It's a hit programme with an obsessive audience that has so far eluded Irish television, but perhaps not for long. As TV3 prepares to announce its autumn schedule on Thursday, its press office has been bombarded with calls from people eager to find out if they're finally going to produce a Come Dine With Me-type programme. TV3 sources are tight-lipped on the details of the upcoming schedule, but if the programme doesn't appear in the autumn schedule, it's certain to be broadcast on either TV3 or RTE next year.

Both broadcasters have been inundated with submissions from independent production companies wanting to come up with a format similar to Come Dine With Me and keen to replicate the success of the five-year-old programme produced by ITV Studios for Channel 4. A spokeswoman for ITV said the station hasn't done a deal with any Irish broadcaster to create an Irish format of the programme. When the prospect of a similar format being adopted here was mentioned, it was greeted frostily: "We're not prepared to discuss that at this time," the spokeswoman said. Fair enough. ITV Studios and Channel 4 have a right to be a bit narky about the number of copycat formats that are emerging around the world.

But would Come Dine With Me or something like it work well in an Irish context? And what is the appeal of this remarkably simple format?

Essentially the programme, which sees five strangers have a go at cooking a dinner party for each other for which they are subsequently judged, is guilt-free reality television. There are no stars. The much-loved narrator Dave Lamb was faceless up until recently, when a few newspapers interviewed him.

Occasionally, there are celebrity versions, featuring Wags, C-listers and fading stars, but by and large CDWM is an anti-celebrity programme. Yes it's reality TV, but people don't appear on it to get famous. Instead, competitive amateur cooks who want to show off their culinary skills compete for a measly £1,000 (€1,200).

Further afield, the programme does even better. British TV stations have recently begun broadcasting the Australian version. In Spain and the Netherlands it has become hugely popular.

In Germany, the programme frequently nets 21% of the 14- to 49-year-old target audience, outperforming every other programme on the channel VOX by 113%. In Hungary, it gets a 50% audience share.

If ITV studios has not done a deal with an Irish broadcaster and a knock-off is produced here, how would it fare? Ireland has never been particularly good at producing reality TV programmes. Most of them have involved 'celebrities' attempting challenges (Celebrity Bainisteoir, Celebrity Salon, Fáilte Towers).

When members of the public get involved in reality TV here, there is always a very specific goal in mind, be it in The Apprentice, No Experience Required or Style Wars. There is little room for shameless fame-hunters seeking solely to create some on-screen notoriety. People like this go on Big Brother.

Eccentricity is a core personality trait of the British and this creates a lively spark amongst Come Dine With Me guests. Irish people tend to be more retiring, and less likely to complain vociferously about a meal.

Aoife McElwain is a top food blogger (icanhascook.wordpress.com) and Come Dine With Me fan, and one of hundreds of people in Ireland who has taken the programme beyond TV.

"Myself and some friends from school did our first Come Dine With Me around two-and-a-half years ago," McElwain said. The group works in pairs and is now on its third round of culinary competition. McElwain believes the success of the show lies in a few areas.

"If you like to cook you generally can learn stuff about cooking, even if most of the time it's pure voyeurism."

She believes an Irish version would be different, but could be a good opportunity to promote Irish food.

"You'd imagine that there would be a lot more boozing but maybe if there was a camera there it would stop that. What I'd love to see would be an opportunity to highlight all the local food here... Maybe themed meals or counties against counties to make it more about the local produce. Irish food has such a bad reputation but if it's cooked well it can be fantastic."

Although the cooking was perhaps the original reason foodies watched the programme, it has taken a back seat for now, with the editing focusing more on snooping around people's houses and conflicts within the dinner party groups.

But still, Come Dine With Me remains a playful, middle-class way of twinning food programming with reality television. It lays bare the unspoken truth that cooking for people is a competitive sport. With an increasingly large number of Irish people so desperate for it to get over here that they're acting out a programme in real life, the race is on to be first with the perfect programme recipe.

Irish Come Dine With Me tribes - Who we could expect to enter the programme

The Rachel Allen wannabe

Slathers everything in chocolate and butter while smashing through a kitchen drenched in Avoca homeware.

The Irish mammy

Used to cooking for a ton of kids and grandchildren, four people will be a doddle, even if the food is a bit boring.

The IFSC Jamie Oliver

Bullish and patronising and believes nobody can do a better sirloin than he.

The neo-hippy

Has spent the past decade at over-priced organic farmers' markets and generally being a pain in the soufflé.

The new Irish

The obligatory ethnic cuisine curveball designed to irritate the Irish mammy.

Top 5 things about Come Dine With Me

Unleashing one's voyeur

Watching someone screw up hollandaise sauce is inexplicably pleasurable

Spencer Uren

A lovely contestant who entered to raise money for his sister who had Hodgkin's lymphoma only to die himself of pancreatic cancer before his episode was screened.

Choking

Our favourite was the seal-like noises a contestant made after choking on a jalapeño and mint ice drink

Celebrities being crazy

The best was newsreader Jan Leeming, who regaled everyone with stories about Omar Sharif, flirted with Les from Eastenders and finally burst into tears.

The awkward silences

When guests don't get on and meals are punctuated by the clinking of glasses, scraping of cutlery and an occasional "mmm, this is nice". Cringe.