Category — Manu Feidel

Clearly Jennifer from My Kitchen Rules can multi-task. She managed to get pregnant with husband Wayne whilst filming a reality TV show. Quite frankly who would have the energy after those long days of filming, but then maybe looking at Manu Feildel and Pete Evans all day may have helped fuel the fire.

This week’s New Idea has the exclusive interview about the good news.

The baby is due in July, she is currently fifteen weeks pregnant. Jennifer 25, will be finding out the sex of the child so she can get all the designer gear for it. However she does say she just wants the baby to be healthy.

Pete Evans has had a rollercoaster last twelve months. First he split from his long term partner and mother of his children, then he found a new love in with new love Nicky Watson. Now news has emerged that there has been a bust up between the My Kitchen Rules judge and his brother and business partner Dave.

The Sunday Telegraph states:

MY KITCHEN Rules judge Pete Evans has walked out on the restaurant that made him famous following a bitter family feud with his business partner and brother, Dave.

While the celebrity chef still holds shares in the empire he built with his brother, The Sunday Telegraph can reveal the 38-year-old is no longer a “working partner” in the Hugos Group – which owns trendy Kings Cross nightspot Hugos Lounge and Hugos Bar Pizza.

It is understood their relationship has grown so tense, the high-profile brothers are no longer on speaking terms.

In other MKR news the other judge Manu Feildel is flying to Malaysia to meet his girlfriends parents. (Source: Daily Telegraph)

“For the past five years, Pete has had less and less to do with the business as he spends 10 months a year working full time on MKR and his other television and book commitments,” a Hugos Group spokeswoman said in a statement to The Sunday Telegraph.

“Due to the fact Pete is no longer a working partner, Hugos Group is in discussions on how to best move forward.”

Normally on My Kitchen Rules we see contestants in this stage of the competition cook dishes they have never tried before which is ludicrous enough, however I thought it had reached new heights when this Helen and Steve revealed they had not used the oven before as it had only been installed the previous evening. I was thinking wouldn’t you at least bake a cake to test it?

However before I castigate them too much it has been revealed today in the Herald Sun that they had not been cooking in their homes but in their brothers. In fact only four of the 12 couples cook in their own kitchens and this is because of logistics. They need to have the space for the control room and generator.

Also it appears, the kitchen and where the contestants dine has to be separate and considering the trend is open plan living this must be an issue for a lot of people who want to go on the show.

From the ads we could see Leigh and Jennifer from South Australia were being set up as the villains. Leigh looks the most surly, but Jennifer is going to get a lot of air time due to her Paris Hilton type qualities including carrying around a small dog and appearing completely vacuous. Oh and she also has the annoying habit of  sighing “yeah” alot.

However I also found Tom who is partnered with “friend” Clare to be rather arrogant. Both Clare and Tom declared they were just friends, and they don’t want anything else but I am not convinced.  For Tom to only think of Clare as a friend would go against the Ladder Theory which states that guys cannot think of girls as friends.

Steve and Helen from Sydney were the first to cook for the other teams their menu was Saganaki Prawns, Open-style moussaka served with Greek Salad, and Cypriot Pancake with vanilla icecream and walnut preserve.

Their big issue in the kitchen was they could not work the stove so the lamb shoulder for the moussaka was transfered to a frypan, but Steve finally figured out the cryptic instructions and they were able to start cooking.

Their “restaurant” was obviously a greek theme and they went the full kitschness with it including greek statues. This set up the atmosphere nicely.

However Leigh and Jennifer wanted more Greek. How they thought this could be achieved was unclear. Did they want a mini version of the acropolis as the centre piece on the table?

After the judges arrived the other “surprise” of  the mystery couple, Simon and Meg, the New Zealand team.  I dont’ know what the big deal is about having a NZ team there is more rivalry between NSW and Queensland at State of Origin time. There is no way the NZ people will win as the aussie viewers would be peeved to see the $250,000 go off shore.

Helen and Steve argued about the presentation of the entree. Steve wanted lots of sauce and  Helen was not wanting to go the rustic route. Again did these people not watch the last two seasons, Manu Feildel is always going on about how he likes lots of sauce.

Leigh and Jennifer thought it needed seasoning. Justine the truck driver from Perth snapped back there is enough salt in the cheese.

It was then revealed by the New Zealand team that they had not had Greek cuisine before as there are no Greek restaurants in New Zealand.

Ironically it was Pete Evans who complained about the lack of sauce not Manu.

The main course was Moussaka and it looked like stew on a plate, very unappetising.  Pete thought it was a good honest home cooked meal. Manu was not liking the sauce he thought it was far too reduced.

Jennifer picked on every aspect of the moussaka and then at the end said “good effort”. She also  thought the ice-cream was a bit eggy. She wasn’t going to win a popularity contest anytime soon around the dinner table.

The Army boys from Queensland, David and Scott, who appear quite droll scored them a 7, the WA girls gave a 7, Thomas and Carla  gave a 7, the New Zealand team gave a 7, but  Jennifer and Leigh gave a 6. This gave Steve and Helen a total of 34 out of 50.

The judges scored as well with Manu giving an eight for entree, a five for main, and an eight for dessert. Whereas Pete scored the entree a seven, the main a five and dessert an eight.

This came to a total of 75 which if previous seasons are anything to go by should not land them at the bottom, as usually one team totally tanks.

All the new shows are putting out promos and My Kitchen Rules is no exception. Manu Feidel and the newly single Pete Evans are back, and the big twist is this year there is a team from New Zealand.

They have the sheep baaing in the promo, let’s hope they leave the sheep jokes there, as it could get tedious. Other then that it should be an entertaining series.

