4/5 Channel 4’s acerbic show Come Dine with Me returned for a socially distanced new series - and it's still cringe TV at its very best 4 August 2021 • 1:38am Nicole from Basingstoke hosted the first dinner of the new series for guests Christopher, Izzy, Mark and Adam Credit: Multistory The unbearable agony of having to get along with strangers has been the magic ingredient that has sustained Come Dine with Me (Channel 4) for the past 16 years. That trademark awkwardness has resisted even the best efforts of a pandemic. This was confirmed as the series returned for a socially distanced new season. Stilted conversation and divisive desserts were all on the menu in an episode that, in life-affirming fashion, cranked up the cringe-factor. The host was Basingstoke marketing executive Nicole. She was also a Whitney Houston covers artist, as revealed in a scene in which she sang while everyone else stared at their shoes.