Life with Nat - EP263: SAM NIXON - Singer, presenter, AND cookbook author!

Episode Date: September 13, 2026

Well this was a riot, Sam Nixon joined Nat for a whistlestop tour through his origin story, some cracking anecdotes, and his new recipe book!Get in touch with Nat, buy tickets for upcoming live shows and link to Patreon, all the family's Instagrams, and more: ⁠⁠⁠lifewithnatpod.komi.io⁠⁠⁠ Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

We'll catch up with Nat in just a moment, but there's another conversation you're going to want to hear next. On Get a Grip with Angela Scanlon and Vicki Patterson, their unpacking imposter syndrome with special guest and clinical psychologist Dr. Jessamy Hibbard. If you're struggling to accept compliments or constantly questioning your abilities, you're not alone. And the ladies have got some tips to help challenge those feelings. Search for Get a Grip and get the episode, Cued Up to Play Next. Welcome to Life with Nat on this lovely lovely. autumn morning and I've got the best person to talk to today. I have got the amazing Mr Nixon, lovely Sam. How are you? Hello, I'm all right. How are you? I'm very good.

I was trying to remember the last time I saw you in person. I know exactly the last time, Natalie. Go on. It was when you voted me out of a celebrity version of the weakest link. Fuck's sake. It was a Christmas special, like a Panto special. Do you remember? I do. I do. I do remember. I was terrible, to be fair, though, Natalie. I'm not surprised you vote me out. I don't know about you, Sam, but I'll tell you what, you say yes to those things, don't you? Those quizzes, and they're lovely. They're a couple of quids. You think I'll go and do it. Yeah. As soon as I get there, I ship myself. I don't know anything. Yeah, absolutely. It's terrible. It is like they always say, you know, it's easy when you sat on

your sofa answering questions. But then as soon as you're in there, it's like, yeah, that was terrible. That was terrible. How are you? I'm good. I'm really, really well. Everything's going super well. Kids are all good, back to school. Family's good. Mark's good. How's your family? All good? Yeah, good. Yeah, really good. Just like you say, it's back back to the routine of kids back in school. Which I must admit, I do love the routine of sort of family life. Although the six-reakishers seemed to have gone very fast this year.

They went really fast. Did I? Yeah, they felt they did. They did, from my point of view, which sometimes is a good thing. But this year it was like, oh, that's gone really quick. And my daughter started secondary school, which is a big old change. So I spend most of my days now, Natter, just looking at emails from my daughter's brand new school. I tell you what, it is a job in itself, isn't it? It's ridiculous.

It's insane. Yeah. I did it the other day, you know, the school letters, and then you're filling in calendars and diaries with her. You know, I'm not going to get to half of it. I think. And then you feel guilty. Yeah. You know, not going to get to it all.

So she's gone in. So she's 11. Is she? Yes. She's going to be 12 in October. So, yeah. That's nice. One of the artists.

Yeah, absolutely. Yeah. So, yeah. But she's so far, so good. She's loving it. It's a very big school. It's like one of those kind of super schools. Did she come from a village primary school?

Yes. Yeah. So she went to the primary school that I went to, which is just up the road from us. So it's been such a big chain because obviously, I've been able to walk the kids to school every day. So now it's just being my son walk because my son's eight. So he's still going to the primary school.

school. So it's a really odd change. Like, she leaves like an hour earlier now to get the school bus and then me and my son have a little walk to school just us too now, which is a, it's odd. It's an odd change. I think we talk all the time about babies and the not sleeping and the terrible twos and all of those things, but I really found it quite difficult. My daughter's going to be 16 in a couple of weeks. And then I've got a 10-year-old, so two girls. And I really struggled with the secondary school change, sorry to tell you. But I just felt that she changed, you know, within a month. She was so independent and such her own person. I really grieved that, you know, mother-in-law. Absolutely. Yeah. And I think it's, you like, you say,

it's not something you talk about. And especially when you, like, I'm sure it's the same for you now, but like, because the job that we're in, very lucky that a lot of the time I get to be at home and I get to be with the kids, there are times when I'm away, but there are times when I am at home. So I have done a lot of the school runs. So when that'll stop, when my son goes to secondary school and that'll stop, that will hit me that, definitely. Because I love it. I love that of feeling needed and having to take him to school. So yeah, yeah, there's not much chat about that, actually. That's true. I'm sure there'll be a few frosty mornings up north where you'll have to drive them. Yeah, oh God, yeah, absolutely. Yeah, it's already happened this week. We've ended up going on in the car.

Yeah, yeah. But yeah, thankfully, it is walkable, but yeah, there's the odd morning when we jump in the car. It really made me reminisce this morning, thinking of seeing you today and what have you. And I remember doing a show with you. I came along as a guest with my daughter, Eliza. And I think she must have been about seven at the time.

Wow. And she absolutely loved you pair, you know, and watched you all the time. And I remember, I've got the photo somewhere. And she's absolutely thrilled to meet Sam and Mark and be, you know, be with you. How does it feel now that you're, you know, what are you

up to at the moment? We're going to talk so much about the book. I've bought the book. I love the book. I love the book. I love to talk to you about my favourites in there. I love these. But I just want to go back if you don't mind because you've done so much. You've done so much. You know, how do you feel now being at home a bit more and

doing all your cooking and, you know, change your direction, but also, So you're still out and touring and, you know, doing lots of bits and pieces with, you know, your masseinger stuff and your pantos. Just tell me, you know, how it's all happened. It's mad, you know. I've had a very, very lovely career so far. Do you know what I mean? I started out when I was 17 on Pop Idol and me and Mark met each other on that show.

And we just bonded straight away. So when we came out of the show, we were put together as a duo and we just had the best time. we had the best part of the past 20 years just as two mates dicking about in front of a camera you know what I mean? And that is genuinely what it was. We loved it.

We were so lucky at the shows that we did so many different shows. We travelled all over to film different things. And we genuinely just had the best time. And Sam, it always came over. I'm not just saying that. Do you know what I mean? I genuinely, yeah, for me,

I felt that you were always, You were sort of the next stand and deck for me. Oh, that's lovely. Well, that's always been such a huge compliment. You know, we got that quite a lot when we were doing our things. And I always found it such a compliment. If you're going to be compared to someone, you know, be compared to the best. You know what I mean?

And that's the thing we always tried to do that. We always try. And I think you see it in TV shows now. Like, when you see that the team who are working in front of the camera get on, that shines through massively. like shows like Ted Lassau, even though it's like a comedy drama, you can see that all that crew get on.

