Colin Fassnidge roasted after his first ‘terrible’ two episodes on My Kitchen Rules

CHEF Colin Fassnidge admits he was terrible in his first two episodes of Seven’s My Kitchen Rules and he was roasted by the producer.

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CHEF Colin Fassnidge has revealed that he nearly got sacked after two episodes of My Kitchen Rules.

The Irish-born restaurateur, who has been a judge on the Channel 7 cooking show since 2013’s fourth season, admits that he wasn’t much good at first.

That led to a roasting by the show’s executive producer Rikki Proost who wasn’t afraid to tell Fassnidge that he needed to lift his game or face the axe.

MKR judges Colin Fassnidge, Pete Evans, and Manu Feildel. Picture: Jonathan Ng

“I went in to My Kitchen Rules very blasé about it, thinking it was easy and after the second episode I did, Rikki told me I wasn’t very good and I was about to be evicted myself,” Fassnidge says.

“I got a serious wake-up call. It is not a nice feeling being told you’re not very good at something and you’ve got 150 crew also listening to that.

“There are not a lot of times in my life (that has happened). I’m good at what I do in the kitchen (of Fassnidge’s 4Fourteen restaurant) and nobody tells me I’m not good because I own the joint.

Colin Fassnidge says he is never told off at his restaurant as he owns it. Pic Channel 7

“But when someone else is your boss and they tell you you’re not very good — it was a new experience for me.

“I didn’t realise how big a job they had given me. I wasn’t being myself. I was trying to be someone else. I was over-thinking everything.

“I was terrible. I was scowling all the time. I was trying to construct what way to talk. I didn’t think people would want to hear the way I speak. Now I just say what I want.”

Fassnidge says that Proost’s dressing down included advice to “be yourself” — to show more of his natural personality.

Judges Colin Fassnidge and Darren Robertson at Lama & Sarah’s instant restaurant on MKR. Picture: Channel 7

Something clicked because Fassnidge, who is judging Group 3 instant restaurants with Darren Robertson, is an integral part of the show.

“The enormity of what we do now has hit me — I take it a lot more serious these days,” Fassnidge says.

“When I go to the supermarket to get Cornflakes I get stopped by 20 people talking about the show.

“I took my kids to swimming lessons the other day and this little girl swam up to me to talk about a recipe.

“You’re in a lot of people’s lives and you’ve got to respect that.

“You’ve got to get knocked down to come back. If Rikki hadn’t absolutely destroyed me I wouldn’t have been any good. I wouldn’t have been back.

“The third episode I came good. I watched the first two and then the third one and said “lucky you came back or you would have been unemployed.”

WATCH My Kitchen Rules, Seven, Sunday, 7pm, Monday to Wednesday, 7.30pm

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