Paddick: 'CDWM' uses 'smoke and mirrors'

Brian Paddick has claimed that Come Dine With Me relies on selective editing and "smoke and mirrors".

The former Lib Dem candidate for London Mayor took part in a political special of the Channel 4 programme, which will air as part of their Alternative Election Night on May 6.

Paddick, who described spending four nights with former Tory MP Edwina Currie, Labour Party member Derek Hatton, and Rod Liddle as one of the most traumatic of his life, said the programme offered him a lesson in so-called 'reality television'.

"Just as in this super-spun election campaign, it takes a lot of smoke and mirrors and selective editing to make the whole thing appear on screen looking genuine," he wrote in The Mail On Sunday.

First to arrive at Hatton's house, Paddick said that he was not allowed in until last.

"Edwina is sent in ahead of Rod and me, the programme-makers obviously hoping for early fireworks from the old enemies," he said.

The 'black taxi' moment when guests judge each other's meals was also set up, he claimed, adding: "Much to my disappointment, the taxi drives around the block and I get kicked out into a minicab (the show is made on a shoe-string) while another guest takes my place."

Furthermore, the crew had to take so many shots of the main course being brought to the table that Paddick said it was cold by the time they were allowed to eat it.

"It's the reality TV equivalent of the comedian's 'well-rehearsed spontaneity'," he concluded.