You can absolutely see it, and it shines through. And we always used to do that on our shows. Like the camera crew used to really get involved with it and just used to love it. And it was an amazing, amazing time. And to be honest, always feels a little bit like sort of unfinished business

with me and Mark really. COVID kind of got in the way of mine and Mark's career. which he did for a lot of people in any job, but especially in the entertainment industry. You know, our work just fell off the edge of a cliff overnight, really. And it struggled to come back, which was such a shame because that year, 2020, we started off our year. We'd just filmed a rerun of Cracker Jack,

which obviously was a show that was massive for kids, for generations. And we brought it back, and it came back with a bang, and it got a five-starry. review in The Guardian, which children's shows don't tend to get. And we were like, oh my God, this is going to be a big old year. And then COVID hit. And we ended up doing a second series in the October of that year without an audience, which was weird.

And then CBBC changed and they stopped putting money into big entertainment shows, and that's what me and Mark always did. So we made a really tough decision. I'll never forget we were touring our show. We were on a P&O cruise. And we were chatting constantly. And we said to each other, listen, let's give it another year of playing the game,

going out, having meetings, trying to get some gigs, and we'll know if the time has come for us to maybe call it a day. And unfortunately, that came. It was like the following summer after. I think we were both just getting quite frustrated that things weren't happening. You know, we were both starting to feel maybe we should start doing our own things. I wanted to push the cooking a little bit more. And Matt wanted to do other things.

as well. So we had a really grown-up but hard conversation and we were like, maybe we just call it a day whilst we still absolutely, I know, and it was and I still get emotional now thinking about it because I still get emotional now thinking about it because it was, it was hard because we never fell out or anything like that and we absolutely loved working together, but we didn't want to get to a point where because we weren't getting any gigs anymore really. You know what it's like you can you could get very bitter in this industry. Absolutely.

That's the last thing we want to happen because I've seen it happen and I've seen it happen to duos as well where they're this suddenly they're like oh god this is so frustrating so they just end up hating each other and me and Mark absolutely and still do completely and utterly love each other and I didn't want that because exactly what you just said it shows on camera how much we got on and how much fun we were having. having, that may have stopped happening, do you know what I mean? So it was a really difficult decision, but yeah, back in, it was 22 in the end, I think, when we called it a day.

Called it a day. But as you say, listen, you're still mates. You never say never. Do you know what I mean? Just because you've put a line under it for the moment, something might come up. Yeah, well, funnily enough, so earlier this year, the lovely Andy Day from... Oh, yes. Yeah, so we're good friends with Andy.

And he called me and he said, I'm about to film a new series of this show that is called Andy in the Band. And there's a part in it for you and Mark. Would you come and do it? And we were like, yeah, let's do it. And it's just, I think it's airing now this week. Oh, brilliant.

And so little things like that, we'll get together and do things and stuff, which is lovely and it's nice that we still have that relationship. Very much so, very much so. You mentioned Christmas, Panto. In your book, you talk a lot about Christmas at the end, which I love. I did an autobiography in March it came out last year.

And I did mindset in seasons. Oh, lovely. So you really reminded me the love and passion you have for Halloween for Christmas, but, you know, bonfire night. And I loved it. But I wanted to just talk about Christmas for a minute. Okay. You're doing Panto again?

I am indeed, yes. Wakefield, yeah. Lovely. I am doing Panto for the first time in 13. years. Oh, wow. Okay, how does that feel? Well, I want your advice because I'm really, I love, I'm a Christmas nut.

So the reason I haven't done it is because I wanted to be at home with the children and be around. Yeah. But it's coming to that time, they're growing up, you know, and I think actually it'll be nice to change it up this year and make Panto, you know, the Christmas bubble, if you like. Yeah, yeah. But I'm just worried about it. And I'm worried about playing a character like The Wicked Queen. Am I going to be all right? I haven't been on stage for ages.

And you're seasoned at pantos, aren't you? You do them all the time? Well, do you know what? It is a proper skill, pantor. I think, if I'm being totally honest, that, so I never used to do, like me and Mark, God, me and Mark could have probably made a fortune in the past doing panto over the years, doing it when we were doing children's TV.

But we were, I was never bothered about doing panto, and that's because I love Christmas. So I never wanted to be away from home at Christmas. I'm very lucky. The panto that I do, it's an in-house one, so it's a very intimate, but beautifully put together Panto. Again, we all completely love each other.

We've now become a little ensemble, and we go back every year, and it's just in Wakefield, which is about 20 minutes away from me, so I get to come home every single night. I don't think I could do Panto personally being away from home, because it is hard. I can drive as well.

Good, good. I chose one. Yeah, I said, no, no, no. I'm the same as you. I couldn't do it if I wasn't coming home. Well, I think you've done the right thing. If you love Christmas that much, first of all, I think that is absolutely the right thing.

Because being able to come home every night, and even though it's hard, because you are working hard and you're working a long time, and you miss kind of that sort of build up to Christmas maybe and going to certain markets and things like that, but you're still at home with the kids when you need to be at home with them, and that for me is just massively important.

But I think something I've realised about Panto is that you become part of people's Christmas traditions. And like I said, Our Panto is a very intimate one. It's a beautiful theatre. Theatre Royal Wakefield. It's a Frank Matcham theatre. So it's the guy who sort of created the London Played him.

It's like a little... Like a little chocolate box. Yeah, it's just gorgeous. Did he do Bath as well? Theatre Royal. He may have done, actually. He's sort of that beautiful. Yeah, yeah.

It's just beautiful like what you would have picture an old theatre to look like. And you just see it every night when you're on stage, especially that week sort of leading up to Christmas. people just love it and they come it's part of their tradition and that for me is what Christmas is about it's about tradition whatever that is whether it's you going to your local pantomime whether it's you going for drinks that you do every year with your friends you know me and my best mates we've been best mates in school and every Christmas Eve so the 23rd of

December without fail we always meet up and go for breakfast and thankfully my pantos schedule allows me to do that still which is amazing because on the 23rd we don't ever show to like half two in the afternoon, so I can still do that. And that's what Christmas is about. And I think you realize when you're on stage, even though you're away from your family, you're making people so happy, and it's part of their Christmas.

And that really helps. And I get quite emotional. Every Christmas Eve, when we finish the shows, we always sing, wish you a Merry Christmas. Yeah. Without fail, that, every year that I have done it, and this will be my sixth or seventh year doing it, I well up singing it.

And I don't know what it is. I think it must be something to do with that memory of singing we wish you a Merry Christmas at school and the excitement that I used to get because it was Christmas. I'm getting goosebumps thinking about it now. Yeah, I have. It's like, it's a real, I don't know, it's just a real emotional family thing

and you see these lovely smiling faces. And again, you know, everybody says this, but theatre is, sorry, Panto, is a lot of kids' thirst experience of theatre. So important, isn't it? It's so important, because it's what keeps on course.

coming back, hopefully, if they love it. And it's a special thing. It really is. And I'm really, I've become weirdly passionate about Panto as well. Like, I'll go and watch certain Pantor as I want, and I'm like, I'm quite critical of them. Yes. Well, I think you're right. And I hate Panto snobs.

