A million Come Dine With Me fans can't be wrong

There was jubilation in the 4Food ranks this weekend, as Come Dine With Me’s ever-popular Facebook page reached the giddy heights of one million ‘likes’.

As the total tipped over the magic number, the fans were greeted with a video message from the show’s adored narrator, Dave Lamb. “Without you people, I’d still be narrating dinner parties with my face pressed up against strangers’ windows,” he told them. “So thank you for your devoted fandom, and for keeping me out of prison.” We think he was joking.

Reaching the million mark also opened a competition with Come Dine With Me’s sponsor, Echo Falls, for fans to win a case of wine to serve at their own dinner parties – or merely to toast the show’s success.

The 4Food team have seen CDWM’s Facebook fan count double since taking over the running of the page in 2010. The successful strategy involved using the 4Food website to highlight the Facebook page, showcasing its offering via an iframe.

Using a mixture of casting alerts, discussion points (“What’s the worst culinary disaster Come Dine With Me has seen?”) and bonus content from 4Food, the page surfaced, and centralised the interactivity already taking place on the 4Food site. Fans have developed a strong online community, including many international users, all united in two things: their love of dinner-party warfare, and their devotion to the show’s hilarious voice-over man.

4Food are now planning even more spectacular feats to unleash on reaching two million.