My Kitchen Rules

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Dan and Steph Mulheron are $250,000 richer and well on their way to achieving their dreams of starting a family and opening a gourmet sausage shop after being crowned the 2013 winners of My Kitchen Rules. In a dramatic and nail-biting grand final that aired last night, the lovable couple from Hervey Bay beat fellow Queensland team, siblings Jake and Elle Harrison, by just two points, with a final score of 54 out of 60. Each team had to prepare 100 plates for a five-course meal.

Not many would have predicted Dan and Steph to be grand finalists after their rocky start on the show, which involved a cherry cola braised pork dish that was slammed by judges Pete Evans and Manu Feildel. (Funnily enough, that dish has ended up in the new MKR cookbook, which Dan can’t quite believe.) During our morning chat we also talked about their mindset during the final challenge, their response to comments about their ‘sob story’ (they wanted the money to help with IVF treatment costs), whether they took home any show souvenirs, and if they’ll get new tattoos to mark their win.

How are you? Did you get much sleep?
Steph: About four hours I think we got, so it’s not too bad.

How did you celebrate and watch the grand final?
Dan: It was pretty low-key. We just had a few friends and family at the Hotel Urban, where we’re staying, at a little bar there. Our wonderful publicist Josie was there as well. It was a great night, pretty low-key but good. Everyone we wanted there was there.

More from Dan and Steph when you keep reading.

Last night marked the grand final of My Kitchen Rules, with Queensland husband and wife team Dan and Steph Mulheron beating siblings Jake and Elle Harrison to the $250,000 cash prize. But who could forget personal trainers Luke and Scott? The Bondi-based boys impressed with their wholesome cooking approach when competing the show, and when we met the outgoing pair we just had to know: What is your best-kept fitness secret? Keep reading.

It's been a long, dramatic, exciting, controversial and some may even say drawn-out series of My Kitchen Rules, but Channel Seven's popular cooking show came to an end for the year with a grand final that saw Queensland husband and wife team Dan and Steph Mulheron beat siblings Jake and Elle Harrison to the $250,000 cash prize.

The teams were tasked with cooking a five-course menu for a full restaurant, 100 dishes each. They cooked:

Dan and Steph's menu for restaurant "Decadence"
Course 1: Scallop ceviche
Course 2: Squab with chestnuts and redcurrent sauce
Course 3: Flathead sausages with confit potatoes
Course 4: Lamb roulade with smoked carrots and mint pesto
Course 5: Chocolate peppermint délice

Jake and Elle's menu for restaurant "Costa de Sol"
Course 1: Wagyu beef carpaccio
Course 2: Quail with figs and gorgonzola sauce
Course 3: Rock lobster with semolina wafer stack
Course 4: Confit duck with artichoke purée and balsamic sauce
Course 5: Strawberry and amaretto semifreddo

More from the MKR grand final when you keep reading.

Dan and Steph Mulheron have been crowned the winners of My Kitchen Rules for 2013! The married couple from Hervey Bay beat their fellow Queensland grand finalists, siblings Jake and Elle Harrison, to win the $250,000 cash prize. For their last challenge in Kitchen HQ, the teams had to cook a five-course menu for a full restaurant (100 plates each team) that included former contestants, family and friends, and the guest judges, who returned for a blind tasting.

The judges, Manu Feildel, Pete Evans, Colin Fassnidge, Liz Egan, Guy Grossi and Karen Martini, were impressed with both teams' menus, but awarded more points to Dan and Steph for their five courses of scallop ceviche, squab with chestnuts and redcurrent sauce, flathead sausages with confit potatoes, lamb roulade with smoked carrots and mint pesto, and chocolate peppermint délice. For the efforts they were scored 54 out of 60, just ahead of Jake and Elle's score of 52.

Dan and Steph have made no secret of their desire to win the prize so they can pay for IVF treatment to start their family. Dan said, "We're going to teach our kids to work hard. If you want something, you work hard for it and you'll get it." Further down the track they've expressed their desire to open a gourmet sausage shop.

Congratulations to Dan and Steph!

Photo courtesy of Channel Seven

The first of the two My Kitchen Rules semi-finals aired last night, pitting Bondi personal trainers Luke and Scott against their good friends, married couple Dan and Steph. The teams were tasked with creating a three-course menu for the judges to blind taste, and in the end it was Dan and Steph who triumphed with a score of 46 out of 60, beating Luke and Scott’s 41 to make them the first team through to the MKR grand final.

From the beginning, the Bondi boys have been known for their healthy, clean eating ethos, and they made no secret of how they wanted to spread the word of how nutritional food can be tasty. They struggled with a few challenges in terms of getting flavour into their dishes, and have even faced criticism about whether they deserved to make the top four. Luke and Scott addressed the criticism in our chat this morning, and spilled on how they managed to fit exercise into their days during the shoot, Luke’s reputation as a gossip, and why they didn’t mind losing to their friends.

