Richard Coles ordered £800 of caviar – because he didn’t realise it was priced per gram

Celebrity vicar Reverend Richard Coles inadvertently order-ed £800 of caviar at a restaurant… as he didn’t realise it was priced per gram.

The ex-Strictly contestant, pictured, said his ‘very rich friend’ had to pay the bill. 

Speaking on the podcast My Mate Bought a Toaster, the 59-year-old said: ‘I do have a terrible fondness for caviar, which is the most more-ish thing in the world, I think, after crack cocaine.’

He said he had been surprised at the ‘modestly priced’ menu and didn’t hold back. ‘I had some beluga, I had some oscietra, some sevruga, I had some Cornish caviar… mountains of it,’ he said.

Rev Coles, whose partner David died aged 42 after a long battle with alcoholism, says he shops around every December for the cheapest caviar to eat on Christmas day. He added: ‘We used to just have it on Christmas day because it was ridiculously expensive’

But as the bill arrived he realised they had made their way through £800 of the stuff. ‘That’s bad, isn’t it?’ he added.

‘I do absolutely love it, and I have a very rich friend who sometimes takes me out for dinner.

‘She’s extraordinarily generous and lovely, and she takes me to this place where they have a caviar trolley, and says ‘Let’s do caviar.’

‘I said, ‘Wonderful.’ I looked at the caviar menu and it was surprisingly reasonably priced – it’s not chicken McNuggets but it was modestly priced.

‘I had some Beluga, I had some Oscietra, some Sevruga, I had some Cornish caviar… mountains of it, all served up beautifully with bellini, chopped egg, all that kind of stuff.

‘It was wonderful, and then at the end I realised the price on the menu was per gram.

‘She [rich friend] didn’t show me the bill but I stole a look at it while she went to the loo – it was £800 just for the caviar.

Speaking on the podcast My Mate Bought a Toaster, the 59-year-old said: ‘I do have a terrible fondness for caviar, which is the most more-ish thing in the world, I think, after crack cocaine’

‘That’s bad, isn’t it?’

Rev Coles, whose partner David died aged 42 after a long battle with alcoholism, says he shops around every December for the cheapest caviar to eat on Christmas day.

He added: ‘We used to just have it on Christmas day because it was ridiculously expensive. I would shop around finding the most modestly priced caviar for Christmas.

‘When I was in Russia at the end of the Soviet Union in 1990-91, you could get 500 grams of Beluga for 25 US dollars. That’s really where I acquired the taste.

‘I can’t remember the last time I’ve been able to gorge on caviar, because I’ve not been able to be taken out for dinner by my rich friend because there’s been nowhere open.

‘I will drop some heavy hints… it’s not just a first world problem – it’s a one per cent first world problem.’

Coles is vicar of the town of Finedon in his native Northamptonshire, and also played clarinet, saxophone and keyboard in ’80s band The Communards alongside singer Jimmy Somerville.