The TV WEEK interview with My Kitchen Rules team Josh and Austin begins with a tough question. Only it’s not from us. It’s from Josh.
“Are you neutral?” he asks.
Before Josh opens up, he wants to check whether TV WEEK has already formed an opinion of him and his younger brother.
At 25 and 22, the home-schooled, devout Christian brothers are the youngest team in this season of My Kitchen Rules. They’re also set to be this season’s most talked-about contestants, with promos describing them as “dinner-party terrorists”.
“We’re very controversial,” Josh says.
NSW brothers Josh and Austin are set to ruffle some feathers on MKR.
But these Sydney siblings aren’t just out to stir the pot and make their name as reality TV villains. There’s a lot more to them.
For starters, they were home-schooled because their American mother and Australian father are missionaries who regularly took them overseas. They spent time at an orphanage in Thailand.
“It was interesting to come from watching TV in a first-world country to going somewhere that doesn’t have too much and seeing these kids without parents,” Austin remembers.
The brothers say they want to make an impact on the world. So… what are they doing on MKR?
As they tell it, Josh and Austin never planned to be reality TV stars. Ever since they were toddlers, they’ve dreamed of becoming actors.
“We would always ask our parents, ‘Hey, can we do this?'” Josh says. “Our parents were like, ‘No, you’ve got to wait until you’re 18.’ So when we became 18, we tried to make this happen.”
Austin has had work as an extra in Home And Away, in scenes at the diner. As for Josh, he’s appeared in the 2016 Mel Gibson-directed war drama Hacksaw Ridge and in TV ads.
Last year, the brothers began planning to head to the US for this year’s pilot season. But then Josh was contacted by MKR via Instagram.
“One of the producers noticed all my cooking photos and they were like, ‘Hey, you’re really good at cooking – maybe you should apply for the show.'”
Josh (left) is very protective of his younger brother Austin.
The brothers admit they have less cooking experience than most of the other teams. But what they do have is an unshakeable bond, with Austin saying they get along “like a house on fire”.
As the eldest, Josh comes across as the boss. At our shoot, Austin doesn’t want to start the interview until Josh is there – and it’s Josh who tells Austin not to eat too many of the snacks.
Neither of them have girlfriends. Josh goes quiet and Austin giggles when they’re asked if they’ve ever dated. So were they attracted to any of the women on the show?
Josh makes a vomiting noise, before he explains that personality is important when it comes to attraction.
“If you have an ugly heart…” he says, trailling off.
Josh and Austin know they’ll get people talking on MKR.
But there’s one woman who both brothers clearly adore, and that’s their mother. Austin credits her with teaching them that “anything is possible with God”, and the brothers lived by her advice on MKR.
“Before we went on, our mum said, ‘Do not get offended, because if you get offended, then they will control how you feel,'” Austin explains.
What the brothers can’t control is how the public will react after seeing them on TV. Put it this way: unlike TV WEEK, they’re unlikely to be neutral!
Josh says they’re aware they have faults, but they know it and own up to it.
“We don’t claim to be the second coming of Jesus.”
My Kitchen Rules airs Monday to Wednesday, and Sunday, 7pm, Channel Seven.
