dinner date. really?

Right.  There was no possible way that I was going to be able to stop myself from commenting on this show.  Particularly given my thoughts on the direct relationship between romance and a gourmet dinner, this is clearly a show that I’d watch.  A dating show with a culinary slant – what a delightful idea.

And then there’s the host.  This is where I am pretty much forced to admit that I’m one of the many women that is just a little in love with Manu Feildel  – that accent,  the mad cheffing skills, the alleged dancing* – what’s not to like?  And now, here he is in all his sexiness asking if you can win someone’s heart by cooking them a beautiful meal?  He thinks you can, and if Manu thinks you can, then it must be so.

First up, I liked that it was the guys doing the cooking, not the girl. That old saying ‘the way to a man’s heart is through his stomach’ may be a cliché, but I think it is just a teeny bit true – so I enjoyed that they didn’t go with that angle.  But, the chick, Simone, seems to be way too confident, successful and good-looking to be single – what’s that about?  Cue a montage of her life and glamming up for her dates and just generally being gorgeous.

Anyway, she’s presented with five dinner menus and has to choose her blind dates by selecting the three that sound the yummiest.  Food that is, not dude.

The guy that gave up the corporate world to become a carpenter and renovate houses is first and he’s dishing up the seafood.  He obviously doesn’t want kids, and she has one.  He didn’t handle the news well at all, although I reckon he thought that he did.  Also, he ‘thinks’ that he was hurt by his ex-fiance.  Really?  Not so much with the self-awareness this guy.  Cute and appealing though, in a floppy-haired Hugh Grant kind of way.  He does struggle a bit with the salmon that he’s making for the main course, his first attempt to plate it up reveals that it is in fact quite raw.  Which would be ok if it was sushi, but not so great given that he’s serving it with a herb crust, broccolini and roasted tomatoes

Italian Stallion** real estate dude is next.  He actually seems to have some pretty good skills in the kitchen – he whips up a lovely little gnocchi like he’s been doing it all his life (which he probably has).  Although he could have done up just one more button on his shirt, but I guess that’s par for the course when you’re Italian and male.  Interestingly, he considers himself ‘traditional’ as opposed to ‘chauvinistic’. Which he obviously is.  In his favour, I guess he’s quite good-looking and he wants kids.  And he has a sick view from his apartment. Not in his favour is how much he loves himself (a LOT).  But, at least he knows that he’s a mammas boy, is high maintenance and is accustomed to being taken care of by the women in his life.  He gets her to help him with preparing the main course, which is admittedly quite a sexy move.  But it pretty much all falls apart when he tells her that he will allow his wife to be part of the birth of their first child, who will absolutely be called Giuseppe – the look on her face at this awesome revelation is absolutely classic.

The final blind date already has a son that lives with him, and he talks about the importance of cooking with your heart and its so cute – he makes an extra dessert for his son, who would apparently be completely devastated to learn that his dad had eaten chocolate fondant without him.  His menu is pretty healthy and fresh, and actually quite creative.  They both seem to be on the same page in terms of settling down and there seems to be some chemistry there although it could be based mainly on the fact that they both have kids so they have that in common already.  She’s pretty stoked when she leaves his place – what a great date she had!  Happy days.

Now, the clincher – she has to choose one of them to go on a dream date, which seems to involve hot air ballooning to the Hunter Valley.  Yep, that’s my ‘hood.  Manu sets the scene for the viewers – what a hard choice she has, who will she pick?  The poor little petal, how will she cope with such a difficult decision?  A cup of tea, a bex and a good lie down may possibly be in order.

So, as she’s packing her bag for the ‘overnight second date’ she’s banging on about how she has to consider her daughter in this decision, and where she’s at in her life and wanting to settle down and stuff.  The suspense builds as the carpenter gets the knock on the door with the rejection note.  Not surprising really.  Then, the guy you think she’s going to pick because they have so much in common and seem to be in the same place in their lives and had such a great first date gets the fateful delivery of a bouquet of flowers and a very sweet and tactful rejection letter.

She goes with the Italian Stallion.  Groan.  Apparently, even though she said it’s not – it is in fact all about physical attraction after all.  I pick up on this by the very subtle fact that they can’t keep their hands off each other from the moment that she knocks on his door. 

My verdict?  It was a pretty stupid show, and I’m never watching it again.  Probably.  I reckon it would be infinitely more watchable if Manu was in it for more than just a couple of seconds.  Plus, I think he should get into the kitchen with the blind dates and show them how it’s done, that’s a concept that I can definitely get on board with.  As for Simone, I hope that all the chemistry that she had with the Italian Stallion makes up for the fact that if they stay together he probably won’t allow her to have an opinion of her own and her first son will be called Giuseppe whether she likes it or not.  Good luck with that.

*I never actually watched Dancing with the Stars, but it must have been pretty impressive because I heard about it on the news.

**He’s actually wearing a t-shirt with ‘Italian Stallion’ on it as he prepares dinner.  Truly.