There's possibly a reason for portion control. You can have the mega fries, yes, but doesn't potatoe gnocchi with a yoghurt sauce just simply taste of better quality?
There's only 10 episodes in the first of what will hopefully be more seasons of Come Dine with Me South Africa on Wednesdays at 21:00 on BBC Entertainment (DStv 120) but with the brevity comes absolute quality viewing.
Come Dine with Me South Africa as BBC Entertainment's first locally South African production (and also first globally commissioned TV show and format adaptation outside of Britain) is absolutely spot-on and really well done. Each week - episode 6 was broadcast tonight - sees four strangers and ordinary (okay, maybe not so ordinary) South Africans each host a dinner party in their own homes. They're scored by each other, with a winner at the end.
From starter, through main course, to dessert, Come Dine with Me South Africa is pure viewing delicatessen. Narrator Dave Lamb who can be heard in the original British version gives delicious bite with his cutting voice-overs. The snooty, snobbish and quite cooky contestants strive to outdo, cook and bitch. And from episode to episode the slightly unhinged, all of them on a quest to impress, are remarkably well chosen.
The production values in Come Dine with Me South Africa - every episode, every interieur, every plate of food beautifully lit in a warm yellow glow with incandescent light falling through wine glasses - all come together in an appetising TV feast. Just start to watch and you'll quickly forget you're going for an hour.
The pacing, the editing - even the little sound effects you wouldn't even realise have been added that you hear - are crisp and clearly meticulously crafted. Like a dinner table painstakingly arranged to perfection, Come Dine with Me South Africa is a fantastically well-adapted format.
It's a great example of A grade format adaptation for South Africa and a feather in the commissioning cap for BBC Worldwide Channels: a first try, and a first try that's sterling silver. It's clear that painstaking attention to detail by production house Rapid Blue went into each and every aspect of the local version of this programme - quality that shows.
Even in the small things Come Dine with Me South Africa sets a brilliant benchmark. Does other local shows so clearly, and absolutely correctly spell out its product placement? Is any other show in this mold so beautifully and richly lit? And why do the haughty, yet hapless cuisine contestants - all with a good streak of common - seem so much better picked, and funnier, than the cauliflower on other shows?
The framing - both in the visual look and camera angles as well as how the impromptu dialogue from the contestants actually narratively connects to each other if you listen closely - speak volumes of creative people behind the scenes of Come Dine with Me South Africa who took time to prepare this TV meal. No quick heat and eat here.
Come Dine with Me South Africa is packed with awesomely acidic, yet deliciously palatable humour, cleverly cut to give the viewer a gossip dollop treat while you watch the oh nouveau dinner party people try to impress (and later deflate) each other.
The short episode order of Come Dine with Me South Africa is probably because the Beep keeps to the cardinal rule of fine dining that's also oh so applicable to television: as a guest in someone's home you should never overstay your welcome.
Yet this high quality and irreverently enjoyable TV production will most probably - and deservedly so - have viewers begging for seconds.
