Anton Du Beke had "never cooked anything" in his life before training for 'Cooking With The Stars'.
Anton Du Beke has never cooked
The 'Strictly Come Dancing' judge trained as a baker when he was a boy, but he has stepped into the new ITV competition with no experience preparing any dishes.
He said: "I don’t cook at all. I’ve never cooked anything in my entire life. That is difficult for the judges to comprehend and understand really.
"When I said to producers I don’t cook they said, ‘That’s fine but what's your signature dish’ and I said, ‘I don’t cook so I don’t have one’.
"I don’t cook so the first time I cooked anything was the first morning of training with [mentor Rosemary Shrager]. It was the first time I’d been in a kitchen and cooked something with a pan on a stove."
The 55-year-old star has "never been bothered about cooking" and "had no interest in going through the process of learning".
He explained: "I ate out my entire life so I didn’t need to cook or have any desire to cook. Then suddenly you get older and I have a family now.
"My wife does all the cooking but it’s something I felt I’d like to do. During lockdown I had thoughts about wanting to learn to cook but I didn’t as I had no way of learning.
"When they offered me the opportunity to do this in a scenario that I love, it was really the situation that made me want to do the show. I love having lessons. I enjoy competition."
Anton revealed his family were "delighted" and "thrilled" when he revealed he'd be on the show, but he doesn't have any plans to put his newfound skills to the test in the future.
He quipped: "I'm never cooking again."
Hosts Tom Allen and Emma Willis loved having Anton on set though, and the comedian admitted he was always "dancing in the kitchen".
Emma added: "Dancing at the bar as well. He taught me a little…. I don’t even know what dance it was.
"He didn’t tell me what we were going to do, he just went 'OK' and we stood together and he went, ‘To me, one two, to you’ and we danced and I was very happy."
'Cooking With The Stars' starts tonight (07.06.22) at 8pm on ITV.
Tagged in Emma Willis Anton Du Beke