A food and travel series fronted by comedian and ITV presenter Judi Love (Loose Women), titled Judi Love’s Culinary Cruise, has been ordered for ITV1 and ITVX.
Produced by Title Role, the series will see Love travel to five different destinations on a luxury yacht called the Emerald Azzurra. She will take in all the culture and scenery that each has to offer before grabbing local ingredients and heading back to the ship to cook local dishes for guests.
Love will begin her journey in Montenegro’s Kotor before traveling to Parga, Kerkira and Kefalonia. She will finish her trip in the Greek town of Itea.
Love, a regular face on ITV’s panel show Loose Women, was crowned champion of MasterChef in 2021 after serving a winning Jamaican-inspired feast. With this new series, Love hopes to expand her cooking repertoire.
Judi Love’s Culinary Cruise comes via BE Studio from ITV, a full-service creative studio producing ad-funded entertainment. The series is funded by Emerald Cruises.
“I am so excited to be setting sail on this new adventure with ITV,” Love said. “Growing up within a Jamaican family, food was always at the heart of any function and occasion, so I’m truly excited to experience the culture, people and food of the beautiful Mediterranean.
“I’m looking forward to exploring all of the different destinations, as food has such a way of telling a story for many, especially in the Mediterranean, where it’s about sharing love, traditions and identity.”
She continued, “I have always loved watching loved ones cook, and I truly love serving up a hearty plate of food for my family and friends. I’m thrilled to be able to embrace this with ITV and the audience at home… I can’t wait to get started.”
“It’s all hands on deck for this exciting new series with ITV favorite, Judi Love,” said Leanne Clarke, assistant commissioner for entertainment and daytime at ITV. “The series is warm and fun filled with adventure and good food at its heart which will appeal to so many of our viewers.”
“We’re delighted that BE Studio has played a role in bringing this incredible campaign to ITV,” commented Bhavit Chandrani, director of BE Studio. “Emerald Cruises is the perfect partner, and we can’t wait to see Judi Love on a luxury yacht, traveling to beautiful, scenic locations and tasting some mouth-watering dishes.”
Nichola Absalom, Emerald Cruises’ managing director of sales and marketing, added, “We are thrilled to host Judi Love on board Emerald Azzurra to discover the spectacular local cuisine and sail to some of the region’s smaller ports on our 100-passenger yacht. This industry-leading luxury yacht–complete with a suite of watersport toys, marina platform for swim stops and a wellness deck—is the ideal base from which to showcase this beautiful part of the world and create some mouth-watering local dishes.”