The lost episodes are now online and they’re absolute gold

Keira, Joe, Mary, Billy and Fiona enjoying the first meal of the week on Come Dine With Me

After years of being lost to the TV archives, the often forgotten about Cork series of the hit show Come Dine With Me has resurfaced online and telly fans are rediscovering the top-class episodes.

When we think of the show, we typically think of classic moments of the original UK edition (dear lord, what a sad little life Jane – to name one) but producers paid the Rebel County a visit back in 2013 and produced TV magic.

Five Leesiders – Keira, Joe, Mary, Billy and Fiona – who fancied their hosting skills each hosted a dinner party and scored each other out of 10, with the winner set to take home a €1,000 cash prize.

Some of the cuisine on offer was… interesting to say the least. One notable dessert was one contestant’s ‘Mount Everest’ masterpiece – biscuits soaked in red lemonade, mushed together and slathered with cream (believe it or not, this contestant didn’t finish last).

The episodes were a big hit when they first aired in 2013 and were later broadcast to a huge audience in the UK on Channel 4 – but over the years they fell through the cracks and weren’t anywhere to be found online.

Cut to contestant Mary, who made repeated contact with the production company in an effort to restore the tragically lost media, who did the people of Cork a great public service by making them available on YouTube last summer.

Since they were posted, viewers have been rediscovering the magic with some online calling for the series to be recommissioned – we all know there isn’t a shortage of great characters around the Rebel county who would make for another phenomenal series.

Altogether, the episodes have amassed hundreds of thousands of views as Leesiders scattered all over the world enjoy them – one viewer commented: “God, Kiera’s a pure dote isn’t she?! I’m from Turners Cross but living in Melbourne and it’s making me homesick.”

Unfortunately, the first iteration of the Cork edition of Come Dine With Me is still lost. There are four episodes from 2011 somewhere out there – David, Louisa, Jamie and Vikki, we’re all hoping they come to light and you have your moment in the sun again.