An Episode of The Supersizers Eat...

To my joy and delight, our beautiful white Chinese Lanterns (or Wish Lanterns) made a very significant appearance on television the other night. I was  flicking through a few channels last Monday- a very dismal selection of offerings- when I came accross a program starring Sue Perkins and Giles Coren called, The Supersizers Eat.. You’ve probably seen it. It’s in one of those prime-time spots competing with the likes of Wife Swap and Ashes to Ashes. Anyway, the premise is that two comedians eat their way through different periods in history to see what effect it has on their bodies, mind, and…er… bowels. It’s Masterchef meets Simon Sharma, meets Embarrassing Bodies.

This week, the two quippers were living the life of Marie Antoinette and King Louis during the tumultuous period of the French Revolution. Whilst chomping through about 10,000 calories a day, squeezing into corsets, and playing billiards, they also managed to light and launch some Chinese lanterns as a way of  marking the end of the Ancien Regime and the days of feasting and extravagance that went along with it(for the Aristocrats that is). They each released a chinese lantern into the night sky kitted out in their finery, and the effect was magical. While watching the lanterns float away, Sue proclaimed  a spontaneous “Oh that’s so nice!” as the shot faded out.

So there you are, Chinese Lanterns are not just for weddings, they also lend themselves to historical re-enactments and popular television series…

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