Out of the kitchen, the My Kitchen Rules contestants reveal it’s all ghosts, guns and brawls.
It’s not just a flair for food and their likeable personalities that helped this couple on the road to TV fame. Reade Chandler, a contender on My Kitchen Rules with wife Donna, reckons there was some help from above.
Reade’s mother, Kathy, died a week before the couple applied to be on the Seven reality show. Kathy’s death – on Valentine’s Day last year – came just three-and-a-half months after she was diagnosed at age 64 with melanoma.
Relaxing at their family home in Adelaide’s south-western suburbs during a break in filming, Reade, 46, recalls, “My mother was playing tennis and noticed a very, very small spot on her arm, which she didn’t worry about. But [the cancer] went to her brain, then her spine… then she was gone. It was hard for me because I lost my mum really quickly.”
Reade believes Kathy’s presence can still be felt in their lives. “I think she had a lot to do with us getting on the show, because when we got the call for the audition it was on her birthday last year,” he says.
Donna, 43, agrees. “I think his mum thought he wasn’t going to cope – that it was too quick. So [she said], ‘Let him do something different, take his mind off it’.” Another incident during a filming break confirmed for the pair that Reade’s mum was watching over them.
Read more about Reade and Donna’s story plus why Tasmanian contestants Ali and Esther are used to working in high pressure situations in this week’s Woman’s Day.
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