Alan Carr beat his takeaway addiction with the help of Dame Mary Berry

Dame Mary Berry has revealed that Alan Carr used to live off takeaways before she taught him some basic cooking skills on her new BBC Two show 'Mary Berry's Foolproof Dinners'

Alan Carr has ditched his takeaway habit thanks to none other than culinary legend Dame Mary Berry.

The dynamic duo joined forces for Berry's latest venture, 'Mary Berry's Foolproof Dinners', airing on BBC Two, where she discovered that Carr's kitchen skills were almost non-existent until she stepped in.

The former 'Great British Bake Off' judge, 89, shared her surprise at Alan's lack of culinary prowess: "I'd never met [Alan] before. I'd seen a glimpse of him on television, I thought he was crazy and fun, so I was really excited about meeting him. And we did have so much fun! ".

Berry recounted her initial kitchen inspection with Carr, revealing: "He'd been away until the day before we filmed and when we went into the kitchen - there wasn't much action going on there.

"There was nothing in the cupboards or the fridge but I quickly realised this had nothing to do with Alan being away he doesn't generally cook. I said to him: 'Well, how do you eat? ' and he told me, 'It's called takeaway, and it's delivered'. And he shouts through the letterbox, 'Leave it outside' and that's it."

Despite his reliance on food delivery, Alan apparently cherishes the memory of home cooked meals from his childhood, something Mary Berry found "quite important" and inspired her to teach him some kitchen basics.

Berry explained her motivation: "Growing up, Alan's mum cooked a lot, she was a good cook and food growing up was quite important to him. So, I wanted to teach him some new, simple, go-to recipes that he could manage."

"He loved the idea of having everything all in one tray. And that's exactly what we did, a quick beef chow mein, which he could make after a busy day at work."

'Mary Berry's Foolproof Dinners' airs Tuesdays from 29 October at 7.30pm on BBC Two and will be available on BBC iPlayer.

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