Yes. Because, as you say, it's a real craft. It is. And it's, as you say, a tradition that's been going on for such a long time. Yeah. You want to uphold that. You want to be uphold. You want to feel like you're doing it justice.

Do you know what I mean? That's what I'm worried about. I want to make sure that I'm, you know, I want to be funny enough, but I don't, you know, I don't, I just want it to be right and I don't want to be silly, but you know. But you've got, and that's the hard thing about being a villain in a panter, but I think you'll be brilliant. You know, I've not seen you in panter, but, you know, I've seen you act and I think you'll be brilliant. And I've seen you do comedy as well, so I know you'll be brilliant. But the great thing about, the hard thing about being a villain is that you've got to tread that fine line of you want to be a little bit scary because you want to tell the story, because that's the bit that kids get involved. with, they follow the story.

Which is why I hate pantos that throw away the story. I hate it. That's what kids follow. They follow the story. So you need to have that bit of where they are a little bit scared of you. But then when you can add in the little funnies as well. The warmth and the... Yeah, a bit of camp. Absolutely. That's a hard part of the villain.

But I think you'll absolutely smash that. Oh, thank you. Who do you play then? So I'm usually classed as like the sort of the comedy character, the sort of... Buttons when we did Cinderella. But again, so the Dame, a lovely guy called Chris Hannan, who writes the Panto, he always writes it in such a beautiful way. So it tends to be, I mean, I'm not sure I've got many of these left in me because I'm not getting any younger.

But like, so whenever it's something like Jack in the Beanstalk or Dick Whittington, I'll tend to play Jack or Dick, but he'll still write it as the sort of comedy character as well, which is lovely. So in those years, it's really nice because I get to do the kind of the ballads and things like that as well. and then this year's beauty and the beast, so yeah, I'm back to like the comedy character. And it's really good, so it alternates, really, through the years,

depending on which character I'm playing. But I tend to be the kind of comedy, the kind of heart of the Panto, really. Also, you can, you can older tune and you can sing really well. So, of course, I want to use you for the ballads, don't they? Yeah, it helps.

And it is nice. Those years, when I get to show my voice off a little bit, I do quite enjoy that a lot. Yeah, yeah. Oh, it's great. You'll love it, and it's so nice that you, you get to come home. I think that, I think you've made such a great decision doing that. Yeah, I don't think I could have done it. I'm such a home person. I love being at home.

Honestly, it takes me a lot to go out. You know, you get these invitations. You think, not really. Yeah, I'm with you. I'm absolutely with you. I was looking at your Instagram because I followed you for a while. I did, funnily enough, I did Giovanna Fletcher's pod. Happy mom, happy baby. And we were chatting and we got onto food and I said, oh, you know, I'm not very good at preparing beforehand and da-da-da-da. She said, you've got to follow Sam. And I said, oh, she said, you must follow.

He's amazing. I'd follow him. I do all of my Christmas through Sam. So tell us about how that all started, because people can follow you and do it. Are you doing that at the moment? Yeah, so I'll actually be, I will be prepping in October, ready for Christmas, Christmas dinner.

Basically, so I love, I've always loved hosting Christmas. I love it. We have my mum, my dad, my brother, my sister-in-law. I've got my wife and my two kids at my house. So what I used to do is that I used to spend pretty much all Christmas Eve in the kitchen. And by the time it got to five o'clock in the evening, when we were all trying to settle down, I was just knackered and exhausted and pissed off with seeing any bit of Christmas food. So I was like, I've got to change this in a sort of way, but I didn't want to stop hosting because I love it. And I love cooking my Christmas dinner. And my mum's always said it's the best Christmas present you can give me is, me not having to do Christmas dinner. Do you know what? So I thought to myself, do you know what? There's like 80, maybe 90% of this Christmas dinner that I know I could probably pre-prep at least a month before Christmas, whack it in the freezer.

Because it's all those little bits like, when you're in the kitchen preparing Christmas dinner and you're peeling eight people's worth of potatoes for roast potatoes, you're chuffing them, you're chuffing them, you've got all that washing to do. That's the stress because it's like, oh my God, the stress of this now, all this washing up. And then I'm going to go on to the next thing that I've got to prepare. And it's horrible.

It's not a nice feeling. And then you can't enjoy Christmas as well. How many kilos of potatoes do you do? I usually do two kilos. I get two big bags normally because you want leftovers, do you know what? One big bag would be enough, but it always do. I always do too. You're right.

You've got it. You need loads of those. But that, it's a lot. It is a lot. And there are people who, who, who, for like 15 people. Do you know what I mean? I have people messaging me on Instagram saying this prep has helped so much because I've got 15 people coming for Christmas, which is insane. I usually have eggs at the most. And I was just like, there needs to be a way of doing

this. So like I say, I realized you could prep about 80, 90% of the dinner. Roast potatoes, pigs in blankets can all be prepped in the freezer, stuffing balls, prepped in the freezer, even carrot and sweet mash. You can make that. Put it in the freezer and most of it you just defrost it. Roast potatoes you cook from frozen, just like you would with Aunt Bess's. Do you know what I mean? It's no different. It scares me so much, the roast potato thing. This is the thing that that changed the game for me.

When I realised that you could prep roast potatoes, and I genuinely believe, so long as you do it right, there are a few hacks to it, I think they're better. I think there's something in the freezing of them that makes them crisper. Like, I don't know the science behind it, but I do think there is. But basically, if you get roast potatoes, you parboil them like you normally would, you then let them drain a bit, they chuff them up, they get all that lovely rough edge, cover them in whatever chosen fat. I've realised that duck fat on Christmas Day is beautiful.

Duck fat is amazing. But if you're veggie, you know, just use vegetable fat, whatever. And then let them cool down and then stick them in the freezer on a tray. Once they're fully frozen, you can then put them into freezer bags, because they're nice and hard. Just keep them in the freezer. And then on Christmas Day, all you have, have to do is you put more fat in a roasting tray.

Get that tray baking. Get it really hot, yeah. And then you just carefully put your frozen potatoes in there. They'll start sizzling, stick them in the oven. They will take about an hour and make sure your tray has got plenty of room. So use a big tray, you might need to use two trays, so that each potato's got room around them so they're not just steaming. You know, that'll not make them crispy.

But if they've got enough room, they will be unbelievable. They are genuinely the best roast potatoes. And I found out, when I realized that I could do that, that's what changed Christmas dinner for me. Because I was like, this is amazing. Carrot and sweet mesh? Yeah. Does it not go watery? So it does a little bit.

