Maybe it was the raw garlic. Or the overcooked fish. Or the fact Bek and Ash got lost on their way to The Bachelor auditions, and wound up in the eighth season of MKR, trying to flirt their way to victory.
Still. You have to feel for them. Their ambitions to make it big in the food industry could be thwarted by a Google cache of headlines pitting the words WORST EVER next to their names.
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Trailer: My Kitchen Rules: Meet Tyson
Chefs Manu Feildel and Pete Evans search Australia to find the best home cooks who can successfully transform their home into instant restaurants for one pressure-cooker night.
On the upside, they are already cultivating a following on Instagram, in which they pose playfully and post pretty pictures of food. This will allow their re-invention as "influencers", including a capacity to charge astonishing fees for the promotion of "lifestyle brands".
But back to the disastrous three-course meal, which included dishes that drew a one out of 10 from both Pete and Manu. One!
What went wrong?
Even before they stepped into the kitchen, things headed south with their "music festival"-themed instant restaurant. In terms of psychological priming, this was not a wise choice. Think music festivals – think rancid portaloos, drunken vomiting and food poisoning from a dodgy taco truck.
Who's hungry?
They weren't helped by using up 80 per cent of their time driving to Fremantle and back to buy fresh fish. (I'm might be a little off on the timing, but then so are MKR's editors. Funny how everyone races to plate up in the final milliseconds, and no one has ever finished a dish with even a moment to spare.)
![Perth 'flirty flatmates' Bek, left, and Ash got the worst score ever in <i>MKR's</i> history.](/web/20170208124506im_/http://www.smh.com.au/content/dam/images/g/u/6/e/7/m/image.related.articleLeadwide.620x349.gu6e1a.png/1486351767020.jpg)
While preparing the ingredients, Bek chats about her blooming interest in fellow contestant Kyle, while summing up the ethos of third-wave feminism: "If I cook him something that's hideous, he's going to be like, 'Ew, I'm not going to marry her'."
This further fuels my suspicion that producers are feeding her lines to bait feminist websites into condemning her with invaluable publicity. I mean, this is too perfect.
!['The dream is: we go on <i>MKR</i>, we meet two single men, we win <i>MKR</i>, and then we get married': Bek has high ...](/web/20170208124506im_/http://www.smh.com.au/content/dam/images/g/u/6/e/e/6/image.related.articleLeadwide.620x349.gu6e1a.png/1486351767020.jpg)
Bek: "We live in hope we will find our dream men. The dream is we go on MKR, we meet two single men, we win MKR and then we get married ... the way to a man's heart is through his stomach, so it's a good thing we can cook."
Ash: "We've swiped left, we've swiped right, and now we've got our game faces on."
![Bek and Ash recall their disastrous dinner.](/web/20170208124506im_/http://www.smh.com.au/content/dam/images/g/u/6/e/9/6/image.related.articleLeadwide.620x349.gu6e1a.png/1486351767020.jpg)
For their first course, these "flirty flatmates" from Perth serve up a roasted vegetable tart with balsamic glaze. The pastry has shrunk in the oven, but that's soon forgotten – when Manu cops a taste of the raw garlic they've inexplicably added.
It's not that Manu is angry. Or even disappointed. He's just horrified.
![Can we just uncook this a tad?](/web/20170208124506im_/http://www.smh.com.au/content/dam/images/g/u/6/e/9/l/image.related.articleLeadwide.620x349.gu6e1a.png/1486351767020.jpg)
Raw garlic. Raw.
"It's killed your tart, big-time," he announces.
![These are not expressions you want to see on people who've just cooked your food.](/web/20170208124506im_/http://www.smh.com.au/content/dam/images/g/u/6/e/7/u/image.related.articleLeadwide.620x349.gu6e1a.png/1486351767020.jpg)
"It was just a creamy cheesy non-descript filling," Pete adds.
David and Betty, meanwhile, find their repulsion outweighed by their delight at their rivals' misfortune.
![These are not expressions you want to see on people who are judging your food.](/web/20170208124506im_/http://www.smh.com.au/content/dam/images/g/u/6/e/g/u/image.related.articleLeadwide.620x349.gu6e1a.png/1486351767020.jpg)
"It was like a smack in my face," Betty proclaimed, cursing the PG-rating that prevented a more florid attack.
Not sure I get the #BekAsh #MKR music festival theme. Maybe they make the diners stand in a long queue for the loo?
— Sue Yeap (@SueYeap) February 5, 2017
When Designated Villains Amy and Tyson were insufficiently villainous, Betty snapped. "Stop beating around the bush! If you don't like it, just say you don't like it."
Ah, David and Betty's "strategy": bagging other teams to distract from their own low score. How this might work in reality remains to be seen, but they're sticking with it, along with that annoying hashtag finger thing.
Waiting ages for mediocre food is actually very much in line with their music festival theme #BekAsh #MKR
— Matt Hustwaite (@MattyHuss) February 5, 2017
After flour-bombing the fish, Bek and Ash overcook it, then plonk it next a salad with insufficient dressing. If that weren't bad enough, they urge themselves to "face the music", then serve dinner with the expression of a doctor who must deliver a grim prognosis.
Then comes dessert: dry profiteroles with lumpy custard. (But the chocolate sauce is good.)
I really feel for #BekAsh good on you both for fighting through! @mykitchenrules #mkr
— Yvette (@gledhillpowell) February 5, 2017
Overall, their guests scored them 17 out of 50 while Manu and Pete gave them a combined total of nine (including two ones for the entree and main.)
The grand total of 26 is just one lower than David and Corinne's 27 in 2014.
"What's disappointing is that I know this isn't a reflection of our cooking abilities," Bek said.
"This is a reflection of a night that has absolutely turned to crap."
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