Former “My Kitchen Rules” contestant Mick Newell called the show a fake. The Tasmania dad, who entered the fourth series of the show with his son Matt, claimed there were some cheats the Channel Seven reality program follows, alleging that not everything viewers see on screen was accurate.

In an interview with Woman’s Day, Mick didn’t hold back in blasting the show that made him famous. He and Matt finished in third place after initially getting eliminated earlier. They were made to come back and continue their fight.

“As far as I’m concerned, at least six of the couples in my series were simply there for entertainment and knew they wouldn’t go the distance,” Mick said, explaining that they were asked to go back on Comeback Kitchen a week after they were eliminated. “It just seemed very convenient.”

The judges, Pete Evans and Manu Feildel, as well as the guest judges, didn’t come up with their own words during judging time as well. Apparently, each judge spoke whatever they were told to from the control room through an earpiece. And if they got their words wrong, they would have to re-do what they said.

The Sudden Death cook-off in Kitchen Headquarters wasn’t as high-pressured as the show would like viewers to believe, according to Mick. He claimed the large digital clock was stopped on several occasions when cameras weren’t rolling.

“I was very upset because I think it’s unfair when you’re playing for $250,000 and one team has more time to finish than the others,” he said. He further explained that the clock was stopped so both competing teams would be finished.

Culinary skills aren’t also required for the contestants because some of them “can’t even heat baked beans without spoiling them.” The show allegedly valued personality more over cooking know-how because about 90 percent of the recipes the contestants made were from books.

This isn’t the first time Mick has spoken up about the show. In 2013, right after he and his son were ousted, he lashed out at MKR for ramping up the controversies for big ratings.

While he agreed the then-villains Ashlee and Sophia were controversial, the producers decided to highlight the tricks of some of the contestants to gather strong viewers’ response even though they were children watching.

“A lot of children watch this show and I just don’t think (bad behaviour) is a good thing to have on there for them. You might get a few influenced to be like that — it’s not a good thing,” he told the Daily Telegraph then.

On Tuesday, fan favourites Eva and Debra are competing against show villains Kat and Andre at the Sudden Death cook-off. The least impressive team will be eliminated.

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