Here we go again.

What were PEI government officials thinking when they agreed to spend $35,000 to $40,000 to bring the top-rated W Network show, Come Dine with Me Canada, out of its natural setting in Toronto to our rustic, pastoral shores?

Do they really think they’ll find five average Joe and Jill Islanders willing to bust the bank, just to earn top honours in a dinner-party competition that pays all of $1,000 to the winner?

Where’s the payoff for winning after you’ve blown the mortgage buying vintage wine and gourmet foods few people can pronounce and provided the appropriate garnishes to enhance the dining experience, such as perfectly pleated napkins and a snow-white linen table cloth?

Islanders, being a practical lot, aren’t about to break the bank purchasing squid, pate de fois gras, Belgian chocolates, fluted champagne glasses or decorative candles flown directly from Paris.

They won’t spend hours in the kitchen preparing squab, Cornish hen, or blackened sea bass.

Frozen blocks of smelt and mackerel will do just fine, and if it’s mystery meat you just found in the back of the freezer and can be thawed out in less than five hours, why not?

Who will know the difference?

And don’t expect homemade ice cream when the grocery store is just round’ the corner and they’ve got a half-price sale on the no-name brand, or hand-ground coffee from an obscure Central African nation when there’s still plenty of room on the Tim’s card from Christmas.

It just doesn’t make sense for anyone hoping to walk away with some serious coin to splurge on elaborate meals when the top prize is $1,000. After all, this is not exactly a buoyant economy we’ve got on the Island.

I’m willing to bet Islanders won’t exactly overwhelm viewers with their passion for the culinary arts.

Anyone for ‘spam on a shingle (toast)?’

Jim Brown