So what I do with that, the way I reheat it, is that I'll defrost it. So I get that out of the fridge on Christmas Eve morning before I go to Panto, stick it in the fridge. And then Christmas Day, I kind of squeeze it out of the freezer bag into like a baking dish. And I pop it in the oven. So then any residual water, is kind of evaporated, and then I might just stir another bit

of knob of butter through it or something like that. See, I think I'm going to have to follow you fully this year. Do it, mate. Because of the Panto? Yeah, well, this is the thing, and especially now I do Panto. I have to do this now. You know, I did it before, I was doing it for years before I even started doing Panto

just because it helped and it meant that I could have a bit more of a nicer Christmas Eve. But now I work on Christmas Eve, I absolutely have to do it this way. And it's just brilliant. And I do it every year. So from the 1st of December, I post pretty much one recipe every single day. And then my lovely followers just follow it when they want to follow it.

Sorry. First of October, you said. Sorry. So the 1st of December is the way, is when I'll post it. I'll start filming it in October myself at home. I'll get it all done in October personally for me, because I have to film it all in preparation. Because then in November I go into Panto land.

I'm not going to be in Panto. You're going to be in Panto. 1st of December, it's too late for me. It's too late for me. That's a good point, actually. I don't think about that. I'll send you the previews personally. Please.

Honestly, I'd love that. And I'll say, I'm doing all Sam stuff, I promise. Yeah, do it. It really helps, it does. Yeah. Oh, it's fantastic. I was watching your Instagram, Oly. You are funny.

I love your Instagram. It is very funny. But I saw a video. I come across a video of you talking about your agent who's from London. spitting feathers does mean you're angry. It does mean or doesn't? It does.

No, it doesn't, that? It does down here. No, God! Do you know what? What was so frustrating about that as well? For context. So, yeah, my agent talked about spitting feathers. And in Barnsley, up north,

spitting feathers means that you're thirsty. You know, your mouth's dry, you're spitting feathers. You need a drink. Whereas my agent was like, no, now it means that you're angry. I was like, absolutely not. So I put it on my Instagram. And I think I was outnumbered. Pretty much more.

Most people were like, no, it means that you're angry. I was like, no. I understand, though. I'll get it with the old feathers in the mouth. I would say something like, oh my God, my mouth is like Gandy's flip-flop. Yes, yeah, fair, fair. You know what I mean? Yeah.

So, but the spitting feathers has always meant that you're annoyed, you know. I see, I have never heard it been used in that way until my agent said it. And then I was like, oh, what? So you, Norvenors. I know. We've got our own language. Oh, it's lovely, though. It's brilliant.

Do you know what, Mark, Mark got into my Mark at home. He keeps putting on Fred Dibner on the telly. Old YouTube videos of Fred Dibner, the, you know, he does all the steeple chasing chimneys and all that. And he sound really, I was looking, I was actually looking at your book. And I thought, it's Paddy McGuinness on the telly, not to be stereotypical. And I looked up, and it was Fred Dibner. Oh, right.

something about, I know that's Bolton, but it's just something so warm, isn't there, about the north, the accent. Obviously, you might not know that, but it's so comforting. Yeah, well, I mean, I often think that. It was funny,

it was funny, again, funny, she said, I went to go see a production of Scrooge last year, and they'd set it in the north. And I was a bit like, oh, it's too, it's too kind. The Yorkshire accent's too kind for Scrooge.

Not saying that the southern accent is horrible, but it's like, it does make it go, yeah, no, it shouldn't be northern Scrooge. It needs to be, you know, proper angry. And I like that. But no, it is a kind accent. It is. And it's, you know, I think the thing is we've up north is that it's so much,

what's weird about it is that there are so many towns that are so close together, but they're different towns. you know, different parts of Yorkshire, you know. And I think because everything's so small, everybody kind of knows each other, do you know what I mean? So it's always been a, that's why I moved, I lived in London for years, I love London.

Where did you live in London? So I started out in Battersea, which I loved Battersea. And then I ended up in, I moved over a little while I went to Wandsworth at one point, but I ended up in Ealing. And I loved Ealing, and it was lovely. And, you know, I met my wife. My wife is from the north, but we met in London. London. And it was lovely, but Barnes was always home. So I ended up moving back here. And it's, it's just, it's just lovely because I now get to go down to London and I still get to see it and visit it. I've still got friends who live in London. But yet, I think, I think the thing is with up here, it's just that it is so much smaller. Like I now, even though I lived, even though I lived in London for like nine years, I now go and I'm that typical northern tourist. I'm like, oh, it's massive. It is massive this place. And it really is huge.

But listen, you talk about Ealing. Yeah. Battersea. Yeah. I may as well go to Paris. Oh, exactly. Honestly. Yeah, yeah.

You say you know everyone. I mean, south of the rip, forget it for me. Yeah. I ain't going over there. Genuinely, I'm north London. I'm from Islington, so it's all north for me. Yeah, yeah. And I'm in Hertfordshire.

I'm in the country now, and I love it. It's really quiet. I'm in a little village. Yeah. And again, a bit like you. I like going in, and I'll get. the train and when you've got bits to do or go to a nice art gallery and, you know, I enjoy it. But I love the peace and quiet of the village and the local pub and, you know.

Do you think that changes with age? Yeah, I do. I do. And also, yeah, just the pace of life and for the children. The one thing I'd say is once your children do get a little bit older is you are a taxi. You're a cab. Yes. They can't walk out and jump on a bus or, you know, well, they can actually, but not to many places.

So you've always sort of on standby for pickups and drop-offs, which I don't mind. But it also sort of blocks out them just wanting to go out all the time. Yeah, you know, swings and roundabout. Yeah, yeah, true. But it's so true that London, like, I'll never forget sometimes, like, driving across London to somewhere. And it, because of the traffic, it took like, two hours. I was. It's ridiculous.

And it's like, oh my goodness, I could have almost driven back home to Bounsley in that time. Do you know what I mean? And it is wild. It is. It's mad. I do a lot of, if I get into London,

and say I've got two things to do, I'll just put Google Maps on and walk it. You just go to. Yeah, yeah. I don't ride a bike, so unfortunately, I can't ride a bike, never have been able to.

But my legs I'm good at. So, yeah, I'm just, I like to walk around London or walk down the river. It's just easier. Do you know what me and my wife? did it recently. So we went down to watch Sam Ryder in Jesus Christ Superstar. Yes. And she planned it all. We got into St. Pancras. And we walked to our hotel, which was a good

like half an hour, 45 minute walk. And then we walked from the hotel to the Palladium. And we walked back. And we just walked it all. And it was, you know, if you're saying it to your kids, we're going to be walking. It's going to be 45 minutes. I don't know what? But it was lovely. And it was great. It's a great way of seeing London. Do you know what I mean? I really enjoyed doing that. I'll do that more often, I think. I love the Palladium. That's one of my favourites. It's amazing.

