The Real Pod assembles to dissect the week in New Zealand pop culture and real life, with special thanks to Nando’s. It’s a huge week for the almighty pod as Jeff’s eyes on Bake Off are officially not as blue as they used to be. Ploughing through another great week of reality TV, we ask more … Read more
The country’s most promising chefs of the future battled it out in the grand final of the National Secondary Schools Culinary Championship this week. Alice Neville went along to watch the action. The teenage years, so they say, are a time for experimentation, exploration and, quite often, failure. If the reminiscing of The Spinoff team … Read more
Four courses and six very famous chefs stand between our amateur cooking heroes and a $100,000 cheque. In any competition, a grand final is a magical event. You can feel it in the electric crackle of anticipation and sense it in the surrounding pomp and ceremony. The grand final of My Kitchen Rules NZ is no exception: … Read more
Calum Henderson makes some very well-informed predictions for the finale of My Kitchen Rules NZ tomorrow. Pour out a jug of rich, tasty jus for the four fallen teams of My Kitchen Rules NZ 2017: North Shore students Charlotte and Maddie, Rotorua soulmates Tash and Hera, Auckland besties Jaryd and Ben and – in a shock elimination after last … Read more
In an unexpected twist, the penultimate episode of My Kitchen Rules NZ pays homage to a classic Vince Vaughn and Owen Wilson comedy vehicle. For the first two sudden death cook-offs, MKRNZ production booked out what seemed like popular and high-end wedding venues and invited a pick’n’mix of Kiwi celebrities to help eat and judge … Read more
Jaryd and Ben take on the notorious foodie friends in a grim battle for cooking show survival. After a TVNZ 2 crossover visit to Ferndale, MKRNZ returns to Auckland for the second sudden death cook-off at posh-looking wedding venue Kelliher Estate. All the remaining contestants have arrived at the same time, leaving top-of-the-table Teal and … Read more
It’s out of the instant restaurant frying pan and into the sudden death cook-off fire – and half the Shortland Street cast has come for tea. “You’ll need to get over being starstruck very quickly,” celebrity chef judge Pete Evans warns the two pairs of chefs before they disappear into the kitchen to cook for … Read more
The demon foodies of Christchurch get brought down to size by a French celebrity chef as My Kitchen Rules NZ prepares to enter the sudden-death cook-off round. From Chris and Bex’s fortress of broken culinary dreams in Wanaka we head up country, to Christchurch, for the final instant restaurant of MKRNZ 2017. Lying in wait … Read more
This week on My Kitchen Rules NZ, Chris and Bex learn you can lead ten amateur foodies to Wanaka for tea, but you can’t make them like it. From Charlotte and Maddie’s al fresco kitchen nightmare in Auckland, we head south, to Wanaka, for the penultimate instant restaurant of MKRNZ ’17. Hosts Chris and Bex … Read more
The youngest contestants in My Kitchen Rules NZ history write the weirdest menu in My Kitchen Rules NZ history, and poor old Pete Evans has to read it out loud. From Teal and Sophie’s Wellington stately mansion we return to Auckland this week for Charlotte and Maddie’s instant restaurant ‘Fresh’. The show’s youngest contestants have … Read more
They’re renowned hairdressers and A+ reality TV talent, but are Wellington couple Teal and Sophie any good at cooking? This week on My Kitchen Rules NZ, we find out. From Jaryd and Ben’s art deco-inspired Auckland instant restaurant we head to Wellington for the third meal of the series at Teal and Sophie’s Wellington… mansion? … Read more
A Johnny Depp lookalike, a Tourism Wanaka ambassador and ‘Paleo’ Pete Evans walk into a Great Gatsby-themed dining room in suburban Auckland. From Tash and Hera’s place in Rotorua we go to Auckland for the second of six instant restaurants: the curiously-named ‘Manhatten 667’. Manhatten seemingly a misspelling of the New York City borough Manhattan; 667 one digit higher … Read more
Calum Henderson watches the revamped My Kitchen Rules NZ, with shiny new judges and shady new contestants. By now we should all understand the basic rules of reality television, especially the one that dictates every series must portray at least one team or contestant as being the embodiment of pure evil. Deep in our heart … Read more
Have you ever prepared a meal so gluttonous, so shameful, so grotesque that you’ve had to take a cold hard look at yourself in the mirror and ask ‘what would Pete and Manu think?’ Alex Casey was able to ask them IRL. Just as you shouldn’t look at a solar eclipse without special glasses, I’d … Read more
With the latest season of My Kitchen Rules NZ enlisting international heavyweight judges Pete and Manu, Alex Casey finds another celebrity lurking in the contestant line-up. Let’s be honest: it’s been a really huge couple of days for New Zealand celebrity lookalikes everywhere. Mr Bean had a killer time at the rugby. Ryan Gosling did … Read more
Alex Casey has watched and ranked every episode of My Kitchen Rules NZ this year, and for what? She shares some vital lessons learned from the show including what not to feed rugby players, and how to avoid being too much of a JAFA. We have come to the end of another exhausting MKRNZ journey, … Read more
Alex Casey delivers her contestant power rankings for week eight on My Kitchen Rules NZ. This week, we farewell the face of Nando’s and Ali G comes to kitchen HQ. A dark cloud has come over me. It is shaped like a Nando’s chicken wing, and has been raining down stinging tears of peri peri sauce … Read more
Alex Casey delivers her contestant power rankings for week five on My Kitchen Rules NZ. This week: jelly meat is on the menu and Simon courts a panna cotta. Sorry about the delay, what a bloody week it’s been. Sister week! The ultimate showdown between Manawatu and Auckland. Kimberley and Brooke vs Katrina and Natasha, … Read more
Alex Casey delivers her power rankings for week three of My Kitchen Rules NZ, including Paul and Laurence’s sad departure and a rare possum solution from Kimberley and Brooke. I can’t believe we’ve already lost New Zealand’s sweethearts Paul and Laurence. Despite Paul whipping out his finest horse impression, it wasn’t enough to keep our … Read more
Alex Casey delivers her power rankings for week two of MKRNZ, including Laurence’s new character ‘Stace’ and the worst restaurant theme television has ever seen. We’re in week two and I’m just so glad that we are all becoming friends. The contestants are letting their guards down, warming up to each other and repeatedly touching … Read more
Alex Casey’s first power rankings for the new season of My Kitchen Rules NZ, including Pete Evans’ tan and Paul’s extraordinary cow art. The best cooking show in the world is back and I couldn’t be happier. Last year I broke my brain recapping every single episode of My Kitchen Rules New Zealand, which you … Read more