Director of Meghan Markle’s Netflix show admits she’s ‘not a chef’ after Duchess’ cooking tips left viewers baffled

The director of Meghan Markle‘s Netflix show has admitted she’s ‘not a chef’ – days after the first season was widely panned by critics. 

Michael Steed, who previously worked on the Emmy-winning series Anthony Bourdain: Parts Unknown, emphasised that the show is focused on ‘imperfection’ – and was never intended to be faultless.

Viewers had been left baffled by some of Meghan’s tips and ticks, including ‘elevating’ foods by adding flower petals, transferring supermarket pretzels into a supermarket bag, as well as her unusual method of cooking spaghetti.  

In a new interview with People Magazine, Steed, alongside other major players in the TV series – including Meghan’s favourite photographer Jake Rosenberg and her chef pals Alice Waters and Roy Choi – shared behind the scenes insights from filming With Love, Meghan. 

Describing the Duchess of Sussex, 42, as ‘friendly and approachable’ and ‘chill and fun’, Steed praised her cooking, while emphasising she doesn’t have the skillset of a trained chef. 

He said: ‘Her cooking is pretty spot-on. She’s not a chef, and it’s definitely not meant to make it seem like she is, but there’s just a love of cooking that is palpable.’

Later on in the interview, he added: ‘I know it sounds corny, but I really think the core of Meghan’s being is her generosity. She wants to do the extra thing, and I think that’s something everyone should take to heart.’

Though the series has since been renewed for a second season, its debut on Netflix last week was largely criticised in the media.

The director of Meghan Markle ‘s Netflix show has admitted she’s ‘not a chef’ – days after the first season was widely panned by critics. Pictured together

Director Michael Steed previously worked on the Emmy-winning series Anthony Bourdain : Parts Unknown. Pictured in 2021

The series was slammed by reviewers as ‘gormless lifestyle filler’ with a ‘tangible desperation’ following its release.

Others said it shows the Duchess is ‘attempting to cling to fame by any means possible’, while another described how she was ‘joylessly filling kids’ party bags with seeds’.

Guardian TV writer Stuart Heritage said the series was ‘so pointless it might be the Sussexes’ last TV show’ and ‘might also be the final thing she makes for Netflix’.

The Telegraph gave the show just two stars. In a review, they said the series was an ‘exercise in narcissism, filled with extravagant brunches, celebrity pals and business plugs’. 

Elsewhere in the People interview, crew members described how Meghan provided those on set with a coffee cart, shaved ice truck, a bespoke ice cream cart and acai truck, with weekly treats. 

She was previously reported to have gifted crew members a pan from Our Place, alongside a monogrammed spoon that read ‘thank you, crew’.

The episodes feature Meghan inviting famous friends to a California estate where she shares cooking, gardening and hosting tips. 

Despite the criticism, With Love, Meghan has been renewed for season two and is set to air in the autumn, with filming already having been completed.  

Viewers were left baffled by Meghan’s very unusual attempt to cook pasta

Viewers poked fun at Meghan Markle’s Netflix series, With Love, Meghan, by ‘elevating’ ordinary food flowers in a social media post.

In one episode the duchess added flowers to filtered water to make pretty ice cubes

Pasta disaster? Meghan explains her ‘skillet spaghetti ‘to her best friend and celebrity make-up artist Daniel Martin early on in the first episode of new Netflix series With Love, Meghan 

The Duchess confirmed the news on Instagram over the weekend, when she uploaded a story with the caption ‘I’m thrilled to share that season 2 of With Love, Meghan is coming!’ 

During each of the eight 33-minute episodes, which dropped on Tuesday, Meghan was joined by guests as she offered lifestyle tips from inside a rented $8million (£5million) mansion near the Sussexes’ Montecito home. 

‘This may raise a few eyebrows but one thing which Netflix love is controversy – and this show certainly created alot of debate,’ one TV insider told the Sun after the renewal was announced.

They added: ‘Many were so scathing about the eight-part series that they thought there was no way it would get another season.

‘But it seems the streamer is delighted with the chatter its created on both sides of the Atlantic this week.’ 

Meghan shared a number of recipes throughout the series, including for spaghetti, a honey and lemon cake and a cooked breakfast. She said her new show had helped her to ‘find herself’ again.

But despite her huge two-million-strong following on social media, she insisted she instead saw as a ‘female founder’ and ‘entrepreneur’ rather than an influencer.

Since Harry and Meghan signed their $80million mega deal with Netflix in 2020, there has been one smash hit and three relative duds.

Meghan Markle has had her new Netflix show ‘renewed for a second season’ just days after the first episodes were panned by critics and fans

The show renewal came after the first season was widely panned by critics

With Love, Meghan launched on the Netflix at 8am UK time last week

The biographical ‘Harry & Meghan’ was the streaming service’s biggest documentary debut, viewed in almost 29 million households in its first four days, and proved a global sensation.

But Polo, a sports docuseries, Live to Lead – which focused on ‘global justice activists’ – and Heart of Invictus, about Harry’s games for wounded soldiers, proved lacklustre additions that failed to set the streaming service’s viewing figures ablaze.

‘With Love, Meghan’ sees the duchess trying to promote herself in a new way as a ‘domestic goddess’, baking cakes, arranging flowers and slipping into a beekeeper’s suit to collect honey.

However, in Los Angeles where Meghan and Harry live with their two children, Archie, five, and Lilibet, three, sources have said the Sussexes relationship with Netflix is on borrowed time, amid claims they have proven hard to work with.

‘The word bandied around internally is ‘nightmare’,’ one insider told the Sunday Times, with others claiming the chances of a deal being renewed would rest squarely on whether or not ‘With Love, Meghan’ proved a hit.

The eight episode series shows Meghan inviting famous friends to her house and features brief appearances from husband Harry

The first products from Meghan Markle’s As Ever brand with Netflix were revealed

Meghan, hand in hand with her daughter Lilibet, in the cover photo for her new brand’s website 

Speaking to People magazine ahead of the release of her series the 43-year-old royal said filming her new show had helped her to rediscover her creativity – and that it had reignited ‘a spark’ in Harry’s eye.

‘It’s almost like a honeymoon period again because it’s exactly how it was in the beginning when he’d watch me scribbling away, writing newsletters, fine-tuning edits and just really being in the details of it,’ she told People magazine.

‘I think he loves watching as much as I love doing that creative process. It’s just been fun. This is who I’ve always been.’

Previously, the duchess had a significant setback when her $20 million Spotify podcast series was cancelled with Spotify executive Bill Simmons describing Meghan and husband Prince Harry as ‘grifters.’