★★★★★ 0/5

But Pete, Manu, what took you so long…?

9 years of drama, insults & abuse but now MKR judges reckon "We had to act." Yeah, right.

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Maybe Manu Fieldel and Pete Evans don’t actually watch My Kitchen Rules, but I am a tad perplexed why they have suddenly grown a conscience and have taken the time to address the removal of a team from the show.

Seven released an editorial / promo for the show yesterday.

But what the hell have they been thinking for the past 8 seasons? Like those oh-so-genuine psychologists on another reality show, they are colluding (or even facilitating) primetime abuse, in what purports to be a cooking series.

“We would like to take a moment to talk about the events that led to one team being removed from My Kitchen Rules,” Fieldel says.

“Over the history of the show we’ve never had to deal with anything like this: the removal of a team from the competition,” drones Pete Evans.

“After continued warnings and an unprecedented attack on all the teams, we had to act,” Fieldel continues.

“This is the week it happens,” adds Evans. In case you were in any doubt.

In the 1:14 lecture from the two judges we are also subjected to dinner table histrionics and insults and a booming voice reminding us that the “MKR Scandal” is finally here (tip: guides indicate Wednesday).

Fieldel can even be heard telling the teams “This is a cooking competition.” You reckon? So why the hell is there no cooking anywhere to be seen in the promo? This is even a season that had a bloke who admitted he can’t cook as a contestant.

That’s because this is just a cleverly packaged excuse of a promo to maximise TV ratings.

Without having seen the episode I’m not privy to how low things stoop compared to previous years, but can I just say that the insults, bullying and casual racism that has flown across the table in previous years must have been ok with our two dapper judges given it has taken until 2018 -when the show is at an all-time low- for them to address it.

You will see plenty of media stories surrounding this incident before and after (and contestants being kicked off a reality show is frankly, significant enough for me to archive too). However I am mindful that giving this incident oxygen, the very thing I am doing now, makes me part of the problem not part of the solution. I’m playing right into the hands of the network marketing machine by adding to the controversy….. I get that.

All I can really do is offer an honest perspective of how I see things. If we are really addressing the abuse then what are the changes the show will adopt moving forward? Why are we only talking about a conduct the show has encouraged in a 1:14 minute video?

Nah, this is just almighty spin by a show out of genuine ideas.

If anybody wants me I’ll be over here watching UnREAL.

Bon appetit.

25 Responses

  1. I don’t watch MKR or any other reality television. (Reality is a misnomer, there is nothing real about them at all). But my wife does, and she is becoming more and more p…ed off. This is her last season watching MKR and she is not even going to start “House Rules”.
    What’s top in our house? “Selling Houses Australia” and “Escape To The Country”, both on Lifestyle. Thanks goodness for Foxtel.

  2. I am more interested in the transformation of Pete and Manu into school teacher authoritarian figures. Manu in particular has been morphed from the nice judge with a lovely family, into the male equivalent of The Governess.

  3. They’ve been showing this promo since Christmas. I don’t watch the show but am curious to know what the ‘unacceptable behaviour’ is that gets them kicked off considering last year one of the blokes called 2 female contestants sluts. But just from the ads I have seen some of the contestants are really horrible people.

  4. Well said David. The audiences aren’t that stupid. They’ve been voting with their remotes to get rid of the bitchiness all season (and in previous seasons). They’ve been ignored and the declining ratings are the result.

  5. I watch MKR for both the cooking and the drama, as I’m sure most if its viewers do. It has far less drama than MAFS which is clearly manufactured. At least MKR refers to the participants as “home cooks”, whereas the contestants on Masterchef are not chefs and never will be, unless they do an apprenticeship.

    1. Gas: You must be joking.MKR is crap this year.
      The Voice is back on Sunday.Let see how it goes.
      MKR far too long.More about drama then cooking.

  7. I started watching this year, but eventually started fast-forwarding through any of the dinner party chat. Then I stopped watching completely. Too many of this year’s contestants were vile and uncouth, and clearly there only to provoke.

  8. I must admit, I had the biggest chortle when I saw Manu telling the teams “This is a cooking competition” all stern like as if he was being serious or something..!

  9. So thankful for my DVR for this show. Fast forwarding through the “singing”, “flirting”, “banter”, “dancing”, are the only reason I can watch the actual cooking.

  11. Good grief, they were pushing this incident non-stop during the Australian Open commercial breaks [my only exposure to the show] back in January and it *still* hasn’t happened yet??

  12. This is the first year I haven’t watched MKR…not one minute. It became so predictable and nasty. Masterchef I love and will watch eagerly. If I want drama/comedy I watch The Bach!

  13. For me the spit n polish Of The show was lost when they kept extending and milking it. Obviously not been watching it for several years now. It was never about the cooking but about the theatre.

  15. Really enjoying The Great British Bakeoff, and others in the franchise right now (South Africa, Canada and of course Australia). Watching people bake and enjoy themselves, and be nice…..isn’t there enough bad stuff in the world, why do people want to watch it manufactured in this sham of a cooking show
    Nastiness breeds nastiness……there is a place for drama, and there is also a place for accountability

    1. “Nastiness breeds nastiness…”

      Bingo. In reality tv, politics, public discussion – and blog comments – what was once called “the good ol’ Aussie larrikin spirit” aimed at pretentious authority has been twisted into something that’s now only identifiable by the way it shows its unpleasant underbelly and a continuous whine coming from the AM radio…

      I might barrack for Port Power – but never for the Crows…

  16. I think sometime in the future you may re-read your critique and realise you’ve been a bit too harsh and unfair with this post David. MKR has always included a reality/dramatic focus to a cooking program. In fact all promos reflect this focus, at least there’s truth in advertising. Sticking the boot in because it’s not as pious as Masterchef is pretty low considering viewers know exactly what they’re getting when they watch.

      1. Unless you are new to Australia, MKR has never really been about just cooking. That’s why there’s Masterchef. I can see there are a lot of Masterchef fans on this site. There’s a show for everyone – to each his own.

  18. Excellent editorial, David.
    This poor excuse for a cooking show is a prime example of everything that is wrong with the reality television landscape today.
    I’m a chef, so can’t qualify for any of these amateur cooks shows, but a very good friend of mine is an excellent cook and he has applied to both this show and MasterChef a few times.
    He came very very close to getting onto MasterChef, but MKR turned him down outright before even tasting anything he could cook. He’s gay, flamboyant, funny, a great cook and Asian – ticks all the boxes, right? Well, no, because his “partner” (his mum) and he were “too nice” and “too good at cooking” (seriously, the very words from producers).
    By comparison, the people at ShineEndemol were so very disappointed that he didn’t make the cut for MasterChef that they helped him get some work experience at a well known fine diner In Melbourne.

    2. I was at the Taste of Sydney event one year and people from 7 were randomly approaching people recruiting contestants for MKR. When my husband said he couldn’t cook, the girl said it didn’t matter. Ho hum. It’s totally about the drama.

      1. The girl said it didn’t matter? Of course it didn’t matter to someone recruiting for a huge rating TV show if a random guy said he wouldn’t do it. Lol.

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