MKR
Behind-the-scenes truths
1 THE RESULTS ARE ALREADY DECIDED
“The producers have already decided exactly who they want you to be on the show before it’s even started airing, and it doesn’t matterr if you don’t fit the script,” tellss one contestant.
“They made Tyson out to o be an ‘angry, angry man’ when, in reality, he’s just a shy, introverted twentysomething with a genuine passion for food. And if you’re not featured in too many promos, then don’t expect to make it very far!”
2 STEP OUT OF LINE AND YOU’LL GET AXED
“We knew the exact moment we were going to ‘lose’ our next cooking round, because we’d just had a huge fight with the producers and judges,” says one team member.
“The next minute we were walked off set by a producer who told us, ‘Calling the producers names probably wasn’t the brightest idea if you wanted to stay in the show.’ Sure enough, we were given the flick.”
3 “I WAS DRIVEN TO DRINK” ”
“The only way I could cope with the petty dramas, bitchingg and backstabbing on set was to hit the bottle,” claims another contestant.
“I would regularly come home and drink six beers and a bottle of wine as a coping mechanism. I actuallyactu put on almost 12kg beca because of it.”
4 THEY’RE NOT ABOVE SABOTAGE
“There was a su sudden-death round where so someone’s ice-cream came ou out of the freezer like soup and iti was obviousbi theh f fridgeid hd had been unplugged to set them up,” spills a contestant. “Then, during the Super Dinner Parties, they made some teams changeg houses, so they hey had to start fromm scratch sourcing supplies. pplies.
“We wouldd also rock up to suppliersuppliers to collect ingredients, gredients, only to find they’d been ‘mysteriouslyly misplaced.’ Turns out [thehe producers] had contacted ted the
‘They’ll do whatever it takes to get a rise out of you’
suppliers and cut a deal to stitch us up!”
5 BEDHOPPING BEHIND THE SCENES
“We got wind of infidelities pretty early on in filming – no one was very discreet about it. I heard that something went down between a contestant and a crew member during the cruise challenge, and some of the single contestants root each other when they are in the same hotels during the instant kitchen stage.”
6 THEY PUSHP YOU TOT REACT
“It’s prettyprett much like [fictional show] Unreal, except for the par part where they swapped someon someone’s medication and they died,” revealsre a contestant. “I wouldwou not be
surprised if theth producers have studied psychology, because they’ve learnt all the techniques to manipulate you, and they will do whatever it takes to get a rise out to you.
“If ‘your’ producer isn’t working out, they’ll try others until they find the right fit – that is, someone who can get the ‘best’ response out of you. In the end, we just stopped answering questions.”
7 EDITORS RULE
“The producers’ favourite motto is, ‘If you don’t say it, we can’t use it,’ but then they use editing techniques to cut words from different scenes to add drama.
“Kyle and Tyson’s ‘steak stoush’ was completely fake – there was no argument – the producers just cut the scene to look like there was! And if they don’t want you in a scene, they just edit you out later.”
8 IT TAKES A REALLY, REALLY LONGG TIME TO FILM
“You need to be prepared to give up six months of your life – and don’t expect it to be easy. Some instant restaurant rounds started at 6.30am and didn’t finish until 4.30am. By the time producers had finished packing up, it was 8am, and then they wanteda ted you back onn set hours later.
“On top off long days filming, there’sre’s also heaps of menu developmentnt behind the scenes. I wrote ote over 40,000 words during my timeime on the show.”w.”