Away from cameras, My Kitchen Rules hosts Pete Evans and Manu Fieldel have had to speak to Broome bad boy Josh about his behaviour towards wife Amy, warning that their marriage was more important than the show.
The couple's feuding reached a pinnacle on Tuesday night's episode when Amy walked off on Josh to stand in a corner to watch the Sudden Death elimination between Mell and Cyn and Court and Duncan in peace.
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MKR: 'She married a douche'
A firey ongoing battle of words between Josh and Courtney make for compelling viewing, while contestants express pity for Josh's wife Amy on My Kitchen Rules. Vision courtesy Channel Seven
It all began with Josh attacking his favourite arch nemesis Court, which appeared to get personal since it was edited out, with Della and Tully seen shaking their heads and sighing ("Oh my gosh!").
"From a competition perspective, I would like to see Court and Duncan stay in the competition so we can verse them in Sudden Death because that's what Court wants," said Josh to a tight-lipped, angry Amy.
While the microphones focused on Tully explaining to Josh that the Melbourne hipsters did not want to face any Sudden Death "end of story", Amy is seen scolding Josh and eventually gives him the finger.
"Josh, stop it," Amy tells her grinning husband, who can't take the hint, even from the death stares of Queensland siblings Tyson and Amy. "Josh, I'm out of here. I'm going to sit backstage. So annoying."
"Court and Duncan were having a field day standing [here], watching us cooking that crab. It's payback," says an unrelenting Josh. "I'm just saying how it is. The only person who's actually doing that."
But the surrounding women were not going to accept that from Josh, with Court observing from the Sudden Death kitchen: "On the sidelines, basically all of the girls and Amy were fighting with Josh."
![Josh's words are falling on angry ears, with Amy growing more tight-lipped at her husband's attacks on MKR.](/web/20170322142413im_/http://www.watoday.com.au/content/dam/images/g/v/3/d/0/l/image.related.articleLeadwide.620x349.gv2ydn.png/1490124313589.jpg)
"If you're wife's not standing here, you're doing something wrong. Otherwise she'd be backing you, so you need to stop it," Della tells Josh, as Amy continues to watch alone from a corner. "I really don't want to stand next to him," Della adds as she trades places in the gallery.
"I feel sorry for Amy, I always feeling f--ing sorry for Amy. She married a douche," Court tells the cameras.
!['So polarising': Della and Tully get pushed to their limits by Josh on MKR.](/web/20170322142413im_/http://www.watoday.com.au/content/dam/images/g/v/3/d/5/l/image.related.articleLeadwide.620x349.gv2ydn.png/1490124313589.jpg)
"Babe I promise I won't say anything beside food," Josh tries reconciling with an unimpressed Amy ("You can't help yourself. You just always have to bark back."). "OK well I'm sorry."
"Josh is an arsehole and I tell you if we get eliminated before he does than I'll be devastated," said the usually up-beat midwife Karen. "He needs to look after his wife, and he needs to respect her."
![Amy tries to shut Josh up as his grating comments gets on everyone's nerves.](/web/20170322142413im_/http://www.watoday.com.au/content/dam/images/g/v/3/d/5/7/image.related.articleLeadwide.620x349.gv2ydn.png/1490124313589.jpg)
For viewers, it's a common belief that verbal tiffs between Josh and his fellow contestants could have been ramped up during the editing process. But it's understood that the war of words actually got played down by producers during final edits.
"Josh has been edited kindly. They've cut out the worst... he's a lucky boy," Courts told Fairfax Media after a pervious showdown between the pair.
![Amy storms off on Josh after his attacks on Courts and Duncan became too much on MKR.](/web/20170322142413im_/http://www.watoday.com.au/content/dam/images/g/v/3/d/4/y/image.related.articleLeadwide.620x349.gv2ydn.png/1490178302127.jpg)
Even during the Coles sauce challenge, 26-year-old Amy shocked one elderly shopper by telling her 25-year-old husband to "F--- off" after his constant niggling at her became too much.
Josh told New Idea at the start of the year (published this week) that they went through their "ups and downs" on the show, and the pressure "brought out the worst in me".
![Unrelenting: Josh gets a telling off from the women on MKR about his behaviour.](/web/20170322142413im_/http://www.watoday.com.au/content/dam/images/g/v/3/d/2/w/image.related.articleLeadwide.620x349.gv2ydn.png/1490124313589.jpg)
"It got the better of me a couple of times," he told the magazine. "Even Pete and Manu had a chat with me at one stage and said: 'You have to realise the show is a small part of your life, but you have a whole marriage together'."
A Seven spokesperson confirmed that Pete and Manu had an off-camera private conversation with Josh, "as they often do with all contestants throughout the course of the series, for any number of reasons".
![Unimpressed: Amy and Tyson don't have much time for Josh either.](/web/20170322142413im_/http://www.watoday.com.au/content/dam/images/g/v/3/d/5/e/image.related.articleLeadwide.620x349.gv2ydn.png/1490124313589.jpg)
Woah..even #KarenRos have had enough Josh #MKR pic.twitter.com/zSiO4MI6RA
— #MKR (@mykitchenrules) March 21, 2017
Josh has since gone to ground despite earlier telling OK! magazine, "No matter how Australia reacts, I look forward to it. No regrets".
The couple, who have been married for two years and living in Western Australia's seaside town of Broome, where Josh works as a deckhand and Amy as a relief teacher, has survived the show but admitted it was "touch and go".
"If you last through it, which we have now, it just makes you stronger and you know a lot more about each other," Josh told OK!. To which Amy agreed: "It's definitely an emotional rollercoaster. It's probably one of the biggest challenges I've ever had."
"I just wanted to be there for the food and if it veered away from that, then I would get really thrown off," Amy added.
Josh are you relating to a pressure cooker?#MKR #JoshAmy pic.twitter.com/upCspseutH
— #MKR (@mykitchenrules) March 21, 2017
Josh's fiery temper wasn't limited to the show, with Courts revealing that their feud continued off air on a Whatsapp group.
This season's MKR contestants set up a group chat on Whatsapp in order to stay in touch when filming wrapped, however people began opting out of the chat after the self-proclaimed 'Seafood King' began mocking those booted off the top-rating reality show.
"That's the sort of online bullshit I'd expect in high school," Court said. "So I contact people one-on-one, but I'm not interested in the group's [online] dynamic anymore."
Josh is quick to forget the pressure of sudden death and pounce on a weakness pic.twitter.com/UKYwbNSJHB
— #MKR (@mykitchenrules) March 21, 2017
Unfortunately for Josh, Court and Duncan survived the Sudden Death elimination breezing through ("You've set the new bench mark in Sudden Deaths"), with high praise from the judges and a score of 50 out of 60. They sent Mell and Cyn home on 34/60 for their "technically flawed" menu.
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