Jack Monroe and Matt Tebbutt BBC Kitchen Live

[CobyKnobe]

Starts on monday, I don't want to say anything about Jacks personality and get the thread deleted but I'm going to be interested to see how it goes. Jamie's show has been great even now he's just filming on his phone and I've picked up lots of tips - like the roasting of veg then blending to make a pasta sauce. After all of Jacks deleted tweets she's set the bar very high for herself and I'm hoping she does smash it

She was actually a call handler for the Fire service

Really?? The way she talked about it I thought she was a firefighter?

Really?? The way she talked about it I thought she was a firefighter?*

I also thought she was a firefighter judging by her comments?

You’d never be a stalker to me @BillieEilish - I’d always admit who I was to thee xxx

I think the Twitter campaign was a factor for sure. It is worth remembering that JM is VERY well connected - via her very wealthy restaurateur ex Allegra (who knows Matt for a start, judging by recent interactions on Twitter) and her current OH who is a commissioner at C4. She also has a number of high profile followers like Nigella (also a friend of her ex), to whom JM is uncharacteristically grovelly. That world is quite small and very inter-connected. So it wouldn’t surprise me actually if one of her powerful supporters recommended her to the production company or the BBC. In fact, if that were the case, it might explain why they gave her the job without apparently checking whether she was up to it (as opposed to e.g. using one of the very many other talented chefs/food bloggers who are tried and tested).

I'll always guess!

*@GulliBelle thank you so much for posting about peanut butter being a sub for tahini. Makes perfect sense now I know.

It surprised me that Nigella seemed a fan.
It was clear to me that JM wanted to work with JO (as if) She kept saying 'if he apologised...' or words to that effect.

I used to champion her on here many moons ago. I'm embarrassed by that now.

And STOP saying you used food banks FGS. And...?

She had her moment and she is in no way a chef, nor will ever be. She had good ideas, at the time. Which was a long time ago.

MT (who I would not kick out of bed) can't stand her IMHO.

If JM got the job because of her famous and powerful connections that had strong links is with the bbc. that would be nepotism.

If she got the job because of popular demand, and lobbying by her followers, that fits in with her trope as spokesperson for the suffering poor, and voice for the voiceless.

Jack seems to think it was her Twitter followers who got her the gig

@sunshinecake pleased you found it useful, I started to use peanut butter because tahini used to be so difficult to find (as well as really expensive).

I wonder if the famous cheerleaders are cringing themselves inside out now?

Did anyone see Matts potato bread today??? I've never known potato bread to be cooked like that or look like it did 😕. I caught this on TV today and won't be tuning in again

I don’t blame you @Myshitisreal

That shit is real

And so is the grinning.

I’m generally all good with a smiley face even though I’m a misery.

I can’t deal.

In fairness he made an irish farl www.allrecipes.com/recipe/100506/irish-potato-farls/

So I dont know why he didnt just call it one. TO be fair to Jack Monroe she called it the same as well

Matt is great, the fillers with Nadia, Nigel, Mary are excellent, the guest appearances via video link are mostly good.

I’ve made a few recipes, none of Jack’s because quite frankly they look disgusting - even when they’ve been artfully photographed for the website, but the broccoli pasta from Mondays guest was good for lunch, and we had Shivi’s coconut curry base last night. I added some king prawns and spinach.

I keep tuning in because I was interested to see how Jack would do, given she had such a huge stampy-feet hissy-fit Twitter meltdown about how she should have got Jamie’s gig.

It becomes more apparent with each passing day that her online confidence far outweighs her real life talent. I’d imagine some of her famous twitter cheerleaders feel like real Jackasses right now.

When she’s on I tend to wander off, make a drink, mooch on Mumsnet or Facebook, and only half watch while she’s doing her bit.

I can't bear to watch it with JM, she is so clunky and jittery. Feel so sorry for Matt, must be exhausting having to carry the show and smooth over her glaring TV inexperience.