How’s your morning been?
Luke: Yeah pretty good! We’ve just had a swim down at [Bondi] Icebergs, actually.

Luke, we see you pop up on Instagram — you guys seem to be very into social media.
Luke: Yeah, I mean we both think that’s a really important aspect of this process. We’ve got amazing people reaching out to us both about health, fitness, and just loving the show, and I feel if we’re in a position to reply to them, ‘like’ them and all of that, it’s pretty cool because it’s us being accessible to people who love the program.

Does your competitive mindset change when you’re cooking against your good friends in the competition?
Scott: No, not at all. It was nice to go up against Dan and Steph because when we were beaten by them we were happy and proud of them. But as soon as we headed into the kitchen it was all about doing the best we could.

More from Luke and Scott when you keep reading.

Melbourne cousins (Smiley) Sam and Chris just missed out on a place in the My Kitchen Rules semi finals when they were knocked out of the competition by returning contestants Mick and Matt on last night’s episode. The top four teams were shocked when Mick and Matt walked through the Kitchen HQ doors as the Comeback Kitchen victors, and after an amuse bouche challenge it was Jake and Elle, Dan and Steph, and Luke and Scott who sailed through to the semis, leaving Sam and Chris to cook off against the Tasmanian father and son team in a 90-minute signature dish sudden death cook-off.

If Sam and Chris seemed a little off their game during last night’s challenge, there was a reason for that, as they told me during our chat this morning. They also talked about the show’s twists, their real signature dish, and what it was like to live in the MKR bubble.

How did you really feel about Mick and Matt returning to Kitchen HQ, and the whole Comeback Kitchen series?
Chris: It was disappointing to go out at that stage, but we’re happy for Mick and Matt to come back. They’re great guys. It was a bit of a shock when it happened, but Sam and I, we’re pretty happy with where we ended up, so you can’t complain.

They had to work quite hard during the restaurant services but do you think it's comparable to the normal challenges you guys had to do?
Sam: Yeah, I think what they went through sort of equals to what we had to go through — we went to Broome and Margaret River. They got well-trained by Colin [Fassnidge] but we got to experience the better half of Australia, and see what we wouldn’t have seen before.

More from Sam and Chris when you keep reading.

Kerrie and Craig are the latest team to be eliminated from My Kitchen Rules, but just like Tuesday night’s ousted team, Ashlee and Sophia, they’ll be returning to the Comeback Kitchen round on Sunday with one last chance of entering finals week. Kerrie and Craig missed out on a spot in the top four when a few mistakes in their signature dish — bits of string left on the lamb and a runny red wine jus — meant Bondi personal trainers Luke and Scott progressed to the final round despite having undercooked fish.

On top of the drama experienced by all contestants, the Melbourne couple also had to deal with Kerrie’s collapse during the hot and stressful Broome challenge, and their daughter Danielle giving birth to her first child without them being by her side. I spoke to Kerrie this morning to find out what her kids thought about their parents being on TV, how she felt being a motherly figure to other contestants, and why she’s not a fan of the Comeback Kitchen concept.

How did doing the show impact your marriage/relationship?
It probably made it stronger, simply because we got to spend time just together, rather than — when we did have free time, that is — rather than having to come home and worry about getting dinner, or cleaning the house, or mowing the lawn. So that was fun.

I just read that your daughter went into labour while you were on the show. On top of your collapse in Broome, was there ever a point that you wanted to quit the show or thought it was too much for what you were going through?
Just that part, just Danielle having her baby and me not being able to be with her. I was really torn. To me, I would’ve rather been home with her than be in Broome, collapsing on a beach. [Laughs]

More from Kerrie when you keep reading.

On last night’s episode of My Kitchen Rules, NSW friends Ashlee and Sophia were sent packing from Kitchen HQ after losing a cook-off round to Melbourne cousins Sam and Chris. But they’re not going home just yet — they have one last chance to re-enter finals week when they cook a proper restaurant service against Mick and Matt, and rivals Angela and Melina on Sunday night.

Ashlee and Sophia have been at the centre of most MKR-related conversations due to their comments about other contestants, high confidence levels, and penchant for referring to everyone as “babes.” I spoke to Sophia this morning to see how she felt about being surrounded by the publicity, what it was like to watch the show back, how she felt about viewers' comments, and her highlights.

A lot of the publicity for the show has been focused on you and Ashlee. How did you feel about that?
We always knew it was going to be major. It’s such a loved show, and when it’s on air, it’s the highest-rating show. We had watched the previous series so we knew how big it was going to be. The fact that people have been so outspoken against us, that’s also surprising. But what can you do? Everyone’s entitled to an opinion, so you can’t really take it too seriously. At the end of the day, people obviously love the show and get very attached.

More from Sophia when you keep reading.