Dan and Steph Mulheron slam new format of My Kitchen Rules

A former winning couple of cooking TV show My Kitchen Rules say the new fast-tracked race to the cash prize is in stark comparison to the hard-fought competition past contestants have endured.

Popular My Kitchen Rules winners Dan and Steph Mulheron have called out the strange, rushed format of the show’s new season.

The Hervey Bay power couple, who garnered a massive following in their original season as down-to-earth Queenslanders trying to win funds to help in their IVF battle, also returned to the show for the MKR Rivals season.

As the final of this latest season aired on Tuesday night, the pair described the new format of the program as “bonkers”.

Dan and Steph Mulheron who have produced a book called Box Sets

“It’s been like three weeks,” the post on their social media page Dane, Steph + Emmy read.

“There’s been teams that have cooked once.”

In comparison, by the time they reached the grand final in their original season, Dan and Steph were cooking three times a day to remain in the competition, according to a post from the former contestants.

The Mulherons, who took out the prize and have since welcomed daughter Emmy, now in primary school, discussed the new format on their podcast, with their friend and former MKR rival Elle Harrison also featuring on the episode.

“They’ve really shortened the whole series down,” Elle said during the podcast.

“I think we had 49 episodes didn’t we?” Steph replied.

“It took us like six months.”

Elle said the format had changed considerably even between their first season in 2013 and 2020, when the pairs faced off again in My Kitchen Rules: The Rivals, which the Harrisons won.

She said while the latter had felt very “make or break”, it didn’t have the same gut feeling as the first season.

In the struggle for ratings, the show, which has gone head-to-head with Nine’s The Block and Channel 10’s Masked Singer, has been cut down to a three-week whirlwind and will soon be replaced by A Farmer Wants a Wife.

British home-cooking queen Nigella Lawson was a highlight when this season started, attending the first round of home visits with sauce-living Frenchman Manu Feildel.

MKR winners Dan and Steph Mulheron.

By the second round however, she had jetted back to the UK with her seat taken up by renowned food critic and former MasterChef judge Matt Preston.

His former MasterChef colleague Gary Mehigan also made an appearance in an episode this week alongside Curtis Stone.

Rather than take place in a series of on and offsite challenges, as seen in previous years, the contestants have only had to cook a three-course meal in the first round before being thrust straight into last leg of the competition with the winners of the first two rounds fast-tracked to the finals and the remaining pairs battling it out in the semis to join them.

Dan and Steph Mulheron with their special Nanaimo bars made with Kingaroy peanuts.

The grand finalist pairs Janelle and Monzir, and Kate and Mary have only cooked once in their hometown rounds and then twice (two-course then three) and once more (three-course) respectively.

The winners of tonight’s grand final will take home $100k for their efforts – the same prize money offered in the MKR Rivals season.

Channel 7 was contacted for comment but had not responded at the time of publishing.