More on KentOnline
More on KentOnline
A Deal couple known for finding the fun in cooking return to television screens this Christmas - but off camera they have a serious message.
Former Couples Come Dine With Me winners Jill and Geoff Martin, both 69, go head to head and cook a turkey dinner in tonight's episode of ITV’s How to Spend It Well at Christmas with Phillip Schofield.
It comes from Mrs Martin’s response to an advert on Facebook calling for ‘fun members of the public to test some food’.
A quick two-minute video of the comical pair in action in the kitchen convinced producers they were the cooks for the jobs.
During a day of filming at a house in Kent, Mrs Martin had four hours to prepare food from scratch for a group of eight strangers while her husband got to sit back and relax before chucking his ready-made dishes into the oven one hour before serving time.
The diners rated the food, and Mrs Martin confessed: “There’s some surprising results.”
But what viewers won’t be aware of is that filming for the show on Sunday, October 6 took place five days before Mr Martin underwent surgery to remove prostate cancer. And he nearly didn’t make it to the set.
The self-employed stained-glass window restorer, said: “I woke up early on that Sunday morning, feeling low, anxious and the reality of having cancer hit me.
“Having prostate removal surgery in five days time felt daunting. Jill was so positive telling me we can do this and we would have such a great day, have fun and meet lovely people.
“I was sure in my mind that I couldn’t do it, but Jill changed my mind.
“She brought me up scrambled eggs on toast and a cuppa and she left me alone with the rain outside lashing down.
“I picked myself up, got in the shower, put my red Christmas shirt on and my Christmas hat and off we went. It was a fabulous day in the end, certainly one to remember.”
Mr Martin suffered no symptoms before diagnosis. During a regular blood pressure check up he asked to be tested because a close friend had recently been diagnosed. According to Prostate Cancer UK, it is the most common cancer in men, affecting one in eight.
The prostate-specific antigen (PSA) test measures the level of PSA and may help detect early prostate cancer. Men are not routinely offered PSA tests but those over 50 can ask a GP - something which Mr Martin is now pushing for others to do.
Early detection was key to his recovery. He has since been given the all clear and is looking forward to Christmas with his wife, three children and five grandchildren.
He added: “Every chap should get tested at 50 or even earlier if there is family history. It could save lives.”
Mrs Martin, winner of The World Championship Pasty Competition for her Kentish Knockers, said: “Geoff is such a lucky man.
“His cancer was growing fast and it was travelling out of his prostate so his surgeon had to remove extra where it had started to grow.
“The surgeon said had he not had the blood test ‘who knows where and what would have happened’.
“Last Thursday he had the all clear from his surgeon. It’s the best Christmas present we could have wished for.”
The pair believe their tale is a reminder that food and cooking is therapeutic - all the more reason people should ‘have a go’ at Christmas.
Mrs Martin said: “Once we were in the car and filming, Geoff was in his element and he forgot all about it.
“We’ve always believed that cooking is very therapeutic. It takes you away. Everyone thinks that cooking at Christmas has to be perfect. It doesn’t. We need to ban that word. Just give it a go.”
How to Spend It Well at Christmas airs on ITV1 at 8pm on Tuesday, December 17.
