Somizi, Chef Nti and LesDaChef spill the beans on their TV cooking shows after backlash

Has he ever considered himself to be a celebrity chef?

“What is a chef? If a chef is someone who cooks and can cook then maybe I'm a chef. If a chef is someone that went to school and got a qualification then I'm not a chef.”

Celebrity guests will include Cassper Nyovest, Siya Kolisi, DJ Zinhle and Pearl Thusi.

“The first season all the guests are people that I have met and worked with - but mostly they are people that I have a personal relationship with,” Somizi said. “It's not just famous faces for the sake of them being famous.

“It's people that we share stories that nobody knows about – nothing that has been written about - how we met and what he have done together both on camera and off stage. It's not interviews, it's conversations and my questions are not scripted.”

Celebrity chefs Nthabiseng “Chef Nti” Ramaboa and Lesego “LesDaChef” Semenya are also getting their own cooking show.

Titled Celebrity Mystery Box, the show will debut on Mzansi Magic on July 8.

The show sees the two celebrities displaying their culinary skills by competing with one another to prepare a winning dish.

Moshe Ndiki, Lungile Radu, Enhle Mbali Mlotshwa, Lethabo “Lejoy” Mathatho, DJ PH, Carol Tshabalala, Penny Lebyane and Nomuzi Mabena will feature in the 13-part show.

“This show is a completely new take on the mystery box cooking challenge. The contestants don't know who they're cooking against and they are in two separate houses and they don't know what is in their mystery box until they open it,” Semenya explained.

“Add the pressure of cooking for two experienced chefs as well as for their opponent and you have a recipe for some chaos and laughs.

“Chef Nti and I bring the serious side to food into it, though, by giving viewers some chef tips and tricks and advice on how to cook the crazy ingredients we give the contestants,” Semenya said.

Somizi is not fazed by the early backlash he has received for scoring a cooking show on TV.

Dinner at Somizi's will premiere on July 10 on 1Magic. The show will see the flamboyant superstar invite celebrity guests into his home as they bond over cooking.

But some social media users have criticised Somizi for not being deserving of a cooking show because “he's not a chef”.

“I saw that people are divided but I focus more on people that know how this thing came about. Firstly, it was my fans that asked that I have a cooking show and I was going to do it on YouTube – until this opportunity came,” Somizi explained.

“Secondly, I think people just jump the gun based on what they perceive the cooking show is going to be about. They will be shocked and they will come back to me if they are mature enough to say we are sorry for jumping the gun and for thinking you don't deserve the show. It's not your typical cooking show and I'm not teaching people to cook.

“I'm just a personality who is cooking and having guests in my house. If they watch the show they must tell me if their so-called chefs can do what I do.”