experience.

Ms Kelloway, 39, who hosted a pink themed night, said: “We all didn’t get on all of the time, but generally it was a good laugh and we got to poke around each other’s houses.

“I knew they put different characters together to make it interesting.

“I just cringe at what it’s going to be like.”

Mr Williams, an actor who has appeared in TV shows including EastEnders and Doctors, said he scraped on to the show on the final day of casting.

“I enjoyed every single minute, but I had never cooked for anyone before. I am a little anxious about how I will come across.”