My Kitchen Rules

The verbal stoush between Josh and Court overshadowed an interesting cooking challenge last night. With top team from each instant restaurant group exempt, the remaining 12 teams were divided into two groups of six, and had to cook a recipe from one of Manu or Pete’s cookbooks from memory. The promo showed Court and Duncan facing elimination, so the question was why (they added fresh chilli to Manu’s speck and cider mussels to add “warmth” but it meant Manu could not taste the cider in the dish). Similarly Albert and Dave went to elimination after unnecessarily adding chilli pepper to Manu’s pearl barley risotto. In the end it is Albert and Dave who were sent home for their Chinese dessert after the judges found “the pancake mix was a little tough, a little chewy and really hard to get through”.

7.30PM WEDNESDAY ON MKR…

Teams fire up for a beach bbq challenge!

Teams head to Sydney’s Newport for an Aussie Beach BBQ Challenge, serving flame grilled delights to a busy, sunny Sunday of nippers, lifesavers and beach goers. The team with the most votes wins People’s Choice and is safe from the next two eliminations while the bottom two teams, as decided by judges Pete Evans and Colin Fassnidge, will face Sudden Death elimination in Kitchen HQ.

The challenge was held on Sunday October 9 last year according to Newport Surf Life Saving Club’s FB page:

Don’t forget this Sunday, October 9 at 9am is our first nippers day of the season. A tv station is filming a high rating cooking show on the beach. Gun athletes will be showing their talents for the cameras and the nippers will be enjoying their first taste of the summer sand and sea.

It even posted a photo of the stalls the day after the event.

Seven made a huge mistake by showing a promo for Sunday’s elimination featuring Amy and Tyson midway through tonight’s BBQ challenge. That gave away part of the result that the Brisbane team would be in the sudden death cook off. But really Amy and Tyson had themselves to blame. Why did they use a pressure cooker on a BBQ while other teams grilled the meat? They also bought beef chuck which normally takes a long time to cook, so they had no plan B when the pressure cooker failed to work. Tyson then shut down and did not listen to his sister’s words which made things worse.
Several teams also struggled during prep time by overcooking the meat, but survived the round since other ingredients were tasty.
It was also interesting to have lunch at 11am. Why did the nippers and lifesavers eat lunch so early?

Producers were busting, waiting for Tyson to explode or give them some drama, something to work with this episode.

Nothing. Not a peep. They hate when the contestants don’t talk, because the show is lame otherwise and nothing happens. See for example the Lebanese sisters not talking at one point at the instant restaurant stage and then being told off - they were eliminated soon after.

Therefore, wouldn’t be surprised in the slightest if they dump Amy and Tyson on Sunday - if they can’t get fights out of him, he is superfluous. No need for the promo about him having a great way to fall either - we know the 100 score was a crock of shit, especially seeing what was served up tonight. Yuck.

Oh and the supposed Seafood King not cooking seafood at a BBQ on the beach. Yeah, totally no producer stipulation on what each team must cook. :rolling_eyes:

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WEDNESDAY NIGHT

In an MKR shock, record-breaking siblings Amy & Tyson misjudged the brief and were sent to Sudden Death against Damo & Caz, while Tim & Kyle excelled with a standout steak and sauce!

7PM SUNDAY ON MKR…

Will MKR’s highest scoring team of all time be eliminated?

Judges Pete and Colin have sent siblings Amy & Tyson and married sweethearts Damo & Caz through to Sudden Death at Kitchen HQ. Two very different teams with two very different cooking styles, who aren’t planning on going home without a fight! Will MKR’s highest scoring team of all time be knocked out?

I think the thing wrong with this show is that they have been going for 5 weeks and have only eliminated 3 contestants. I wonder if there is a way to reverse things slightly and eliminate more contestants in a quicker fashion.

MKR features on Gogglebox this week to much bemusement/confusion as to which round they are watching and that the series hasn’t progressed past the home kitchen stage.

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At least I am not the only one that thinks it. If Seven wanted a show about eating at homes they should have just done a version of Come Dine With Me with a twist. Perhaps the top team from the home rounds goes to the finals and all other teams go into a wildcard round or something. The show could then just last 6-8 weeks.

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Not a bad idea. Seven should adopt it for the 9th season given it will be interrupted by the Winter Olympic Games and the Commonwealth Games next year.

I usually watch the home kitchen stage of MKR, but once we move into the mass-public-feeding stage of the show, I lose interest and tune out (and come back at the end to see who won/lost). The third round of instant restaurants was badly cast and was a mistake. The group challenges are boring and most of the inter-team rivalry is lost. The judges’ review of all the meals prepared last night went on and on and on. There are just too many teams at this stage of the competition.

Instead of the format they went with, which rated its ass off for years?

