Jim Godfrey, owner of L.R. Godfreys in Lowestoft took part in TV programme Come Dine With Me - to be aired December 3.
Viewers can tune in next week to watch as Jim Godfrey's cooking skills are put to the test on Channel 4's Come Dine With Me. Every week four contestants compete to host the best dinner party, with each of the guests scoring their evenings out of 10. The winner is awarded £1,000 in cash on the last night.

The department store owner, described by the programme's makers as the Suffolk's answer to Mohammed Al Fayed, had a fantastic time filming but admitted the week-long gastronomic experience was quite exhausting. "It was a very tiring week - it took ages. The earliest I got into bed was 3.30am. And on the last night - because I did the reveal at mine - the wife and I crawled into bed about 6.20am!"

His initial description of his performance was less than complimentary, stating, "I can't cook for toffee and I looked like a pillock", adding that he managed to burn some of his dinner party menu. However, it can't have been as bad as he imagined because Mr Godfrey managed to bag second place in the competition.

Mr Godfrey jokes that he had to re-think his menu before the start of the show to meet Channel 4's expectations. "I was thinking of doing a montage of 'on toasts' - beans on toast, egg on toast - that sort of thing - followed by Angel Delight for dessert. But the programme makers told me it needed to be a bit more exotic than that," he laughs.

Instead, Mr Godfrey, who runs L.R. Godfrey's on Suffolk Road in Lowestoft, served up bruschetta to start, a fish dish as his main course and a cake for dessert.

The four contestants got on extremely well, said Mr Godfrey, although the programme makers were keen to stir things up for the sake of television. "They tried to stir it up and make us a bit more controversial, You'd get a little whisper or a talking to saying, 'don't you think this guy is a cocky so and so?' or 'don't you think she's this, that and the other?' They wind you up quite a bit. We were actually getting on too well, which we were spoken to about - asked to give it a bit more spice. But we didn't listen to that and carried on the way we were."

As a result, the foursome has already planned another get together soon. "It's going to be a right old knees up," laughs Mr Godfrey.

The episode will be aired on Friday, December 3 at 8pm.