“That’s not me”: Colin Fassnidge wanted to change his TV persona

Colin Fassnidge joined My Kitchen Rules in 2013, where he would spend the next nine years, largely uninterrupted.

But as he looks back on his time, he wasn’t always happy with his portrayal on screen.

“No not at all,” he tells TV Tonight.

“The first few eps of MKR the first year they were like, ‘Just go hard. Give me some negatives.’ But I hadn’t done TV before. But f***ing hell …. everyone knows about editing and whatever.

“I went back and did 10 more years. So I’m not crying about it. But I just changed the way I was portrayed over the years on MKR because that’s not me.

“I came in as a Simon Cowell which I thought was quite funny for a while but after a few years it got a bit annoying.”

He would later go onto 10’s I’m a Celebrity Get Me Out of Here as a way of showing another side… a dad, a little humour, not afraid of having a go and being befriended by other celebrity camp mates. For his efforts, he finished 5th out of 15 contestants.

Now he fronts Kitchen Nightmares Australia, based on the famed (or is that infamous?) Gordon Ramsay series. Is he going back to being a TV villain?

“I grew up watching the English version, which I absolutely loved, because it was quite funny, and heartwarming. The American version, I have no time for, because it’s a lot more screaming and just playing to annoying Americans,” he explains.

“I don’t really need to be a Gordon”

“I spent 50 years trying to work out who Colin is. I don’t really need to be a Gordon. I said I would do it if it was a show with a lot more heart, and a lot less screaming, because I don’t really want to do that anymore. So that was a stipulation I set.

“I think this is a very Australians story. We’ve had fires, drought, floods, pandemic, America didn’t have all that. We’ve got restaurants who are on their knees. They don’t really need me going in to demean them just for TV.

“But I’m quite straight talking, apparently, that’s why I got offered the job.”

In the series Fassnidge has 5 days to help turnaround ailing restaurants -all of whom have put themselves forward to be in the series. They include east coast venues of varying sizes from small cafes to pub restaurants and even one resort.

He concedes the first two days at each venue can be pretty rough as he gets to know the venue, staff and its problems.

“Within about two hours their eyes are spinning in the back of their heads”

“I don’t think they’ve got any idea what they’re up against. Because when I walk in, they think ‘Great. That’s Colin from MKR we love him.’ Within about two hours their eyes are spinning in the back of their heads thinking, ‘How do I how do I get out of this? This guy is not holding back!’

“Some of them thought they’d get a good bit of PR for their restaurant. But that’s not really how it works.

“In one episode the guy kept going, ‘Yeah, yeah, you’re right, you’re great.’ But behind his back he forgot he was miked upand he was bagging us out. Welcome to TV. We just called him out. ‘If you’re just going to bullshit us, we’re going home on day two.’

“They get a proper makeover and guidance. But I don’t really want to waste my time on idiots.”

“People thought I used a few F words, but she just goes non-stop”

In episode one he visits Mumma Jo’s Diner at Wallerawang, north west of Lithgow, NSW. Proprietor “Mumma Jo” didn’t take kindly to Fassnidge’s ‘tough love’ advice. TV relies on conflict after all.

“She just goes for it!” he laughs.

“People thought I used a few F words, but she just goes non-stop. And the one in Victoria was pretty hardcore. A lot of swear words.

“But if you’re given an oyster from a freezer, washed in dirty water in sink with cloths and put on a plate and told that they’re fresh, out of just anger and disgust you’d swear. Anyone would!

“I’m ‘me’ in a kitchen, because I’ve worked in kitchens and they are tough places. If you’re just being an idiot, I will tell you. But by the end, you want the best outcome for people. So I think I’m quite nice in real life.

“In the jungle that was me. I like to laugh more than shout, if you put it that way.”

Fassnidge insists most of the swearing is spoken by restauranteurs, not by him. At 7:30 the show must bleep languge but 7plus will screen the show uncensored.

Passion is understandable when some small business owners can be wedded to bad habits and have their lives tied up in ailing businesses.

“One of the restaurants the guy sold his car, to pay the wages. I know a lot of people in this industry who who are no longer with us. There is suicide, drink, drugs, divorce …” he reveals.

“It was pretty dire, the position they were in.”

But for all his unfiltered advice to “delusional” proprietors, Fassnidge insists the results speak for themselves.

“Every job we went to, the people and the outcomes are different.

“Most of them. One of them’s not around anymore. It was pretty dire, the position they were in.

“There’s only so long you can go if you’re remortgaging your house, and you’ve put in 300 grand in the hole. We come in and do a refurb but we can’t pay a 300 grand bill.

“We’re not Jesus. There’s only so much we can do.”

Kitchen Nightmares Australia screens 7:30pm Wednesdays on Seven.