Have you seen Sam Ryder in that, yeah? No. Is it amazing? Oh, my God. I, when I watched it, as I love Sam Ryder, obviously, his voice is just unbelievable. He's amazing.

He also seems like just the nicest, most grateful love bloke. Absolutely. But, you know, I was like, I was like, is he going to be any good at it? Because can he act? You know, I know it's like acting through song,

but still, that's a hard thing to do. Yeah. He's unbelievable. I felt like I was watching something really special, like a bit of history. I almost feel like him in that role will be remembered forever. Really? Yeah, honestly, if you get a chance to see him, I mean, it's going on tour next year. So anybody watching this podcast or listening to this podcast and they can't get to London,

try and get tickets for it. He was absolutely sensational. He blew my mind. And what he can do with his voice in that show is insane. It's absolutely insane. You've sold it to me. Honestly, mate. It's a real special thing.

And I didn't think the show itself, I saw Jesus Christ Superstar on a school trip years ago when I was a kid. And I didn't mind the show. It's not one of my favorite shows, but I really wanted to see him in it. And it's even turned my way around to thinking for the show. I just think I thought it was an amazing show. I thought the music was unbelievable.

But yeah, it was very, very special thing to see him playing that part. Oh, that's so lovely. I love that. We'll clip that up and we'll at him in it. Yeah, do it. Absolutely. Oh, that's fantastic. No, I shall look it up. I should look it up.

Yeah. Right, let's get on to cooking now. I know we've had a little bit of Christmas prep. You, what show was it you did, your cooking show, and you got to the final? Was that Master Chef? It was, yes, Celebrity Master Chef in 2015, yeah. Right. Were you cooking before that?

Did you enjoy your cooking before that? Yeah, so I was training to be a chef. So when I left school, that's what I wanted to do. I wanted to be a chef. So I left school at 16, and I, and I, enrolled in a catering and hospitality course. Right. But in between leaving school and starting college, I'd auditioned for Pop Idol.

So that was kind of happening in the background whilst I was at college. So I did my whole first year. It was a three-year course. I did my whole first year. But then, you know, as we know with talent shows, overnight, if you get through, you have to move to London. And that's literally what happened. I got to the live finals.

And overnight, I ended up moving to London at the age of 17. So I had to stop doing my catering course. course and my life took a completely different direction. That's a massive thing to do, isn't it? I'm just trying to think about that. Sort of 17, you're on the path, you're really enjoying your course, and then that comes up. What did your parents say?

Well, my mum always describes it as, she always says like the apron strings didn't have time to fray. They were just cut. And that thing of being a pair, I mean, as you said, your daughter's about to be 16, so that'd be next year moving somewhere completely different and, you know, starting this mad career where lots of people know who you are as well.

It was wild. It was. It was, it's been odd because I don't think I've ever had time to properly process it. I've never had to, I don't think. And also, Sam, what people are listening to this now, there will be a lot of listeners, a lot of my ladies who are sort of my age who will remember and know. when we're talking about pop-eyed,

it's not like the voice now, no disrespect to the programs that are on now, that get one and a half, two million viewers. We are talking about over 20 million people. It was huge, isn't it? It was huge. It was huge. We were really well looked after as well in that show.

It was before social media. It was like, and it was very innocent as well. If you watch clips of pop idol back now, it's just these, you know, what I find now, a little frustrating sometimes with talent shows is that they're almost ready-made pop stars and the beauty with those shows,

which is why I don't think they work as much anymore. The thing that was beautiful about those shows back in the days that you were picking young people who didn't have a chance of getting a record deal. Like, I literally, two weeks before I was live on a Saturday night was in my college course in Barnsley, you know, training to be a chef.

And then I was live on Saturday night at telly in front of millions of people. And it was that thing of just picking someone and seeing how they did. And obviously, my series was the second series of pop idols. So we'd all watched what had happened to Will Young and Gareth Gates in the third series, which is why I auditioned because I applied for it. Because I sat at home watching that with my mother and dad and it was, it was huge telling. It was a huge one.

It was so big. I remember that final. I spoke about it actually. And weirdly, I spoke about it last night in a pod with a police. I remember being in a nightclub. And I remember them turning everything off. so we could hear if we had Gareth had won. It was massive. Can you imagine that happening now?

No. It just wouldn't. It wouldn't at all. People would be like, turn music back on. What are you doing? But it was huge and it was a massive show. And yeah, it's mad to think about it. Like when I think about my kids,

like my daughter's about to be 12 and to think at 17, her just moving down to London. And I think you only realize that when you become a parent yourself about how hard that must have been for my mum and dad. because also I've got an older brother so he was off doing his own thing so he wasn't in the house as much

so suddenly this house that was busy with friends knocking on the door and us getting ready for school and college and things like that suddenly nothing. That stopped and it was quiet and even I think my mum wants to describe something about you know at the top of our stairs

we had like a banister and our clothes for the next day would always be on there what we were ever wearing and I do it now with my kids I said right take your clothes I'll put them up banister can wear them tomorrow. You know, those row of clothes were gone. Do you know what I mean? It's really heartbreaking.

Yeah. You can't feel, I think, as you say, as you have your children, yeah, it's, you only know, you only know at the different ages and stages and you go, oh yeah. And I think back to being Eliza's age. Yeah. And I can moan and groan, and then I stop myself. And I think she's such a good girl.

Yeah. She's so good. She has her moments and she wants to do a few things that I Oh, and then I think about my, what I was doing at her age, and I think, give her a break. She's really good girl, you know. Yeah, yeah. It's wild, isn't it?

Yeah. You do, yeah, almost like, not that I have anything to forgive my mum and dad father, but I had a lovely childhood growing up, but you do almost, I forgive them for stressing and worrying. Do you know what I mean? Because I get it now. I absolutely get it. In fact, I remember me and my mum having a raging argument

just before I was about, to do my first pop idol audition. And it was because they just started letting me sort of go out with friends. And she was, we had a massive argument about the fact that she didn't want me to go out because she didn't want me drinking out of a glass and maybe get a cold. And then I couldn't do it. And it was a massive argument because I wanted to go out with my friends. But I kind of get that now.

I was like, if my daughter had a massive audition that could potentially change her life now, I'd be like, you're not going out. Staying in tonight. Staying in, look after yourself. Yeah. You're doing it next week? Yeah, have a good night's sleep. You know, get some rest for your voice, do you know what?

