Former MKR contestant takes legal action over trauma

A former contestant on My Kitchen Rules is taking legal action against the Seven Network following an accident during filming in 2018.

Pat Senteleky, 64, featured in the reality series with her daughter Louisa, and finished 8th in the season.

The Australian reports she suffered a fall during filming weeks earlier, at a Kenthurst mansion in Sydney’s northwest, and claims it left her with injuries.

“When Mrs Senteleky trod on some leaves or needles from the driveway which were slippery she fell and suffered physical injuries primarily to her low back, neck, left knee and left ankle,” her barrister Rob Taylor said.

“As a consequence of those ­injuries, she was in constant pain and she was frequently requiring the use of a wheelchair.”

She is suing the network for physical and psychological trauma in the NSW District Court, which has a jurisdictional limit of $750,000 plus costs, seeking “unspecified” damages three years after her season aired.

In April the Personal Injury Commission of NSW ordered Seven to pay another former MKR contestant more than $22,000 a year in ongoing compensation due to “psychological injury.” Seven disputed whether the person was classified as a worker.

In 2019 former House Rules contestant Nicole Prince won a landmark workers’ compensation case against Seven after being portrayed as a “villain” in the 2017 season.

It was the first time a ruling had deemed participants as being employees, not as competition entrants.