Ed Gamble tells Chris Evans about being a judge on Great British Menu: 'I feel like a boa constrictor'

Virgin Radio

31 Jan 2023, 11:12

Comedian and presenter Ed Gamble is back for the 18th series of Great British Menu.

The series premieres on BBC Two at 8pm tonight, with Ed returning later this week as one of the judges. He joined the Chris Evans Breakfast Show with cinch to talk about the show, and explained how he got the gig, saying: “I do a food podcast as well, so I got to be a guest judge a couple of series ago and they obviously thought, ‘This guy can really take the heat. This guy can deal with all of the hurdles we’re going to throw in his way.’ Basically I can eat eight full main courses in a row without sweating.”

The series also sees the return of Andi Oliver, Tom Kerridge and Nisha Katona. Ed said: “I'm on a panel with Nisha Katona and Tom Kerridge. Tom’s got two Michelin starred restaurants, and Nisha’s got an insanely popular chain of restaurants as well, and is a brilliant food writer, and I’m just sat there going, ‘Oh, I just like dinner.’

“Andi Oliver is the brilliant host on all the episodes. She’s there all week. She’s brilliant. She really knows her stuff and really gets to know the chefs. She knows all about food, obviously the chefs know all about the food, all of the crew know way more about food than me!” 

Explaining how the show works, the comedian said: “We do eight regional finals as judges, so they narrow it down to two [chefs] per region. So, we get in there every Friday and we eat two full menus! 

“The first one is North East, coming up tonight. So, we had two chefs from the North East. We went in there and you do canapes, starters, fish dish, main course, pre-dessert, dessert, and you do that for each chef!” 

On the amount of food he eats as a judge on a Friday, the TV star joked: “Saturdays, I very much feel like a boa constrictor.”

The former Taskmaster competitor added: “Saturday morning after the first Friday, you’re like, ‘I can’t believe I ate that much, that was absolutely disgusting,’ And then by next Wednesday, you go, ‘I can’t wait for Friday! I’m going to get stuck in’. And I do eat all of it! They tell you not to, but I eat every single morsel.” 

In the final week, (week nine of the competition) the eight remaining contestants compete against each other. The stand-up told Chris: “It gets way more full-on, worse or better, depending on how you think about it, in finals week, because when you get down to the last eight chefs, then it’s one day of starters, so it’s eight starters in one day, and then next day is eight fish dishes, the next day is eight main courses, which is like Greek torture, and then eight desserts the day after.”

And regarding the theme of the new series, Ed explained: “It’s always themed towards a big banquette at the end, and it’s themed on British animation and illustration to celebrate Paddington’s 65th birthday. So, we’ve got some amazing themed dishes coming up. Obviously there’s some Paddington stuff, a lot of D.C. Thompson stuff, so a lot of Dandy and Beano stuff as well.

“It’s really exciting. When the dishes first come, you get a proper little buzz, so keep an eye out for all of those.”

Ed is also known for co-hosting the massively popular Off Menu podcast with fellow comedian and friend James Acaster. Series nine kicked off last week with Oscar-nominee Paul Mescal. Previous guests include Alex Horne, Stanley Tucci and Rylan Clarke, as well as Charlotte Church.

Regarding one of the latter’s favourite foods “cheese on a plate”, the presenter said: “She puts it on a plate. She says it’s something her family do - and this will never leave me until the day I die - and then puts the whole plate under the grill, and then melts it, and just eats it straight off the plate, not using bread or anything!”

Great British Menu series 18 starts tonight at 8pm on BBC Two.

For more great interviews listen to  The Chris Evans Breakfast Show with cinch weekdays from 6:30am on Virgin Radio, or  catch up on-demand here.