MKR Pete melts down over cruel contestant Josh
The celebrity chef declares war on cruel seafood king Josh
It’s the explosive showdown you won’t see on TV, but behind the scenes all anyone can talk about is the massive fight that erupted between My Kitchen Rules judge Pete Evans and “villainous” seafood king Josh.
The show’s producers actively encouraged egos and insults in a bid to spice up this year’s MKR storylines, but our spies on set have revealed their cunning plan backfired when a continually antagonised Pete lost his cool.
The irate judge even threatened to walk away from filming, before declaring an all-out war on Josh – the one contestant who has finally pushed him over the edge.
“Throughout shooting, Josh really played up his villain role. He was arrogant and antagonistic, just as producers had hoped and encouraged,” reveals our source.
“But he took it too far when he said he thought paleo was rubbish. Pete initially took it in good humour, but at Courtney and Duncan’s instant restaurant, Josh really started throwing a few jabs at Pete directly. At one point, Josh started saying paleo was “a bunch of bulls**t” and asked Pete if he thought he was being a hypocrite for breaking his diet for the show,” our source says.
Humiliated and furious that he was being mocked by a contestant, an enraged Pete, 42, called an urgent meeting with producers and demanded they stop encouraging Josh – or else!
“No one had ever seen Pete like this before; he was so angry and wouldn’t calm down,” our on-set spy explains. “He had to take time away from shooting to gather himself.”
It was the final straw for Pete,
‘Josh was arrogant and antagonistic, just as producers had hoped’
who’s been subjected to years of ridicule because of his super pro-paleo stance.
Critics have labelled the diet everything from bizarre to extreme. And even as recently as last week, the controversial chef was forced to deny rumours he allegedly blacklisted a handful of journalists from attending MKR’S Sydney launch party, as punishment for them publishing unflattering articles about his nutrition beliefs.
“Pete is incredibly sensitive about paleo and refuses to talk about it on set. He doesn’t see what it has to do with the show.
“He blew his lid when Josh wouldn’t stop provoking him. He told producers he wanted them to call Josh in and read him the riot act,” our source tells. “It was stop bullying Pete or else he’d be out.”
Despite Josh’s efforts to toe the line, the 25-year-old from Broome has continued to play the villain, though he’s now aiming his insults at the contestants rather than the judges.
But it was a case of too little, too late as Pete sought to get his revenge.
“Pete really had it in for Josh after that, and when he saw the chance to stick the knife in, he did,” our insider says.
“He couldn’t have been happier when Josh and Amy stuffed up their instant restaurant and didn’t think twice about giving them low scores – far lower than what Manu gave them.
“Pete was laughing about it off-camera. No one’s ever seen him really have it in for a contestant like he did with Josh. It was truly something else.”