Victorian couple Tiffany and Giancarlo have been eliminated from My Kitchen Rules by just one point, as Simon’s strategic scoring helped NSW friends Zoe and Zac secure a place in the top five.
In the final Kitchen HQ elimination, the teams served a two-course banquet to judges Manu Feildel and Colin Fassnidge, along with their fellow contestants. Tiffany and Giancarlo finished on 26 out of 50, narrowly behind Zoe and Zac on 27.
With Angus unwell, Simon represented the South Australian mates at the tasting table and made his intentions clear: keep the team he believed would be easier to beat.
“I want to make sure that my scores are really low for Giancarlo and Tiffany to drag that average down, and for Zac and Zoe, I’m going to inflate it a bit to drag their team average up,” Simon said.
Round one’s highest-scoring team, Tiffany and Giancarlo, returned to their Italian roots with ragu and fresh tagliatelle, braciole di cotica, meatballs, focaccia and radicchio salad.
Manu praised their pasta and sauce, while Colin loved their meat choices. However, the feast needed more flavour and seasoning, and the couple’s ambitious menu left no time to start dessert before the main was served.
Determined to prove their seafood credentials, Zoe and Zac served a tower of lobster rolls, salt and pepper squid, grilled prawns, oysters, chunky chips, pear and roquette salad and tartare sauce.
Their well-cooked lobster and miso prawns impressed, but the tartare sauce fell short. Colin acknowledged the pair had listened to previous feedback and stepped up.
With only an hour to prepare dessert, Tiffany realised she had forgotten the flour in her savoiardi biscuits, leaving their strawberry tiramisu without its crucial component.
“This is an elimination cook-off, and I’ve forgotten the flour,” Tiffany said.
The judges enjoyed the cream and strawberries, but Colin was blunt about the failed biscuits: “It’s a piece of flat sugar in the cream with some strawberries.”
Zoe and Zac’s rhubarb and strawberry crumble with custard and rhubarb shards also disappointed.
The judges criticised their choice of strawberries, undercooked crumble topping and bland custard.
“Crumble is nice, but is it competition-worthy at this time in the competition?” Manu asked.
Both teams received identical dessert scores: four from Colin and three from Manu. Tiffany and Giancarlo’s main put them one point ahead on the judges’ scores, leaving the guest-team average to decide their fate.
Mary and Golden scored both teams seven. Sheridan and Ted gave Tiffany and Giancarlo five and Zoe and Zac seven, while Harrison and Oliver awarded them four and seven respectively.
Simon scored Tiffany and Giancarlo three and Zoe and Zac eight. The final guest-team averages were five for the Victorian couple and seven for the NSW friends, putting Zoe and Zac ahead by a single point overall.
“Zac and Zoe, you’re welcome,” Simon said after the result.
Tiffany and Giancarlo were devastated, but vowed to continue their food journey together.
“We’re just so sad to be out of the competition, but we’re absolutely going to continue our food dream,” Tiffany said.
Manu farewelled the couple: “Tiffany and Giancarlo, my little lovebirds, your food story together will continue. Au revoir and good luck.”
