It was only a matter of time before the Restaurant in My Living Room format wheeled out a celebrity version. For charidee, of course.
Talk radio queen Vanessa Feltz and her fiance Ben Ofoedu pitched their culinary and hosting skills against Antony Costa from Blue (as he’ll always be known) and his mum. Each couple would open their home to around 30 diners for one evening only, and attempt to earn the most money.
Vanessa’s house is absolutely gorgeous, a cute mock-Gothic oddity nestling in “leafy” St Johns Wood. The perfect setting for Vanessa’s family-cooking-themed night. The Costas, meanwhile, had a less spectacular home, but some spectacularly nice friends and relatives who all pitched in with providing components for the meze Antony was serving on his Greek-themed night. An auntie made several dishes, a friend of Ant’s dad turned up with wine.
There weren’t any real disasters: Vanessa’s soup was a bit cold, some of Antony’s guests didn’t get their main course very speedily. Possibly the only hide-behind-the-cushion moment came when Ben entertained the diners with a rendition of ‘Isn’t She Lovely’ dedicated to Vanessa. Meanwhile, Antony was dedicating ‘Ain’t No Sunshine When She’s Gone’ to the late Jade Goody. As the event was raising money for cervical cancer charity Jo’s Trust, this was both apt and poignant (or “slightly miserable,” according to PLA Jr). And he’s a much better singer than Ben.
However, it wasn’t the singing that determined the winner. It wasn’t even the cooking. It was the generosity of the guests, and Vanessa’s proved to have the deeper pockets (she had Esther Rantzen on her team, for heaven’s sake) as she won.
Posted by PLA
HOLBY CITY BEHIND THE SCREEN
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