The competitive cooking season is upon us again!
Channel Seven is back with another bunch of multi-generational Australian families who will battle it out for the win on Family Food Fight.
The contestants will bring on their secret family recipes and trade secrets to impress judges Matt Moran, Anna Polyviou and Tom Parker-Bowles.
Scroll down below to learn a little more about some of this years contestants.
PINA AND CONCETTA
Mother and daughter team Pina and Concetta.
Cooking for the family was once a passion for Italian-born Pina. But the self-taught home cook lost her drive after her husband Bart died suddenly 13 years ago.
“I haven’t cooked since my husband passed,” Pina, 69, tells TV WEEK.
Determined to get her mother back into the kitchen, Pina’s daughter Concetta secretly signed up the two of them for Family Food Fight.
But when Concetta, 46, eventually spilled the beans, her mother was scared.
“I thought, ‘How am I going to do this?'” Pina says.
“But I eventually accepted it − and it’s a good thing.”
Once Pina was able to move past her fears, her love for traditional Italian food was reignited.
“I married an Italian who was into his traditional Sicilian food,” the mother-of-four and grandmother-of-eight explains.
“It’s the traditional family flavour that everybody loves.”
School canteen worker Concetta says she knew that once her mother got her groove back, they potentially had what it takes to win.
But the real carrot dangling at the end was the potentially life-changing $100,000 prize money.
“Mum’s been struggling since Dad’s passing,” she reveals.
“She could use the money to go visit her family overseas and it would make a really big difference.”
LEON AND CORY
Expect lots of gags from Leon and Cory.
Pots won’t be the only thing getting stirred by barbecue- loving brothers-in-law Leon and Cory.
The West Australian duo love a bit of banter – and they aren’t afraid to dish it out to their fellow Family Food Fight contestants.
“I like to play mind games,” builder Leon, 34, admits. “I love stirring the pot.”
“If I see someone who’s really confident, I might point out some things they’re doing that aren’t working.”
He adds that his comments aren’t meant to be malicious.
“It’s tongue-in-cheek,” he says.
“They [the other contestants] didn’t get offended − they loved us.”
While there’s plenty of bravado, the pair admit they struggled with being away from their young families during filming.
It was especially tough for first-time dad Cory, who left his wife with their two-month-old.
“It sucked being away from them,” the 29-year-old security technician admits.
“But we just put our heads down. Every hour outside of shooting we were practising and getting ideas.”
While the pair are whizzes when it comes to cooking meat, Leon admits they lack skills in the sweets department.
“Our wives normally do all the birthday cakes and desserts,” the father-of-three says.
BEC AND NICOLE
Sisters Bec and Nicole balance each other out.
If you see smoke pouring from Bec and Nicole’s work bench, it might not be coming from the oven!
Going into the show, the Queensland half-sisters knew that managing Bec’s stress levels was going to be a challenge.
“I’m notorious for having a meltdown every now and then,” Bec, 30, tells TV WEEK.
“I have an alter ego called ‘Meltdown Mandy’. She came out a couple of times [on the show].”
Fortunately, receptionist Nicole describes herself as the calm to Bec’s storm.
“We’re opposite in that way,” Nicole, 21, reveals.
“I’m cool-headed, so I think we work well together.”
Their chalk-and-cheese personalities did lead to some sibling rivalry when they were younger.
“Mum was always nagging us to clean our rooms,” Bec recalls.
“But Nicole’s room was pristine. I never stood a chance.”
The pair admit their mum didn’t exactly inspire their passion for cooking.
“We grew up on the all-Australian diet,” Bec says.
“We had apricot chicken, curried sausages, tuna patties. She did the best she could.”
Family Food Fight premieres Monday 29th of October, 7:30pm, on the Nine Network.
