My Kitchen Rules SA:
Farewell food dudes! Rein and Rowan bow out of the competition
In tonight’s nail-biting episode of My Kitchen Rules SA, food dudes Rein and Rowan were eliminated from the competition after the second People’s Choice challenge of the series. The water polo buddies came last in a Street Food challenge that had no second chances, as the judges revealed that the least impressive team would immediately be sent home.
Taking the contestants straight out of their comfort zones, each team was tasked by judges J’Something and David Higgs with drawing various international flags out of a hat. Whichever country they pulled would determine the cuisine that they had to cook. To add to the pressure, they would be feeding 150 guests, comprising local foodies and students from some of Johannesburg’s top chef schools, and would only have 90 minutes to prepare their best Street Food offerings.
While Rein and Rowan picked Mexico City, Lani and Louzel pulled Hanoi and Bloem Besties Liz and Leanne chose Madrid. Jamandi and Machiel picked Berlin, Meat Guys OG and G chose Beijing, Charnell and Kerry drew New York and Brent and Andrew picked Istanbul. Each member of the public was assigned one voting token with which they could vote for their favourite dish of the day once they’d sampled a taste from each beautifully decorated stall.
In the end, it was mother-and-daughter duo from Cradock, Lani and Louzel, who won the People’s Choice challenge with their “Bun Cha” of grilled pork with rice noodles and a sweet and sour dipping sauce. Even though Louzel had recently visited Vietnam on her honeymoon and loved the flavours that came with the Vietnamese cuisine, she and her mother both noted that “this kind of cooking is a far cry from our traditional, farm-style repertoire!”
Unfortunately for Rein and Rowan from Krugersdorp, while their “cheeky chicken tortillas” with chipotle mayo and black bean and corn salsa looked vibrant on the plate, their dish did not deliver in the flavour department. “I dug into my serving and the heat from the chillies was so overpowering, but then David noted that he had no heat at all in his dish,” a disappointed J’Something told the guys. “The key to a challenge like this is consistency, and unfortunately you just didn’t have any today,” he concluded. With that, Rein and Rowan left the kitchen, but as always on a light note. “My Mum is going to be so disappointed!” Rowan joked as they exited MKR Kitchen HQ for the last time.
As the winners of this challenge, the flabbergasted Lani and Louzel won themselves a huge advantage in the next challenge of the competition. They won’t be safe from elimination, but one aspect of the challenge will be made significantly easier for them…
My Kitchen Rules SA is broadcast on M-Net channel 101 every Sunday night at 18:00. Viewers can also visit www.mnet.tv/mkr to watch exclusive interviews with the judges and contestants, meet the new group of five couples and follow all the breaking news and conversations around the show on Twitter @MNet / #MKRSA or on the official M-Net Facebook page.
