If the arrival of two new teams wasn’t enough of a shock for the already battle-weary contestants of My Kitchen Rules New Zealand last night, the elimination of front-runners Hannah and Cathy certainly shook things up.
After earning an unprecedented score of 81 out of 100 for their Instant Restaurant, the prison workmates were looking like the ones to beat as all the teams arrived in Auckland for the final stage of the competition.
But in the first People’s Choice Challenge of the series, the cute cook’s lack of skill on the BBQ became their downfall.
Hannah and Cathy plate up dessert during their Instant Restaurant. Photo: Supplied
Opting to make Bolitas de Queso, or deep fried cheeseballs, with zucchini and goats cheese, the girls were still waiting for the oil on their hot plate to heat up 30 minutes into the meal service.
After a rousing speech from Ben and Gareth the ladies regrouped and went to Plan B; abandoning the oil and turning what was to be deep-fried cheeseballs into fritters. But unfortunately, their fate was sealed. Having to put up second-rate food, Hannah and Cathy were left chasing the rest of the pack.
When it came to judging, both Ben and Gareth were disappointed to see that the service had got away on the girls. “Seeing you two in the bottom today really surprised me,” Ben told the pair.
“Sometimes things don’t go right in the kitchen but when you’ve got customers that need to be fed you have to think quickly on your feet and you need to adapt.”
“We know you’re great cooks but unfortunately in a competition like this, one day can change everything,” he added.
After big farewells to their fellow teammates Hannah and Cathy reflected on their time on MKR NZ, “I don’t think there are many people that I could do this kind of thing with,” acknowledged Hannah. “I think we work really well together and I’m really grateful that I was able to do it with Cathy. It definitely has bought us closer together.”
“We know we can cook,” added Cathy. “What makes us sad is that we’re going early is that there were so many other things that we wanted to show New Zealand.”
Tomorrow on MKR NZ, the teams get their first taste of Kitchen Headquarters as they apron-up for the first Rapid Cook-off and Showdown to determine who’ll be safe and who’ll be joining Gatecrashers Ben and Reagan in the first Sudden Death Cook-Off for 2015.
