There are moments in popular culture which transcend time and space and reaches out beyond where it began.
Indeed, it reaches such a point that you simply cannot associate one without the other. 'Come Dine With Me', the terribly British reality TV show about normal people trying to be chefs for random people, is defined by one scene - namely, Peter Marsh losing his sh*t when he lost the competition and threw the other contestants out of his house.
'Come Dine With Me' was a show that lived on barely-restrained chaos, both in people messing up their recipes and the friction that comes when you invite perfect strangers into your house. But this? This is on another level of chaos. It is a perfect storm.
Some people can quote the entire scene religiously. "Enjoy the money, I hope it makes you very happy. Dear lord, what a sad little life Jane." It's such an iconic line because, beyond the pettiness of it, it's the body language throughout the entire scene.
Peter, fists open, staring down daggers at the three of them looking away from him on the tiny leather couch. Charlotte, Jane, and Adam just sitting there, taking in the impotent rage vibrating out of Peter. You couldn't write a scene like that. No comedy writer would think something like that could be that funny.
Who would even think to put the idea of grace and decorum together with a reversing dump-truck without tires, for example? How about the painfully mid-aughts decor in the setting? The fake scroll? There's so much going on in that short little scene.
Five years on, it's still every bit as cringe-inducing as the first time. So, Jane, take your money and get off my property.
