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Bill and Alex out of the Kitchen

Bill and Alex were eliminated from My Kitchen Rules as South Australia's Ann-Marie and Nick secured the last remaining spot in the finals.

NSW housemates Bill and Alex were eliminated from My Kitchen Rules last night as the show settled on the four teams who will compete in next week’s finals.

South Australian newlyweds Ann-Marie and Nick secured the last remaining spot in the finals by scoring 38/60 for their tuna entrée, champagne risotto main and a gin and lime meringue tart dessert.

But Bill and Alex managed only 24 points for their beetroot tart entrée, pork shoulder main and passionfruit soufflé dessert.

Guest judge Tobie Puttock said “My mother told me if I didn’t have anything nice then don’t say anything at all. So tonight I won’t be commenting on your pork dish whatsoever.”

All the judges gave them a 4 each.

“Where are the Bill and Alex we’ve seen in the competition?” Manu asked.

“You can cook. You’ve proven it many times but tonight you lost the plot.”

Remaining teams go into the finals which ends with a 90 minute episode next Wednesday:

SEMI-FINAL 1 – Monday April 11
Daniela & Stefania (Western Australia) versus Sammy & Bella (New South Wales)

SEMI-FINAL 2 – Tuesday April 12
Kane & Lee (Victoria) versus Ann-Marie & Nick (South Australia)

GRAND FINAL – Wednesday April 13
The winner of each semi-final will go head to head. In the ultimate test, they must prepare a five course meal for the judges. Who will be crowned champions and walk away with the $100,000 cash prize?

17 Responses

  1. @Voyager, there is a similar conspiracy doing the rounds re MasterChef ie the cooks serve up food too sophisticated for home cooks to know how to do and beyond the life experience of many of the younger contestants. I’ve got to admit, I’ve entertained suspicions about it myself as I’ve been avidly cooking for decades yet would not have a hope in hell of coming up with dishes like that on the fly.

    I admit some of the things that have happened this season on MKR have looked suss. Bill and Alex, along with other contestants constantly attempting dishes they’d never cooked before is very suspicious, I agree. I was stunned last night when they attempted a souffle, one of the most notoriously difficult of all dishes to prepare, yet they have never cooked it before and did it without a recipe I have also been struck by some contestants misunderstanding of and inability to handle some ingredients that they choose to cook with. Anne-Marie not understanding that a risotto must be constantly stirred bordered on being a mindblowing faux pas, as even a fair to middling home cook knows that. None of us are party to what goes on in the daily production meetings, so I don’t know whether the contestants are being told to purposely attempt obscure, bizarre dishes that they will struggle with to maximise the onscreen drama, or whether they are handed the recipes they are going to do. Anything is possible, for sure.

  2. I liked Bill and Alex. Its good to see 2 young men cooking in htis comp and put up some pretty good dishes.

    They over htought there meals in the past few sessions and always left it to the lat minute to plate up.

    That pork dish they served up last night just looked terrible.

  3. It’s a show with just average home cooks that are trying to get some fame, I have no issue with either, it’s not Masterchef no where near it.

    If I had the confidence to get in front of a camera, i am my wife are certainly better cooks..period, but the show is about personalities as well , so the very best home cooks are not always there.

    And also a big reminder, cooking is one aspect, the judges (in conjunction with the Producers) will never leave on the show boring people, that is why(by far the weakest couple)Anne Marie and Nick are still on the show, because all they do is argue, serve up ordinary food, yet seem to scrape through each week, Daniella and Stefania will win the show, hope Stefania gets her own show out of it, talented and beautiful

  4. Bill and Alex were cute to watch, but ultimately fell victim to the phony conspiracy that is MKR. We’re supposed to believe that these people are accomplished cooks and that the competition is based on skill and creativity. But any halfway decent cook who has watched a few episodes can see that the whole thing is phony. For the most part the cooks in question have no skills, much less any understanding of the food they’re playing with. Last night one of them didn’t know enough to know that a risotto has to be stirred, while Bill & Alex had no clue that their potato & celeriac wouldn’t puree because the vegetables weren’t cooked. And then they decided to make a souffle for dessert, something they admitted they’d never done before. All through the competition contestants are shown attempting to cook dishes they’ve not only never made before, but clearly never even tasted. All too frequently, they are obscure or refined dishes with a level of sophistication way beyond the contestants’ life experience, much less cooking experience. And we’re expected to believe they magically know which ingredients to use for these dishes?! Bill and Alex attempting to make Zabaglione – which they couldn’t even pronounce – is but one example. Clearly, the producers are providing the teams with recipes every step of the way – recipes calculated to trip them up entertainingly. In short, MKR is fundamentally dishonest in the way it presents the “competition” to the audience, and the poor contestants are nothing more than pawns in their game. But I guess they’ve all sacrificed their dignity for their 15 minutes of fame.

