'Flawless, gorgeous goddess': viewers give their verdict on Nigella Lawson as The Taste returns to US TV

 
Amy Robach, left, talks with Nigella Lawson at the ABC studio for an appearance on Good Morning America
In this photo provided by ABC, Amy Robach, left, talks with Nigella Lawson at the ABC studio, Thursday, Jan. 2, 2014, in New York. Members of the "The Taste" and Lawson appeared on "Good Morning America," Thursday. Lawson testified last month at the fraud
Daniel Bates3 January 2014

American fans of Nigella Lawson praised her as a “flawless human being” after the first episode of her US TV show following her admission of drug use.

Following the two-hour season opening of cooking contest The Taste on ABC, viewers rushed to post on Twitter, describing her as a “goddess queen” who had “seduced” them, and lauding her “gorgeous” ivory skin.

Lawson is already known in the US through the first season of The Taste.

But the new series follows her acrimonious divorce from Charles Saatchi and the trial of their two former personal assistants, at which she admitted using cocaine and occasionally smoking cannabis in front of her children. During last night’s show, Lawson and fellow judges Anthony Bourdain, Ludo Lefebvre and Marcus Samuelsson did blind taste tests to assemble a team of four cooks each for them to mentor.

The British chef made use of her trademark double entendres and humour. With Samuelsson and Lefebvre fighting over a contestant, she said: “I’m so glad I’m not a man.” With a straight face, she told an aspiring chef: “It was such a delight to eat your food. Each week you’ll just get higher and higher.”

Twitter users posted under the hashtag #TeamNigella. Ricky Roo called her “the best thing about prime time” and Brigette Joseph wrote: “Nigella Lawson always tries to win them over with her sex appeal. It works for me.” Tricia O’Reilly praised “the flawless human being that is @Nigella_Lawson”, while @setoutrunning said: “I’d use crushed pearls on my face if it would make me that perfectly ivory.”

Among the contestants Lawson chose was Jay Qualls of Tennessee, who she told: “I think that you know that you and I were meant for each other. You can’t fight this. I’m in love.” But the chef did not pick Audrey Johns, who said she spent the last three months of her mother’s life sitting by her bedside as they watched Lawson’s cookery show.

ABC did not immediately release viewing figures. The first episode of the first episode drew 5.8 million, with numbers falling to 3.3 million by the finale, with criticing calling it a “bizarre and forced hodgepodge of a show”, although Lawson was seen as the star.

She divorced Saatchi in July and last month testified at the trial of former assistants Elisabetta Grillo, 41, and sister Francesca, 35, at Isleworth Crown Court. The pair were cleared of unlawfully spending £685,000 on luxury items using their work credit cards.

In court Lawson, 53, admitted using cocaine seven times on two occasions but said: “I’ve never been a drug addict, I’ve never been a habitual user.” Yesterday she said that she found dealing with the case “mortifying” and only got through it by eating lots of chocolate.

A British version of The Taste starts on Channel 4 on Tuesday.

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