You know what do you think they're into? I mean, they're young and no one needs to know, but do they like music? Anything, you know, that you're up to, do they like the acting, the cooking, the music? So my daughter absolutely loves performing. What's great about, so the theatre where I do Panto, Theatre or Wakefield, it's a really, it's a charity as well. So they put a lot of money into the community through the arts. and they do a thing called Performance Academy,

which is essentially like a drama club. Yes, yeah. So she signed up to that, which is lovely. So Wakefield has really become a second home to me now. I'm there all the time, and that theatre particularly. So she loves it. She gets like proper, almost professional style training. Oh, lovely.

And then they put on shows and things like that every year and stuff. And they have the opportunities to audition for the pantomime and things like that to be in the chorus. So she loves that. My son absolutely... adores gaming. That is his thing. And as a parent,

that's really difficult because you do, you know, you don't want them to be on screens too much. And we're quite good with it, me and my wife. Especially when he's at school, we don't let him go on it in the week.

And then at the weekend, we let him have his weekend. And he plays with his friends. And he's good at it. And he loves it and's passionate about it. But it is a hard thing because you have that thing constantly like, God, you know, just get out and play.

Which he does do as well. Don't get me wrong. He does do that. But he also has this real passion for it as well. Like he loves it. And he's good at it. And he's really good at it. Yeah. And he's playing games like, we don't let him like go on online and speak to his friends online. But what he does, he'll, my wife is not bothered about her phone. Whereas me, I need my phone constantly. She lets him have his phone and he'll like FaceTime his friends. So he's chatting to them. And they're all chatting whilst they're all playing a game. And it's lovely and I love listening to him. So that's his thing.

He absolutely adores it. You could talk to him about a game and that's it. It'll be... Lights up. Yeah, absolutely. And I think we have to remember, you know, I remember having a game boy and loving it. I mean, I love games.

My lovely nephew Alfie, seven, and he's the same. He's just had a gaming party and he absolutely loves it. And I think, like you say, as long as we've other things, they're football, karate and they're getting out or the Cubs or, you know, whatever he is, I think it's just part of life now

and it is a hobby that is a big one. Yeah, absolutely, absolutely. Right, we've gone off paced again because we don't stop talking. You know it's lovely. People like it. This is what the pod's about. We just have a chat.

So you did that and obviously then you had your really long career with Mark and, you know, that all went along. And then you got Celebrity Master Chef. Yeah. So it was like, weirdly. So I actually, I got offered to do Celebrity Master Chef when I was about 19.

So not long after doing Pop Idol. Right. But I found it a bit intense. I was like, no, it's too early to do that. It's a very intense show. I'm only 19. I'm not bothered about doing that. So I turned it down.

And then it was, so that must have been, what, 2005, maybe 2004, 2005, maybe? So then it wasn't until 2015 when it came back around again. And I got asked and I was like, yeah, do you know what? Now's the time. I want to do it. It'd be great. So I did it. I got to the final.

And then ever since then, obviously, that brought quite a few sort of foodie followers to my Instagram. So then I was like, do you know what? I'll start posting the odd recipe,

which I did with, like, there was no, I wasn't doing it for any particular reason. I was just doing it for, you know, I've got these sudden foodie followers

who have watched me on MasterChef. I'll start posting some recipes. Few people started doing it. And then I think the big thing that changed for my kind of Instagram thing was I started posting every year of Christmas cake. And I think, as we've already said, you know, we both love Christmas.

And I always get itchy feet kind of this time of year. So it's September. I'm like, it's almost Christmas. It's nearly time. How can I get excited about Christmas? And I remember once being in London, I thought, I was having that feeling when I wanted to get excited about Christmas. And it was early September.

Yeah. And I used to work in a bakery when I was a kid. And I'll never forget, I talk about this in the book, I'll never forget, my boss, he pulled out this tray, and this was in the summer, I think, he pulled out this tree, and it was a big, massive fruit cake,

and he was feeding it with booze with brandy or sherry. And I was like, what are you doing? And he's like, oh, I'm feeding the Christmas cakes, ready to sell. There it is. There it is. There's the cake. And I've never forgot that,

because he was feeding it, like months in advance. I was like, oh, how can you do that? You're selling that at Christmas? And he was like, yeah, because you feed it with booze. It takes on the flavor, and it preserves it, and then you get beautiful,

flavored Christmas cake at Christmas. And I went to fan of Christmas cake either. I didn't like fruit cake. But I thought, this particular year, I'm going to have a go. And I started researching recipes. And I thought, I know I want like a moist Christmas cake. And I looked to the queen, which was Delia. Dealia was the queen of Christmas.

Yeah. And she had a great Christmas cake recipe. So I thought, right, how can I look at all these different recipes, come up with my own version, and that's what I did. And I made this Christmas cake one night. And I fed it then for like two months. Iced it in this. And then we had it at Christmas.

And I loved it. And because I made it myself, I loved Christmas cake suddenly. I was like, oh, my God, this is amazing. So then the following year after that, me and my wife got married, and we got married at Christmas. So I, the top tier of our wedding cake was my Christmas cake. And then I started posting it. And I thought, do you know what?

I'll post it, see what happens. And every year, more and more people have just got involved with it. and it's just got bigger and bigger and bigger and more people talk about it and it's become this thing and usually it's the first weekend in September when I will bake it and loads of people on my Instagram bake it

and then you feed it for like two months ice it in December and you've got beautiful Christmas cake which will last for months as well like I've had Christmas cake left in March and it's still beautiful and amazing and then like people like Javana Fletcher got on board with it and which was amazing she suddenly started following me one day

and I've known Tom for years because he used to come on all like our kids shows all the time. So me and the Mcfly boys, we were around at the same time. Yeah. So it was lovely. And she sent me,

she's currently on the Great Wall of China doing a... Oh, doing one of the Copperfield. Yeah. And she sent me a voice show. She said, Sam, we're just at the Great Wall of China. We're all talking about your Christmas cake.

When do we need to do it? Amazing. Lovely. So obviously that really brought a lot of thought. When she mentioned it, it brought a lot of people to my Instagram as well. And it's just become this really, lovely thing where every year people get excited. And what's lovely is that everybody has a really

amazing, their own thought about how to decorate it. So I get these pictures sent in December of people who have decorated their Christmas cakes. And they're just, they blow me away some of them. They're unbelievable. Oh, it's brilliant. Brilliant. I've got to talk to you about Delia. Yes. So I've got the book. I've got the famous Christmas book. I made the Christmas cake. What, my Christmas cake? No, Delia's, right? Right, yeah. Dry as a bone. Oh, interesting.

And I'm not, listen, I might have been to go here. But if you look at, I showed my mother-in-law, right, I showed, well, to be, which she may as well be my mum and my law. I've been engaged for nine years. But I showed her the cooking and the oven and the hours, and she said, that is so long. It is quite a long break. That's interesting. You see, I'm going to do yours. I'm going to do yours this.

