‘Pamela’s Cooking with Love’ premiered in late February, and ‘With Love, Meghan’ premieres Tuesday
Along with several recent controversies, Meghan Markle is now being accused of copying Pamela Anderson’s cooking show with her upcoming lifestyle series.
“Every single day another allegation regarding the conduct of Meghan, Duchess of Sussex, seems to emerge, the latest being her new show is similar in style to the Pamela Anderson program,” royal expert Ian Pelham Turner told Fox News Digital.
The Duchess of Sussex’s new Netflix show, “With Love, Meghan,” premieres Tuesday and will feature the 43-year-old talking with celebrity guests in the kitchen and garden near her home in Montecito, California.
Fans have started comparing the trailer for the duchess’ series to Anderson’s series, “Pamela’s Cooking With Love,” which premiered last week.
Royal expert Neil Sean, in a video for his YouTube channel, called Markle’s show a “frame-for-frame” copy in some cases.
“As you can see, Meghan has been inspired by her [Anderson’s] cookery show, right?” Sean said, showing a shot of Markle high-fiving her guest on set next to one of Anderson high-fiving her guest.
He noted “there’s very little new in the world of cookery,” mentioning a popular show he used to watch as a kid.
“It’s difficult to reinvent it, but Meghan didn’t even bother with that. Clearly, she just got inspired,” he said.
Sean said a “very well-placed source” told him Anderson is “actually delighted with Meghan Markle. Well, maybe that’s stretching it a bit but, you know, kind of happy for this simple reason. You see, this has elevated Pamela’s show. You know, the sort of publicity she could have only dreamt about.”
“Not only that, this is going to be very successful for Pamela Anderson in effect, Meghan being inspired by Pamela’s show,” he added. “It’s literally been an injection back into Pamela’s brand.
“So, if Meghan thought that nobody would spot this, well, now clearly nobody’s going to want to watch Meghan simply because they’ve kind of seen it first with Pamela.”
But he said Anderson isn’t interested in taking legal action against Markle, citing a “very good source” who is close with Anderson who said, “She’s not interested in going down that sort of route.”
“Apparently, she wishes everybody the very best,” Sean said.
British broadcaster and photographer Helena Chard told Fox News Digital, “Although Meghan will have a big say in her lifestyle series, it is steered and edited by Netflix. Netflix’s prerequisite is sales, and they will be using a trusted format to create the series and sales. It’s a numbers game.”
She said that while she imagined Markle had taken “some tips” from Anderson, she felt it was unfair to say Markle “completely copied Pamela’s show”.
“Pamela also focuses on wholesome food and meals, whereas Meghan’s show doesn’t focus on cooking,” Chard explained. “It is a plus sign that the formats are similar as it signifies a possible success story for Meghan and her lifestyle show.”
Chard added that Markle would help her brand by coming off as “authentic and consistent.”
She predicted the first episode of “With Love, Meghan” would be a “huge success” because “people are curious, and there is an awareness drive around her series.
“The fact that she is married to Prince Harry with two beautiful children is the standout factor,” Chard added, saying she wasn’t sure how different Markle’s show was from different lifestyle series.
She noted Markle could “thrive by taking a leaf out of Pamela Anderson’s book. Pamela has a sincere, raw and appealing character which automatically makes her a winner.”
Pelham Turner further explained that after his many years of working in TV, he’s found it’s “common practice” to follow the “trend” of another successful show.
“Although the artist will have a large say in the matter, in the end, it is the channel which decides the direction and flow of the show,” he said. “In reality, Pamela Anderson is a very nice, kind and thoughtful lady, so is Meghan, and so the two share the same dynamics and values.”
Public relations expert Matt Wolf noted that he didn’t think the accusations would hurt Marke’s brand “all that much.”
“People already feel strongly about her, one way or the other, so I think she’d have to do something much more radical than produce a show similar to Pamela’s in order to hurt her well-established brand,” he explained to Fox News Digital.
Fox News Digital has reached out to a spokesperson for the Duke and Duchess of Sussex and a rep for Anderson for comment.
