How we made Come Dine With Me: ‘Someone served sushi off a guy’s naked chest!’

‘We’re not there to humiliate or to sneer. Channel 4 insisted everyone had to be a decent cook – the threshold was that contestants had to know what coriander was’ It all started in the early 00s when I tried to throw a dinner party.

I was an executive producer during the early days of reality TV – and a house-proud young mum. My posh cousin and her even posher husband came for a meal. I was rushing to get the kids to bed and tidy up, so the food was an afterthought. I’d never made couscous before but…