Come Dine With Me contestants clash over sea bass

One diner pointed out a problem with the chef's main course

Come Dine With Me sees people hosting dinner parties for strangers. (Channel 4)
Come Dine With Me sees people hosting dinner parties for strangers. (Channel 4)

Come Dine With Me was tense as two of the latest contestants clashed over sea bass.

The instalment of the Channel 4 show introduced a new group of five people, this time from Glasgow, set to show off their cooking skills at dinner parties. Project manager Lauren kicked things off on Monday, 3 February with a menu inspired by both Scotland and the Caribbean.

But things went downhill after one of the diners challenged her on her "sea bass steaks", claiming they didn’t actually exist.

Lauren hosted civil servant Lydia, catering manager Gary, student Saoirse and mobile seafood seller Bernadette.

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She started with jerk chicken skewers — readily admitting that the sauce was from a jar — and a cauliflower pakora. She then served up her steaks for the main course (and a "no fish fishcake" for vegan Saoirse), which is where things went wrong.

As she dug in, Bernadette asked Lauren: "I’m quite intrigued as to why you called it sea bass steak?"

Lauren served sea bass. (Channel 4 screengrab)
Lauren served sea bass. (Channel 4 screengrab)

"I’ve had a sea bass steak before and it’s a really chunky, meaty bit of fish and it’s just a bit different," Lauren explained.

Bernadette looked as if she was biting her tongue as she probed: "Where did you get that?" Lauren said she’d had the dish in a restaurant but Bernadette told her: "I’m sure it wasn’t sea bass that you ate… there is never in this Earth a sea bass steak. I’m a fishmonger, so when you said you had sea bass steak on the menu I was quite intrigued by that."

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"I can assure you the only way you can buy sea bass is by the fillet," she added. Bernadette then said she could tell from the quality of the fish that it wasn’t from a fishmonger, telling Lauren it was "mediocre".

The other guests were unimpressed and Saoirse laughed in a piece to camera: "Who knew sea bass was such a controversial topic?" Lydia called it "fish-gate" and suggested that Bernadette "went a little bit cheeky with it".

Bernadette had some comments on the fish. (Channel 4 screengrab)
Bernadette had some comments on the fish. (Channel 4 screengrab)

Read more: Come Dine With Me

"She has ruffled my feathers," admitted Lauren. "We will just wait until her night. She had better be on point!"

Viewers also weighed in on the exchange, with one posting on X: "Rude." "She was expecting a sea bass steak despite knowing they didn’t exist … WTF," posted another.

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"Oh dear. Some well-deserved shade being thrown in the direction of the fishmonger woman," said someone else.

"Well, sea bass steaks sound magical, and I'll be making that," one fan commented on Instagram. "Well done, Lauren."

Come Dine With Me returns at 5.30pm on Channel 4 on Tuesday, 4 February.