My Kitchen Rules contestants Angus and Simon have admitted their outspoken criticism of rival teams may have backfired after their latest meal received a score of 55.
The South Australian best friends revived their “Last Orders” instant restaurant on Tuesday night and told the table that one of the gatecrashers should be sent home.
But they conceded they had not anticipated that their blunt comments could influence the scores awarded by the other teams.
“The thought never crossed my mind,” Angus said. “Maybe I was naive, because the gate crashers were acting like they were very holier than thou, and that they would never in any circumstance score down based on personalities.”
He said he had believed the contestants would judge the food fairly because their scores would be seen by viewers.
Tensions between the original teams and the gatecrashers have been building since the competition’s first cook. Angus and Simon have refused to apologise for questioning Zoe’s pescatarian diet, while also accusing Oliver and Harrison of using tears to attract sympathy votes.
Angus said the 55-point result did not reflect the quality of the dishes, which included duck and shiitake dumplings, lamb cutlets with pickle salad and bread and butter pudding with black sesame ice cream.
“Compared to our first cook when everyone really liked us, we got a huge score from the teams,” he said. “The cooks were pretty similar but this round we started asking some questions and the scores were very different, so I think it can come into play for sure.”
Simon said he was “perplexed” by the result, arguing that the meal had not suffered any major technical failures. He acknowledged that some of the meat was judged slightly undercooked, but said the judges had not identified a significant problem with the execution.
He said he had expected the team to score in the mid-60s, rather than 55. The result left Angus and Simon just one point ahead of Alisha and Deanne, who are in last place.
Angus admitted the pair would need to be more cautious about becoming involved in disputes around the table.
“We really thought we could get the psychological edge,” he said.