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Well they changed that format year after year. It began with two teams doing home restaurants. Then it became 3 rounds. Then 4 rounds. So its not quite the format they went with for years. They updated the format realising the home restaurants are the most popular ones.

They obviously expanded it to extend the huge ratings they got for the shorter season. There comes a tipping point though and this it. With such a long season fatigue sets in. They should have realised it last year when the ratings started to drop in the middle of the season and tweaked it.

However I gave to agree with @Bort. Come Dine With Me was already done by Foxtel and only had moderate success. I don’t think it would have worked for Seven and Nine had an aborted attempt at it last year too. I also dont think a celebrity version will work. That idea almost sunk Masterchef.

The last five seasons of MKR havw been phenomenal in terms of ratings. It did rate its arse off. In comparison to what else is on, it’s still big really. The test is next year. They could cit it back or tweak it to be faster and sharper. But then they need to find something else for the rest of the year.

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How to turn around My Kitchen Rules as it falls to worst ratings in its history

Last year’s seventh season ballooned to a mind-numbing 48 episodes, testing the loyalty of any audience.

Over the years, producers have used tactics including a third round of instant restaurants, a fourth “redemption round” of instant restaurants, and a Top 5 ultimate instant restaurant round to force the series to play out over three months.

This year saw the introduction of sudden death cook-offs between the two bottom scoring teams in each group.

The overall standard of cooking has also dropped noticeably across the years, as producers cast for personality not necessarily kitchen skills.

My recipe to get MKR sizzling again.

  1. PICK TEAMS WHO CAN COOK:
  1. NO SECOND CHANCES:
  1. DROP GROUP 3: .
  1. BIN THE SIMPLE DISHES:
  1. BENCH THE VILLAINS:
  1. HAVE A BETTER ETHNIC MIX:
  1. BE HONEST: MKR’s dirty little secret is how many teams fail because they aren’t cooking in their own kitchen. Be honest with the audience, let’s know the truth.
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Some very good points.

Although the criticism about the ethnic mix doesn’t seem to ring true.

There are many non-Anglo contestants on the show. They have had two mixed Asian teams this year and contestants have mentioned Chinese, Vietnamese, Laotian, Indian, Italian, Greek, Lebanese, Maltese and Dutch heritage and many have cooked family recipes with that style of food. From some of their surnames, some others also have ethnic heritage but have not mentioned it on the show.

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Always know when someone uses the term “Anglo/Anglos” to refer to Australians, that you’re dealing with a complete moron. Also know when they use the term “too white/very white” to refer to Australians, that you’re dealing with a second rate journo that probably spends too much time on twitter.

I am always ready to lay the boot into MKR when necessary BUT MKR has been exemplary at including people of different ethnic backgrounds on this show (my gripe is with how sometimes they are portrayed in a patronising manner).

In fact, I view MasterChef as not having the right mix - Channel 10’s typical boring, sugary mix of bright and bubbly bogans, with a few very ethnic faces. In fact, MKR has probably had OVER representation of ethnicities when taking into account all series - and it doesn’t seem like Colin is talking about this season alone (which perhaps you could argue, especially this third round, is a bit too Aussie).

I actually hate MKR and after watching Ash Pollard’s season vowed never to watch the trash again. However I switched jobs and now have spare time in the mornings and accidentally caught a repeat episode and now I’m watching again and mostly liking it. I wish I wasn’t a cheap slut for terrible reality tv.

I have a few gripes. It isn’t about the annoying caricatures or archetypes or the sledge hammer foreshadowing editing or even 7’s refusal to air a promo that doesn’t spoil the results but the team of Brett & Marie.

Brett & Marie are not first loves. She dumped him to go overseas and they both moved on. Why 7 are insisting it’s some great loves dream I’ll never know. Also how did they magically get back together?

Also why did they refuse to air which suburb they lived in? They showed shots of Redcliffe yet the house they used was in Ferny Grove. I find everything about them fishy and something not quite right, they don’t even list their surnames!

I’m really over Valerie’s annoying and disgusting cougar act. Put it away lady. I feel so sorry for her daughter.

I really can’t stand Tully. I hate Court and the old guy with a passion. She’s a hypocrite and completely false. Going all hurt when Josh lashed back at something she started. Don’t start something you can’t finish hun. Also her border line baby voice grates.

I can’t stand the chipmunk sisters or eternal fashion victims Demi & Caite. I loathe the footy mates too. Everything about their ‘act’ is cringe inducing. Actually it seems to be the teams with the same tacky shtick.

Love the midwives, Mel & Cyn (Although I’m not sure why some high powered corporate woman would get such a skanky tattoo). Favourite teams are Tyson & Amy and Josh & Amy. I also loved Elyse & Matt.

Really like Colin as a host.

All in All for it being MKR it isn’t so bad.

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Agree!