ABC Will Still Air "The Taste" But Can US Audiences Accept Nigella Lawson's Controversial Image?
By Victoria Pavlova in Lifestyle / Showbiz on 30 November 2013
After a year full of trouble, can Nigella Lawson finally crack the US market in 2014?
At the beginning of 2013, with The Taste – a competitive cooking show starring Nigella Lawson – the British “domestic goddess” was set to finally conquer the American market, more than a decade after launching her first effort in 2001. Unfortunately for her, 2013 didn’t turn out to be as successful in terms of her personal life.
The sultry hostess has had some trouble adjusting to the more wholesome demands of the American market.
This month Nigella, on the other side of a widely publicized divorce, was inadvertently accused of drug abuse. And while the allegations probably won’t shake her public profile in the UK, cultivated over decades, American audiences just aren’t as familiar with Nigella’s signature cooking and presenting style. This could prove detrimental to her shaky success on US soil.
Over Thanksgiving, Nigella thanked fans for their support with a few treasured recipes. This is the perfect recipe for Thanksgiving celebrators with leftover turkey. Others can use chicken! http://t.co/ESDuc3QF9I
“Ordinarily, Americans love a big mea culpa,” a leading LA-based celebrity agent said for the Telegraph. “The problem with Nigella is she’s not big enough out here for that to wash. For many in America, this will be the first key thing about her that they learn.”
After a turbulent year, Lawson's rise in the US is in question.
Besides co-hosting, Lawson also executive produces The Taste, which has received positive reviews thus far. Thanks to a great response to the first series, ABC commissioned a second one. And while the airing of the second season has been confirmed, an ABC spokesman kept mum about the future of the show beyond that.
“I’m not in a position to comment about or on behalf of Nigella.” The second series of The Taste had “already wrapped,” and would go out as planned from January 2, she said for The Telegraph, but had nothing else to add.
The second series of The Taste will air, but nothing has been announced beyond that.
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