My Kitchen Rules gatecrashers Angelina and Melina slammed by rivals

AFTER last night's first gatecrashers episode on MKR it became clear that spite was on the menu.

MKR gatecrashers

MKR fans have known for weeks that the gatecrashers were coming to stir things up, but little was revealed until last night's episode when it became clear that spite was on the menu.

With three new pairs of fierce contestants being introduced to light a fire under the bottom three teams, rivalry reached boiling point.

The first crashers, 'Real Housewives’ Angela and Melina, were put to the test in their instant restaurant, Bella Mumma, playing on their Italian heritage with a series of dishes inspired by their 'nonnas'.

But the dynamic duo from Victoria was slammed by their guests for their first cooking attempt.

Childhood besties Ashlee and Sophia - who rattled some cages before the episode even aired with their ruthless "tell it like it is" approach - referred to their entree as "tacky and boring", and their main as "nonsensical".

Other teams bagged almost every element of the girls' cooking, from their gluey mashed potato to their "omelette tasting" cake.

Ex-MKR contestant Sammy Jakubiak says that there is definitely a fair amount of strategy involved in the voting.

"People want to be strategic, they're being a lot more harsh, not letting things slide, really taking off points where they can", she tells news.com.au.

"Some are looking for an excuse, they're nitpicking... looking for the small things" the 2011 winner admits.

"I think this year they’ve definitely got the characters in there. Everyone is obviously very competitive; everyone thinks they know what's best".

Fans took to Twitter during the episode to weigh in on the crashers.

"The girls from NSW Have been on TV for 2 seconds I can already sense I'm not going to get on with them (sic)", @MsCaseyro tweeted.

"I am actually loving Ashlee & Sophia. Its as if they know they are being obnoxious and it's entertaining! Go NSW", @Cookie1511 said.

"I'm confused, are the gatecrashers asked to be deliberately painful?" @bizzylizzycooks asked.

The Real Housewives were given a dismal 18 out of 50 as their final score from the guest teams, while the judges handed them a modest 32 out of 60, with Manu even using "the P word" (perfection) to describe their beef cheeks. 

The resident teams - Lisa and Stefano, Ali and Samuel, and Dan and Steph - were even more brutal in their scoring than the crashers, with Lisa and Stefano giving them just 1 out of 10.

"Teams are looking for anything they can pick on so that they can score low because no one wants to go home" Pete Evans said after the votes were announced.

While we know that the newcomers would have been given the word to play hard, it's clear that strategic voting has taken a nasty turn in the MKR house with the quality of the cooking playing second fiddle to the tit for tat nature of the comp.

The Channel Seven ratings hit grabbed a whopping 1,978,000 million viewers last night but will fans begin to feel as though the dog-eat-dog concept has been pushed too far?

One thing is for sure, the bar has been set. Dan and Steph face the critical crowd tonight, will they crumble under the pressure? 

@lottiewillis