Former contestant exposes the secrets that they don’t want you to know as he reveals that all is not as it seems on the hugely popular reality cooking show.
Pre-planned eliminations
“As far as I’m concerned, at least six of the couples in my series were simply there for entertainment and knew they wouldn’t go the distance,” says Mick.
“When my daughter was getting married, they told me I’d be able to go home for a week but I wasn’t allowed to tell the contestants. It just so happened that we got ousted a week before the wedding, went home for the wedding, and a week later we were rung up to go back on Comeback Kitchen! It just seemed very convenient.”
Scripted judging?
Mick says the judges are often served stone-cold meals due to lengthy takes. But that won’t stop them giving a high score.
Claiming the judging is scripted, Mick says: “Each judge is spoken to from the control room through an earpiece and at times they’d get their words wrong and have to re-do it.”
They stop the clock
The high-pressure sudden-death cook-offs between teams always result in a frantic race against the clock to plate up their dishes on time. But Mick tells us in TV land time can be frozen – and it often is.
“The clock stopped on quite a few occasions when the cameras weren’t rolling,” says 52-year-old Mick, who left the show feeling bitter.
“I was very upset because I think it’s unfair when you’re playing for $250,000 and one team has more time to finish than the other.”
The understanding was that “if the clock wasn’t stopped and one team didn’t finish, there would be no show. But I said, ‘A team doesn’t deserve to win if that’s the case’.”
Plating up fakes
This is one cooking show where kitchen know-how isn’t a prerequisite!
“Some contestants can’t even heat baked beans without spoiling them. I’d say 90 per cent of the recipes you see are from books,” says Mick, claiming personality comes before culinary skills when it comes to selecting teams.
Related stories
Native ad body.
Native ad body.
Native ad body.
