MKR turns 10: why Manu Feildel owes Pete Evans for his job on Seven’s top-rating show

A decade on, My Kitchen Rules hosts Manu Feildel and Pete Evans are celebrating sweet success on Seven’s top-rating cooking show. But it was a near-miss for the French-born chef.

IT’S television’s best-rating bromance that almost wasn’t.

Ten years ago, when Seven was looking for a way to spoil Ten’s MasterChef party, producers went in search of the perfect cooking couple to host their new series, My Kitchen Rules.

After making it to the final audition phase as a judge on MasterChef, French-born chef Manu was back at his day job at now shuttered Paddington restaurant, L’Etoile, still smarting over the axing when he first heard about MKR.

Overlooked for MasterChef because of his thick accent, Feildel jumped at his “second chance” and agreed to try out for the secret show Seven hoped would counter Ten’s then dominant cooking competition.

“I did the [MKR] pilot and everything went well and then my agent called and said, ‘you’re off the list … one of the executives had a problem with your accent.”

Pardon the French, but you can imagine the 45-year-old was less than impressed.

Instead, the gig would go to another Sydney-based chef, Pete Evans who had begun filming — albeit awkwardly — with another female host.

Table for two ... Manu Feildel joined Pete Evans as the host of My Kitchen Rules 10 yearxs ago. Picture: Supplied

With years of TV experience on shows like Nine’s Fresh and Lifestyle hits Home and Fish under his apron strings and a thriving restaurant empire, Evans was confident enough to know the recipe wasn’t right.

“I’d been doing TV for eight years and I knew my strengths and weaknesses,” Evans tells TV Guide. “I knew I worked best in a team situation where that other person has a big, colourful character.”

So he phoned Proust and pitched his industry peer and long-time pal, Feildel … a suggestion met with laughter down the line, as the EP revealed: “that’s so funny because you took his job.”

Agreeing to the pairing, Feildel remembers walking into “Rikki’s office and telling him, ‘you’ll never regret it’ and then I just sh*t myself every single day I was there that first season.”

“My nerves were so intense, I couldn’t read a single line. I was doing it over and over and the more I was f*cking it up, the more nervous I was getting.”

He even signed himself up for elocution lessons and breathing classes to overcome his stage fright and find a way to fit the bill.

Sip sip hooray ... French-born Feildel was initially passed over as MKR host because of his accent. Picture: Tim Hunter.

The focus on his accent only added to the pressure, until Feildel recalls blowing a gasket when a contestant made the mistake of laughing at his filming fumbles.

“I remember when someone giggled at me and I just lost it. I said, ‘you want to swap jobs, because I can win that money cooking but you couldn’t do my job’ and that was it.”

The key, Evans explains, was for the duo to do what they knew best and let the rest of the production happen around them.

Feildel continues: “the first year or so, we were so serious … we were the judges and had to be respected. But then they realised I’m not that serious and let me free a little bit.”

He adds: “funnily enough, what they wanted from us in the beginning and now what they want is to be ourselves. Don’t stop making the jokes. Make your accent stronger.”

It worked, with the series going on to topple MasterChef in the ratings, win widespread industry accolades, as well as new fans in the 17 countries it now broadcasts.

Returning to mark its 10-year milestone, MKR has also elevated home cooking standards and learned to celebrate the cultural diversity of its contestants.

Hard work ... Evans and Feildel spend six months of the year filming MKR. Source: Instagram.

Feildel is especially proud of that fact: “we’ve got all different types of characters around the table, but also all these different cuisines. I think that’s what I like about it because Australia is made up of the world.”

In the new season which launches next week, contestants serve up dishes native to Peru, Colombia, Malaysia, Italy and beyond.

The decade the duo have spent together has come with ups and downs — from the constant personal attacks on ‘Paleo Pete’ to Feildel’s restaurant failings.

But their bond has been forged in adversity, Feildel says: “it’s not an easy job [filming for six months of the year] and there have been times where it’s difficult and you’re tired. But there’s much more positive than negative.”

While the MasterChef trio of Matt Preston, George Calombaris and Gary Mehigan marked their 10 years by eating their way round the world together last year, MKR’s frontmen are keeping it more simple.

“I must admit I was a bit jealous of that trip,” Feildel says, after admiring their adventures on social media, before asking his co-star “what are you getting me for our anniversary?”

Evans deadpans: “I’ll give you another 10 years.”

* My Kitchen Rules returns 7pm, Monday January 28 on Seven.

Pertect 10 ... Manu Feildel and Pete Evans celebratae Seven’s MKR milestone.