TV host Scarlett Moffatt gives us the lowdown on her new show Love Bites that combines cookery with dating
Scarlett Moffatt tells us all about her brand new series Love Bites on ITV2 which sees single people try and win the hearts of potential suitors by cooking to impress.
Presenter and TV personality Scarlett, who first shot to fame on Gogglebox, says, "It combines my absolute favourite things in the world: love and food."
Here Scarlett Moffatt tells us everything we need to know about Love Bites
How does Love Bites work?
Scarlett says: "In each episode three suitors will go head to head to win a date with a potential partner by cooking a three-course meal to impress. Each suitor is given exactly the same box of ingredients. The single foodie will then choose who to go on a date with on the basis of their food."
Does the person picking know who has cooked which dish in Love Bites ?
"No. They have no idea who has cooked what. Their decision is based purely on the food", says Scarlett. "It’s a lot of fun because often the person they fancy the most isn’t necessarily the best cook as you can imagine."
Do they get help with recipes in Love Bites?
No, but they are given instructions on what to make. “The date chooses the starter and the main. The three suitors will just get a sheet of paper saying something like ‘Make a fresh pasta and seafood dish, or make calamari, or make sushi rolls."
Is it always girls choosing lads in Love Bites?
"No. There will be different combinations in different episodes. Some episodes will see three guys trying to win the heart of another guy, sometimes it will be three girls trying to win a date with a guy, sometimes three guys trying to impress a girl etc."
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Where do the couples go for their dates on Love Bites?
Scarlett says, “They just go and have a little drink, or a bite of food. It’s nice because after they’ve been cooking all day, they get to go off and get dressed up for their date. The picker only finds out who they’ve chosen when that person walks through the door. All the way through, they’ve tried to guess who’s cooked what, but they just can’t. You hear people go, ‘Well Ryan looks a bit like he’d have a messy bedroom, so I think this is his cooking because the plate is messy’. But really, you can’t identify people on the basis of their calamari!"
What’s the age range of the people taking part in Love Bites?
Most of the daters are between 18-30. Scarlett says, “What’s nice is that it’s the age group where nobody is used to meeting face to face, they’ve only ever found dates on apps and social media so this is a really different experience for them. It gave people a new confidence. A lot of them said ‘You know what, if I’ve had the confidence to do this, then actually, the next time I see someone who’s fit in Asda, I’m going to go and ask for their number!’"
Can viewers expect any cooking disasters in Love Bites?
Definitely. Seafood proves to be particularly problematic. Scarlett says, “Whenever the food had eyeballs there seemed to be problems! A few people were very squeamish. Filleting fish was tricky and there are crab legs flying all over the place when one lot try and get the meat out of a crab. I had no idea how difficult it was. Also, a lot of the things you’d normally just buy, like mayonnaise and pasta, they have to make completely from scratch. That wasn’t so easy!"
When was Love Bites filmed?
The series was filmed this year during the pandemic with strict social distancing in place. According to Scarlett there were benefits to that. Scarlett says, “The great thing is that because it’s a brand-new series, Covid hasn’t affected it. Everything is already 2m apart and it won’t look weird to viewers. No-one is going to say, ‘Oh it looks strange now they’ve had to space it out’ because this is the first time people will have seen the show.”
How many episodes is Love Bites?
The series is 30 episodes in total, with each episode an hour long.
Where can I watch Love Bites?
Love Bites starts Monday 30th November, 6pm on ITV2