I’ve enjoyed some of the guests on this show, and particularly the health and nutrition angle (as that seems appropriate for the times we find ourselves in, especially when we’re shut up indoors and not getting as much fresh air and exercise as we would normally do). Dr Rupy is great, for example. I also like the archive clips.
But Jack’s food has been hideous. It’s just so joyless, somehow. Also I don’t like the sneering at anything which isn’t the absolutely cheapest option. (Stock pots are “fancy” FFS? Polenta??)
Matt must be absolutely knackered. Not only does he have the Saturday show to do as well, but he has to guide, prompt and hand-hold Jack throughout, given her lack of experience and professionalism. It must add a heap of stress to the experience for him.

Agree, in fact ‘joyless’ sums her and her food up well. She just seems so angry (when behind a keyboard) and so out of her depth on TV. Not just useless at presenting but no real knowledge of food and recipes as a real chef would have

A quick bit of research shows that she went to grammar school, seems to have a lot of family support behind her and had a well paid job in the fire service (no where near the front line though!) I guess that narrative wasn’t what she wanted so she created a new one or six.

Yes I know this thread is supposed to be about the show and not attacks on her, but her whole poverty survivor angle is a bit suspicious. She had a well paying job before becoming pregnant, says her parents are great and support her, says her sons dad supports them, I really don’t understand how things got so bad that she couldn’t eat and couldn’t pay for electricity and has PTSD from debt collectors being after her. And even now with many cookbooks and other sources of income will still say she’s poor. I know things can be terrible for single parents but for her to make it her permanent identity, especially when there are glaring holes in the narrative, isn’t helping anyone.

I’m also a bit surprised her career survived that Kickstarter business a few years back. She did go a bit more low profile after that but now it all seems forgotten about.

I really enjoyed watching Daily Kitchen live this morning. Matt seemed more relaxed and so did Jack. The guests were brilliant too. Loved her story about trying to recreate her dad's chicken curry only to find out that he had always used a jar of curry sauce! It was very funny.

I cannot believe some of the nasty and scathing views on here. What happened to being kinder to celebrities? So she complained about not getting the job on channel 4. I bet most of us would have too, if you had thought, after years of work, you were finally really close to getting your own tv programme about a subject you were passionate about. It must have been heartbreaking to have gone for an interview, believed that with all your experience of books/blogs/newspaper articles about using store cupboard ingredients you were perfect for the job only to see it go to someone else. She has since said she has understood why JO was chosen because he was a "safe pair of hands" I bet Waitrose as the sponsor on channel 4 did not want an unknown. She has since apologised and realised she should not said what she did. But I suppose only "male chefs/cooks" can get away with behaving badly.

Since reading the comments on here, I have had a quick look to see
who she is. She has had quite an amazing life so far. She has written 6 cookery books that are mostly about making do with store cupboard ingredients. She has sold thousands of books for goodness sake. She has won awards for her books. She has over 275,000 followers on twitter. She has been given an honorary Degree. Give the girl a break, she isn't that bad, apart from anything we need more diversity on tv!

Just because she is no longer poor, does not mean she cannot relate to people who are struggling. Some of the richest people I know continue to watch the pennies and complain about how expensive certain things are. Once you have gone through a time in your life when you experience poverty, bailiffs, rent arrears, money problems, no food, food banks, it may never leave you, no matter how well off you are later on in life.

She definitely posted something about being a firefighter, lifting etc

It must have been heartbreaking to have gone for an interview, believed that with all your experience of books/blogs/newspaper articles about using store cupboard ingredients you were perfect for the job only to see it go to someone else

There was no interview. It was never her job.

I like that Jamie Oliver has given it no oxygen, no acknowledgement at all, despite her multiple tagging of him on Twitter, he hasn't responded at all to the pack of wolves she set on him. Now that's professional.

Matt is apparently 'not on Twitter' at the moment. A wise move by him. She's too volatile online for anyone professional to be overly involved with. I hope he's screenshot the tweets she's posted saying how supportive and helpful he's been.

Never heard of the Kickstarter thing, what was that?

I believe she launched a kick starter to fund a book, and it was an unmitigated disaster, where people lost hundreds of pounds and never received the books they’d paid for, there was no trace of the money, and an ever growing list of excuses. Some people who questioned her or complained were blocked and set upon by other followers. Lots of her tweets were deleted (as in the Katie Hopkins libel case, and indeed after the recent JO pile on - there’s a pattern here