Come Dine With Me for TV3 - but will Campbell Live be knifed?

The future of Campbell Live is hanging in the balance. Photo / Greg Bowker

A local version of British TV reality hit Come Dine With Me will soon be served up on New Zealand screens, firing speculation it could replace Campbell Live.

MediaWorks has put a call out on Facebook for people who "love to cook, or simply love to entertain, or be entertained" to take part in an exciting new TV3 show.

The ad asks "Want to host a party on us?" and invites fun-loving hosts to get in touch.

The Herald on Sunday understands the casting call is for a homegrown version of longstanding UK ratings smash Come Dine With Me.

In the UK the show is screened five nights a week in a 7pm slot. It features up to five amateur chefs competing against each other over a week, hosting a dinner party for the other contestants.

MediaWorks was tight-lipped about a Kiwi version of the show — or if it could displace under-review current affairs flagship Campbell Live.

"We are not making any comment on that call for contestants," a MediaWorks spokeswoman said. "In terms of Campbell Live, the review is still going on and there are no updates or announcements at this time."

The future of Campbell Live has been hanging in the balance since MediaWorks announced it was reviewing its 7pm offering in the face of flagging ratings. Since then a campaign to save the show has been launched and ratings have spiked.

Dr Misha Kavka, associate dean of Film, Television and Media Studies at Auckland University, believed Come Dine With Me was relatively cheap to make and its proven popularity overseas could be tempting for a 7pm slot-filler.

"It is more vindictive and catty than some other reality shows, which is part of its success," she said.

"It is also more transportable between viewing platforms than Campbell Live but in the long term would not necessarily pull in more viewers on regular television."

It is also understood Come Dine With Me could also be considered for TV3's 6pm news lead-in slot at 5.30pm to fill a hole created when Home and Away was poached by TVNZ two years ago.

Come Dine With Me — which was launched in 2005 and is into its 34th season — has been replicated in 33 countries, including the United States, Australia, Israel, Lithuania, Estonia, Brazil and Russia.

The British Come Dine With Me has produced a string of shocking moments — from road kill cooking to drunken, abusive hosts.

Last month viewers cringed when a middle-aged host served dessert at his home dressed only in a Borat-style mankini.

Last year, stroppy contestant Marcello Marino asked Channel 4 to stop repeating episodes he was in as he was getting death threats following insults he dished up to his competitors.

And in 2012, reality star Jasmine Lennard was thrown off a celebrity Christmas special after being accused of threatening to "glass" a fellow contestant.

Aside from the at-times bizarre antics of the cooks, one of the star's of the British show is comedian Dave Lamb who provides its at-times sarcastic narration.