Right. Well, mine's definitely not dry. It's very moist. See, I never made Delia's. Because when I first wanted to, when I first wanted to make a cake before, I've got no idea really about quantities and what you put in it. So I was researching loads of different recipes. Dealiers was the kind of the first one that came up

because I think a lot of people have cooked Delia's. But I never baked it myself, so I never knew. But that's interesting that it was, it might be, it could have been me. I could have been me. Yeah, I could have put in something wrong or too much. I highly recommend doing my cake. It is really moist. And like I said, the more you feed it, obviously, the more flavor it takes.

And, you know, there's, I talk about, again, I talk about it in the book because there's, that you can do a non-alcoholic version as well where you kind of soak the fruit in tea, like black tea. But then you don't feed it. So you wouldn't make that so far in advance. You'd make it in December and then ice it. But it's still lovely and moist, even without all the feeding. So I think it's just like the quantities that I've got right and the flavors and the fruit as well,

depending on what fruit you use and make sure it's plumped up properly and rehydrated and stuff. But it's just become a really lovely thing. And it's why I couldn't, even though this is a book about autumn. Yes. The thing about this book is that it's kind of, it leads you up to the last thing of autumn, which kind of essentially is Christmas, do you know what I mean? And I couldn't not, my debut cookbook couldn't not include the Christmas cake because I think that there would have been uproar.

But it feels quite nice. Like I say, it takes you through autumn. And, you know, autumn usually ends around the 22nd of December when winter starts. The book kind of ends with that last recipe. Yeah, it's absolutely amazing. And I wanted to talk to you because you've been having an idea about a book, haven't you, for quite a while? Yeah.

And am I right in saying, because you're a huge fan, as I am I, of the lovely Jamie Oliver? Yes. And he gave you some advice, didn't they? Yeah, he did. So I was, like, when me and Mark were, you know, talking about calling it a day and stuff like that, that was when I was really thinking about maybe doing a book. Because I'd built up this following on Instagram and I was like, do you know what, I really want to do a book.

I really want to do it to be just a dream for somebody, for me to hold a book of mine. So it was like over four years ago, I actually sat down and started writing it. And this idea came to me about wanting it to be about autumn because I love autumn. People always say about, right, about what you love, what you know. And I love autumn. My style of cooking lends itself to the colder months of the year, the sort of very hearty stews, puds, pies. So I thought, right, if I write a book around my favourite season,

I know I can make it beautiful, I can make it look lovely, beautiful imagery, all this kind of stuff. So we started picturing it to publishers, and we just weren't getting anywhere with it. Like publishers were just, and I get it. You know, they were like, I think, you know, they never said this to me, but I think, you know, even though I've got, you know,

130,000 followers on Instagram, I think that's probably not enough for a publisher to take a punt. And also, you know, they're probably like, why is Sam from Sam and Mark suddenly bringing out a cookbook? That's not going to sell. So I just weren't getting anywhere. And they were coming back to me. And they were saying things like, you know,

why don't you try, you know, you're a dad in the kitchen. So why don't you do that? But I was like, yeah, but that's not why my followers follow me. They don't follow me for that. They follow me for the type of food that I cook. So I was getting very, with it, Nat. I weren't getting anywhere.

I thought, this is not going to happen. And then, so I've known Jamie over a little while when I was on Pop Idol was a massive fan of him. And he invited me down to his restaurant when I was 17.

And I met him and he was lovely. And I met Jules, his wife, and she was lovely. And I think, I might be wrong, but I think Jules was a bit of a fan of me on Pop Idol at the time.

Yes, yes. So the year later, after Pop Idol, Jamie invited me to Jules's secret 30th birthday party and asked me to sing happy birthday to her and she had no idea about it. So I went along and then he got up on stage and he was like, right, Jules, I've got a surprise for you.

Come on out and I came out and she looked at me and there was like a split second. I thought, oh God, she'd got no idea where I am. Then she suddenly went, she sat mixing it out. I'm like, yes. So I got on stage and sang happy birthday. Ended up getting ridiculously drunk that night, sat in a toilet cubicle on the floor at Jamie Oliver's party.

So embarrassing. Anyway, I digress. So anyway, so I'd known him a little bit. And then one night, he followed me on Instagram. And he sent me the loveliest message saying, hey, it's been quite a few years since Jules' birthday. Looks like you're still doing well. Nice to speak to you.

And we've just kept in contact through Instagram. And then he invited, whilst I was trying to get this book going, and it wasn't happening, I got invited down to one of his book events. and we got chatting and I was saying, yeah, I'm getting frustrated. I just really want to do a book. And he said to me, he says, why don't you, like, he was like saying how hard it is to get a book deal, which it is. And he's saying, why don't you go down the self-publishing route?

He says, I've got friends who have done it, and it's been brilliant for them. And I'll be honest, my wife's always said to me, why don't you self-publish? But because Jamie said it, so I was like, yeah, I can imagine Anna, I'm going, oh, yeah, listen to Jamie, not me. Bless her. So my wife, she's always had this idea. But I started looking into it then. I was like, okay, if Jamie's saying that, maybe I should properly look into this. And I had a friend called Mandy, who some of your followers may follow her. I think she called Simply Food by Mandy.

Yeah, so I follow her. Yeah, lovely. So Mandy's lovely. So she self-published her book. So I was asking her for loads of advice. And she was doing it through a company called Mezzi, who were helping her do it. So I looked into Meze and found out that their officers were literally down the road from where I am in Sheffield. So I was like, oh my God, that's a sign. I could literally go into their office.

And I had a meeting. They were brilliant. They loved my idea. And it was so nice to finally have someone who works in publishing actually go, yeah, this idea is brilliant. You know, and they liked it so much they offered to kind of half fund it. But I was like, do you know what?

if I'm going to do this, I'm going to do it on my own, and I spoke to my wife about it, and we talked about budget and how much money we had to use for it. I was like, I'm going to do it myself so that I have full control over it. So we went for it, and it's been amazing. Like, me and my wife sat down and we budgeted, we like, right, if we maybe write and print 3,000 copies of this book,

that will hopefully maybe last us a year. And if we sell them within the year, I'll have made back my money and I'll have done a good job. Yep. I announced it. February, right? So actually, it was actually November last year. Right.

I announced it on Amazon on February. But the initial pre-sell, the first time I ever mentioned that I was doing this book was November last year. And the 3,000 copies sold in a week. And I was like, oh my God. Like, it was amazing. But this was like a year in advance. So then I was like, wow, we're going to need to be.

print more. And frankly, because of the way Mezzi, the company, the way they work, people pre-ordered it and they paid for it. So I had the money there to then reinvest. Understood. So I could print much more. But then again, Jamie was just brilliant because I was, like, how many do you, how many do you print? No idea. Got literally no idea how many to print. And like going to Jamie, he's probably a stupid idea because he probably prints hundreds of thousands of books. And I was asking

loads of different people and everybody had different answers for me. And Jamie was like, I think you should print this many. And I was like, it says, if you can afford to do it, print that many and then you've got them. And I'll listen to him. And again, it's been brilliant. And we're, now, we've, I had a conversation yesterday about potentially having to reprint now, because it's just gone so well. And it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, well, listen, the, it is such a, before we even get inside the book, it's such a beautiful book. Thank you. You know, I look at this book and think, I want to buy this now for Christmas present. It's so beautiful to have on the side. Do you know what I mean, though?

