(Wine photoshopped in)
Hetty Hughes-
The much anticipated closing event of Trinity Arts Festival 2011, ‘Trinity does Come Dine With Me’, certainly did not disappoint. The Paccar Theatre in the Science Gallery almost reached full capacity as the contestants, producers and keen audience members assembled to watch the hour long video.
After he sarcastic tones of Bruff OʼReilly (the voiceover!) introduced the five female contestants, the audience were treated to a fly-on-the-wall insight into the preparation and execution of the five dinner parties. The menus ranged from Italian, Chinese and Mexican to the more traditional Irish. Cooking technique and skill was high; second contestant Kiara Healy made her own sorbets, and baby of the group Robin Hamiltonʼs stuffed pork was proclaimed “Just perfect.”
Wine opening however did not appear to be any of the girls’ strong points! On the first night Ann-Maria McCarthy handed her bottle of Prosecco around the group until finally Maria Copleyʼs brute strength and the best part of half an hour opened it. Robin on night three also struggled and had to quickly sneak off to the kitchen to get a hand from her mum.
The girls seemed to be generous markers; no one gave below a six and there were two tens over the course of the week. This could have been due to the fact that four of the contestants, excluding Kiara, assured the viewers that they were only in the competition for the fun and conversation. Kiara was unashamed to admit her competitive nature!
Overall scores ranged from Liz Graceʼs 26 to winner Robinʼs 34 out of a possible 50.
Most unfortunately there was a technical error in the media file and the video started to spontaneously fast forward during Mariaʼs dinner party on night four. Although the producers stepped in to try and salvage the rest of the footage, the file was declared corrupted. Jessica of Trinity TV had to flick through the film to reveal the scores of the two remaining contestants (Maria scored 32, and final host Liz Grace scored 26 with a combo of fish and tiramisu). Winner Robin, who like the rest of the contestants was sitting in the audience unaware of the outcome, was presented with a hamper of wine, cookies and goodies.
‘Trinity: Come Dine With Me’ was produced by the DU Food & Drink society and Trinity TV in conjunction with the Trinity Arts Festival 2011. The show was only first attempted last year and will hopefully have its third installment at next year’s festival.
