Nigella Lawson

2003–2006: Nigella Feasts and BBC contract

In November 2003, Lawson oversaw the menu and preparations for a lunch hosted by Tony Blair at Downing Street for George W. Bush and the First Lady of the United States, Laura Bush, during their state visit to the UK.[44] Laura Bush is said to be a fan of Lawson's recipes and once included one of her soups as the starter for the 2002 presidential Christmas dinner.[41] Lawson's fifth book, Feast Food That Celebrates Life, which was released in 2004,[45] made sales worth £3 million.[46] In a positive review, London's Evening Standard wrote that the book "works both as a practical manual and an engrossing read. ... Nobody else writes so openly about the emotional significance of food".[47] Lawson appeared frequently on American television in 2004, conducting cookery slots on talk shows such as The Ellen Degeneres Show.[48]

In Britain in 2005, Lawson started to host a daytime television chat show on ITV1 called Nigella, on which celebrity guests joined her in a studio kitchen.[16] The first episode debuted with a disappointing 800,000 viewers.[49] The show was met with a largely negative critical reaction,[50] and after losing 40 percent of its viewers in the first week, the show was cancelled.[51] Lawson later commented in an interview with Radio Times that on her first show, she was almost too frightened to come out of her dressing room.[52] Lawson further stated that having to pretend to be interested in the lives of the celebrities on her show became too much of an effort.[16] She also discovered, "I can't ever be a presenter, and won't do scripts".[53]