Thank you. I love the letter in. It's got a beautiful gold sort of, it's all, it's just gorgeous, isn't it? It's inlaid. I love the illustrations. Who did your pictures? Yeah, so that's another thing. Another beautiful thing about Instagram. So Ellie Huey did the illustrations and then a lovely lady called Ellie Grace did the photography. But the illustrations, I always knew I wanted a book that had beautiful illustrations in it. Because I always think we'll cook books that have illustrations as well as photography, just look lovely. And I've always loved her style of illustrations. Basically, she used to cook my Christmas cake. So she followed me on Instagram, and she would bake my Christmas cake every year.

And I saw that her name was like Ellie Huey illustration or something like that. So I clicked on her page one day, and she just does the most beautiful, like, greeting cards, Christmas cards, all illustrated, all painted by her. So I started following her and then starting buying her Christmas cards every year. And I always knew, I thought, if ever I get to a point when I'm making a book, I would love her to illustrate it. So I just messaged her when I knew I was doing it. And she was like, yeah, let's do it.

And they're just beautiful. And that's just a lovely story. Like, I've never met her, but she's so lovely. And that is positive, isn't it? They're the positive things about, you know, sometimes I can have a little moan and go on a bit. Because, you know, there are a lot of arsels out there, Sam. Yeah, of course there are. Yeah.

It can be such a positive place to make people. Yeah. And you know what? I've been so lucky because my experience on Instagram, and I'm only on Instagram, I'm not on anything else, my experience on it have been really lovely. Me too. But I can absolutely see how it can be horrible as well.

But just things like that. That story is lovely. I love her work. I think she's fantastic. And I wanted her illustrations in my book. And it's just been a lovely kind of story, really. Because like I say, it's all started with her baking my Christmas cake, and now she's, you know, got the same cover of this.

It's absolutely beautiful. And I was worried. I wanted it to arrive. You were right. It arrived earlier than expected. Good. Good. So I was very pleased.

But as I say, it's just filled with, again, we're very alike. I am autumn, hearty food. I love the summer in terms of cooking. But after kind of the chicken, you know, know, how many chickens can you do? How many bits of salmon can you do? It just bores me a little bit. Do you know what I mean?

Whereas this, I've picked out a couple of my favourites. Oh, go out. I'm excited. What are you thinking? So, the ultimate cottage pie. Good one, that. Listeners, we're not just talking about a cottage pie. It's got a crust on it.

So what makes it ultimate that? It's got a bloody crust on it. Well, do you know, how do you like elevate a cottage pie? And I thought, do you know what, sometimes? And there's the same, there's an apple, there's an apple crumbled pie in there. And it's a similar sort of thing. So whenever I have a cottage pie, which is a beautiful thing, lovely light minced meat in the gravy and then mashed potato on top.

But sometimes I miss the pastry. And it's same with an apple pie slash crumble. Whenever I have an apple pie, I love an apple pie. But you miss the crumble. And whenever I have a crumble, I miss the pie. So I put them together in the book. And that's a lovely recipe. But I just, yeah, the thing is all the recipes in the book are recipes that I'm

I think lots of people want to cook. It's recipes that ingredients that you can easily find in your local supermarket. You don't have to go trekking to a special market to find them. It's weeknight dinners that you can make for the family that you properly want to eat, especially at this time of year, the colder months of the year, when you just want to be comforted by a plate of food. I completely agree. And what I love, as you say, is your story through it as well.

You've got your cookbook, but it's also a bit autobiographical. And for people that don't, I think, oh, pick up a great big thick book, haven't got time. You're getting a cookbook. You're getting all these wonderful recipes. But you've also got a little bit to read every day as well, which I love. Thank you. Well, that's the other thing. I wanted, like, you know, and you saying how beautiful the book is, is music to my ears.

Because that's what, and that is one of the huge bonuses of self-publishing is that I've been able to make the book that I always dreamed of. You know, when I, when I wanted, the reason I wanted a cookbook is because I wanted a beautiful feeling, smelling, looking cookbook. You know, a cookbook that if I saw in a book shop, I'd be drawn to. Yeah, I'd see it and I'd be like, wow, I want that. And that's the book that I've got in the end. And it's just lovely. I love it. I love everything about it.

You should be very, very proud of yourself. Honestly, it's so, so lovely to see you. It's so lovely to catch up with you. Please, me. I'll have to just pop my mobile number on so you can send me those. I'm not going to forget that. Yeah, no, I will. I will send you.

Before December, I need the video. I will. Honestly, I urge everybody to go out and get this one because, as I say, it's not, you've got all those wonderful recipes, but it's a book that you'll keep. I've got the, you know, the cooking year? Do you know that book? It's such an old book, isn't it? The cooking year, and it was my mum's book, and I've got that.

But I can see this being... Oh, wow. A book that, do you know what I mean? A book that the kids go, oh, I remember that cover. Yeah. I remember that from... Oh, that's lovely here. And that's, you know what?

Some of the feedback I've had already is, like, people saying they've bought it, and they're sitting down with their kids, going through it, picking the recipes that they're going to cook. And that's amazing. And also, when I first started doing this, in a weird way, it never occurred to me that people are actually going to cook the recipes. So, even though I wanted them to. Of course I did.

That's why I wrote it. Yeah. But now I'm getting, I'm starting to get people sending me pictures. And I'll be cooked for steak pile last night. We did this. It's like, oh my God, yeah. That's the whole reason why I did that. And it's, it's, it's lovely.

And it's been brilliant and it's been worth every bit of money, every bit of stress, every bit of worry. It's been totally worth it. It really is. I'm brilliant. I don't, why are you not on this morning cooking out of it? Well, well, hopefully, we're on it. We're, I'm doing Sunday brunch. That's definitely happening.

Excellent. And yeah, we're in chats. the minute so I'm hoping that will happen. Yes, definitely. That's what I want to see. I want to see. I want to see. I have a tear and I want to see you on there. Sam, thank you so, so much. I'll let you go. It's been an hour. Thank you so much. No, thank you. And good luck with Panto. You'll love it. You'll be ready to just enjoy it. I'll let you know how it goes. Keep in touch now. We'll do. You too. All right. You take care. Cheers, Sam. Bye. Bye. Bye.