Hairy Biker duo Si King and Dave Myers are giving seven creative chocolate fans the chance of a lifetime in a brand new series that will have you drooling....
The Hairy Bikers, Dave Myers and Si King, couldn't wait to get stuck into their scrumptious new series. The TV chef duo are giving a cast of passionate chocoholics the chance of a lifetime in The Hairy Bikers' Chocolate Challenge on Channel Five.
During the series, seven contestants will be let loose inside Yorkshire’s Nestlé factories where they will go head-to-head as they battle to create, brand and name their very own confectionery.
The final winner will get a money-can’t-buy prize: the chance to design their own take on one of the world’s best-selling chocolate bars, to be rolled out nationwide.
Here Dave Myers, one half the Hairy Bikers tells us about the challenges in store, shares his all-time favourite chocolate recipe and reveals the sweet treat that always reminds him of his childhood...
What's On TV chats to Hairy Biker, Dave Myers and Si King, about The Hairy Bikers' Chocolate Challenge
What's On TV: What do you like best about the show?
Dave Myers: "Chocolate! Who doesn’t love chocolate? But also this is so much more than a cookery competition. The contestants on it aren’t professional chocolatiers, they’re people who like baking and cooking with chocolate and they they come from all walks of life. We’ve got someone who’s a train steward, another who works for an advertising company, there’s a schoolteacher and even someone who’s a fitness instructor which you might not think goes hand in hand with a love of chocolate!’"
Tell us about Ruth Hinks who is judging the contestants…
"Ruth is literally a world champion chocolatier. Some of the things she’s made in her career are absolutely unbelievable. Ruth is the one deciding who goes through to the next round while Si and are the ones chatting to them, keeping an eye on how they’re doing and telling their stories."
Were there any big surprises?
DM: "Definitely because of the nature of the challenges there are lots of unexpected twists and turns. The contestants not only have to be great at their flavours, they also have to be incredibly creative and also good at branding. So there were times when a person’s chocolate may not be the best tasting but if they do an amazing job with the packaging and concept it could get them through to the next round. It kept us all guessing and made it exciting."
What was it like being in the Nestlé factory?
DM: "It was like being in Charlie And The Chocolate Factory! The smell was so sensuous and the colours were amazing. There was this machine that could wrap something like 750 chocolates a minute. Si was totally transfixed, staring at it. He went into some kind of meditative trance! There was a giant hopper as high as four story building just full of Quality Streets, it was phenomenal to look at."
What chocolate bar reminds you of your childhood?
DM: "Caramac. It was a caramel based chocolate, sort of inbetween a milk and a white chocolate. If I had a bar right now I’d be transported back in time and have to sit and have a ponder. I used to love Walnut Whips too."
What’s your all time favourite chocolate bar? And your least favourite?
DM: "A Toffee Crisp is my favourite. It's the crispy texture and the mixture of caramel that I like. If they could produce a salt caramel Toffee Crisp that would be my ultimate. My least favourite would probably be a Milky Bar – they’re a bit sickly for me. My favourite Quality Sreet is the purple one! I love them. I know Si would say his was the green triangle."
What’s your earliest chocolate eating memory?
DM: "Every weekend as a boy I’d watch Sunday Night At The London Palladium with my mum and dad and they’d send me off to the local off licence to buy a big bar of chocolate, something like a Galaxy. The three of us would sit on the sofa, my dad would hand out squares when he thought the time was right so the chocolate-eating would be paced throughout the whole show! We never had much money but I do remember loving that Sunday night bar of chocolate."
If What’s On TV was coming round for afternoon tea, what chocolate themed treat would you make and why?
DM: "I’d make a Black Forest Trifle which is one of our recipes. I made one this Christmas and it was bloody great! It’s made from chocolate cake macerated in kirsch, black cherries, fresh pitted cherries, dark chocolate custard, whipped cream and chocolate curls on top."
What was your favourite chocolate fact you learnt from doing the series?
DM: "The birth of the Kit Kat. The whole idea came from a worker at Nestlé who put the idea in their suggestion box saying that he wanted a cheap chocolate bar that he could have in his lunch box. He had the idea of putting wafers in it to use less chocolate and keep costs down. The Japanese have gone bonkers for Kit Kats, they’ve got Green Tea Kit Kats and all sorts. I actually ordered some for my daughter not so long ago."
What else have you and Si got coming up?
DM: "We’re filming again after April another Hairy Bikers series. We’re just waiting for the BBC to decide what and we’ve also got another nationwide stage tour. We did one last year and it was such great fun. We’re going all over Britain, there’ll be a bit of talking, songs, a bit of feeding people and I’m sure after this series there’ll be some talk of chocolate on stage too."
The Hairy Bikers' Chocolate Challenge is on Channel 5 on Wednesday 12 Feb, 9pm