  5. @NJK: Who cares about being a commercial kitchen? This is my “kitchen” rules. It’s not about restaurants. And as has already been pointed out, MasterChef gives its contestants plenty of opportunities to create or display their own recipes and talents.

    The mentoring aspect or lack thereof in MKR is a good point. If they’re going to expect contestants to be improving their skills then give them the tools to do so. Having said that, the show at this stage is already a pretend-MasterChef so don’t make it even moreso.

  6. @ col. I loved Denny’s when I visited the US. Their breakfasts are fantastic!!

    @NJK, yeah, I agree to an extent, but on MasterChef, contestants have to wing it and make up recipes each week when they do the Invention test and the mystery box. I also love the fact that on MKR contestants cook in their own style in recipes they make up all the time, and it probably does approximate what life is like on a busy night in a commercial kitchen. The fact remains, though, that contestants are given virtually nil mentoring or instruction, so we don’t see their cooking skills really progress in the way that we see on MC. However, I must say that Kane and Lee have shot ahead by leaps and bounds during the course of the comp. I had pegged them as one of the first couples to be eliminated as I was totally underwhelmed by them. My tune has changed though, and barring a catastrophe, I think they will take the comp out.

    I hope the producers look at the mentoring/instruction issue before Season 3 starts filming. They tinkered with the format from last season and what a runaway success they have had with the show this year.

  7. I love the fact MKR gets its contestants to make things from scratch, using their own creativity under a time pressure – I reckon that is a much closer approximation of what life would be like in a real commercial kitchen.
    Masterchef is mostly just people following recipes of other chefs (Celebrity chef cook-off, pressure tests like the macarons etc) and guessing games (guess the ingredients etc). You rarely get to see the person’s own style in what they do.
    But I agree with some of the other comments that there’s not enough mentoring shown on MKR. There doesn’t seem to be any progression in skills from one week to the next because the clincher challenges are similar week-in, week-out.
    Ah well – season 3 is already commissioned so maybe they’ll fix it. But please not with a Boring Masterclass-style thing. They put me to sleep!

  8. Finalists are also on Better Homes and Gardens this weekend:

    Ann-Marie & Nick (SA)
    Brussel Sprouts, Pancetta and Mushroom Salad

    Daniela & Stefania (WA)
    Quail, Fennel and Radicchio Salad with Cherry Vinegar Dressing

    Kane & Lee (Vic)
    Grilled Pear Salad with Walnuts, Goats Cheese and Cranberry Vinaigrette

    Sammy & Bella (NSW)
    Chorizo, Squid and Broad Bean Salad

  9. @Mason Hell-Cat, that is actually a very good point, and something that has been niggling at me this year. Unlike MasterChef, the contestants on MKR do not receive instructions or any meaningful kind of mentoring from the judges and guest chefs. Therefore, it is unreasonable to expect them to improve out of sight just from doing stressful, timed cooking challenges.

    I agree with you that it is unfair of the judges to make any sort of assertions re level of improvement that should have been achieved when they have not actually received any tutelage to further their cooking prowess. I feel that this is a flaw with the show, that we are not shown them receiving any sort of worthwhile instruction, Of course, off camera, they are probably reading recipes, practising, etc, back at their hotel or wherever they are put up for the time they spend in Sydney, but that is not the same as the MasterClass lessons. The producers should look at this and perhaps provide some kind of training for the contestants. We don’t need to see it on-camera like the MasterClass, but extra instruction should be provided to them if the object of the show is to produce a mindblowing cooking couple.

  10. You know im no food expert but i reckon there main dish wouldn’t be served up at a Denny’s Restaurant in the States,it looked woeful.Very poor.If that was Matt Preston as a judge he would throw the food on the floor and eat the plate.

  11. Good riddance to dead wood.

    I am so over this show. I hate when the chefs say ‘At this point in the competition they should be doing better than this’, etc. Oh yeah cause the contestants have learnt so much from the Master-Classes you keep running eh? They’re supposed to be improving as cooks by just slapping together meals they’ve made once or twice in the past and then getting a couple of constructive sentences from the judges?

    It’s certainly no Masterchef where contestant have been able to refine their skills through the season. Let’s face it, MKR is good for the first 4 weeks while the home restaurant challenges happen and then it turns into amateur cooks messing about for 2 months.

  12. I hope it is Kane and Lee. They already look like they are made for television. Very now, very hip. And they have very god chemistry. They are also from Victoria, which is also a bonus!

  13. Bill and Alex were running on fumes last night. They had definitely reached their use-by date in the comp and whilst I think they are very accomplished cooks for their age, they are not in the league of the remaining four teams. They were great value though, and represented NSW well. I am hoping for a Kane/Lee and Sammy/Bella grand final. I don’t care at all for the ladies from WA or the SA couple, so hopefully they will be eliminated.

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