My Kitchen Rules to premiere on Channel Seven at the end of January.

Quite frankly I think the reason Dinner Date has gone prime time is because of Brain Dead Dave’s recaps, and again he has written another beauty.

Over to you Brain Dead Dave:

Flamin’ hell, I’m forced to endure five minutes or so of Home And Away before “New-Dinner Date Australia” goes prime time.

Manu introduces himself( Hi I’m Manu Feel-ill) recites the cooking your way into someone’s heart philosophy of the show.

Jeremy Paul is 33 and is described as a Wallaby superstar. 72 Tests before retiring in 2007. Now he runs a small string of cafes and restaurants with a business partner in Canberra. He tells us he’s been married before and has a couple of kids but has not been on a single date for three years.

Jeremy chooses three women to meet after perusing the five menus offered.

First Date

Katie is first up, a 32 yr old blonde says she likes confidence in a man but if he’s been married before with kids-no good.

She looks great and looks well prepared with an entree of prawns with garlic,lamb cutlets on a sweet potato mash for main and a strawberry mousse with winterberries for sweets.

As Jeremy prepares for his date we see him struggling to iron his shirt then announcing thet he’s more nervous than he would be in front of 80,00 people. When he arrives bottle of plonk in hand to Katie’s place he offers to help.

Katie thinks he’s very good looking seems impressed with his running restaurants. When Jeremy confesses that he’s been married before ,Katie tells him that she’s been married too in some kind of strange ceremony in Zambia to a bloke she never saw again.

Katie’s happy to continue ,she says, in spite of his marriage history.

Meantime jeremy’s loving the entree and praises the aoli(sic?).”Done to perfection.”

We hear some Barry White crooning in the background,suggesting that things are going very well.

As main course approaches ,we see Katie stressing out about the lamb cutlets being too rare. Jeremy attempts to reassure her that he “loves” lamb like  that but Kate’s smart enough to see him blushing over the dish.

Jeremy seems to have an inexhaustible suppy of adjectives to praise the cutlets. I don’t think she believed him.

The strawberry mousse is another winner and Jeremy proclaims it ”absolutely delicious”. However there is trouble in paradise.

At the conclusion of the meal, Katie wants to kick back and relax. She gets out her guitar and begins describing the evening in song.

Jeremy’s not amused, but describes Katie’s behaviour as “very brave’ but inappropriate on a first date. He subtly suggests she’s not very competent.

Fair go,she’s cooked for you, had a few drinks and the guitar was in tune, you dead$hit She should perhaps get blind and take a dump in a hotel foyer like a touring Wallaby.

Jeremy decides to leave quickly and Katie is offended by this. She scores him 6/10.

Manu is non plussed by the guitar antics, too and he poses “What was she thinking?’ as we go  to an ad break.

Second Date

Jeremy’s next date is Jessica a nice looking 30′sh brunette who’s been divorced for 14 months. She looks for humour and intellect in a guy…these aren’t Jeremy’s strong suits at all.

Jeremy’s at home watching the Wallabies on TV, worrying that if they lose he’ll be in a bad mood for the date.Meantime Jessica has prepared a rocket and red lentil soup for entree.Main is pan fried pork loin chops with sweet potato fries. Her dessert will be some lime tarts -she’s even done a test batch earlier in the arvo.

Jessica’s nervous .She’s never been on a blind date before -or a disastrous one either. Why risk all that and go on this show?

Jessica thinks that he’s good looking but really she’s not into sport but her interest is rekindled when Jeremy announces he runs 8 cafes and 2 restaurants.She’s into cultural experiences.

Jeremy notices that she’s really nervous and she’s concerned that he’s choking on a piece of chilli in the entree. Jeremy remains stoutly complimentary.

When they both reveal they’ve been married before, Jessica is a lot more relaxed and as the pork is served she asks Jeremy what he looks for in a woman. He gives quite a non descript answer. He seems about as deep as one of the teaspoons in his cafes. Might as well go out on the balcony and look at the fireworks on Sydney Harbour.

Jessica wants to show that she’s into culture and they’re off to historic Elizabeth house.Jessica’s “tipsy” she says and shows him around before leaving him at the fire while she goes to prepare sweets. Oops ,she’s packed the practice batch instead of the finely tweaked tarts but that’s no problem because Jeremy declares them beautiful and magnificent. She likes that he’s gone for seconds.

Jessica gives Jeremy 8/10 and wouldn’t mind seeing him again.

Manu’s back going off about the tarts…did he say “lamb” tarts or”lame” tarts?

Third Date

Louise is 30 yr old (bottle?)blonde in real estate .She’s been single for two years and suggests that her biological clock is telling her to find someone soon. She likes confidence in a man.

For an entree Louise has gone the salmon roulade.Main will be a roast beef wrapped in proscuitto. How Ma$tercheffy of you. Sweets will be a chocolate pudding with a spicy chilli syrup.

Jeremy says he has high expectations of the date based on Louise’s  menu. He seems really knocked out when they meet because he loves tall blondes and he says she’s so lovely.( the first two were better imo).

Louse’s first impressions are “Wow” even though she’s never heard of him. (Neither have I…he’s just a bloke with a thick neck on a dating show to me.) He says that’s okay. They both grew up in Brisbane and she loves kids ,so his previous marriage is no concern.

Jeremy rates the salmon roulade for the skills it took to make.The compliments flow on it’s divine appearance and fabulous taste. However, when Louise asks whether he’d move from Canberra to be in a relationship he doesn’t know where to look. That’s probably a”no “,Louise. Jeremy says it’s hard to say what he’s looking for.

Louse is flirting big time,telling him he’s so good looking she can’t concentrate on the food but he loves the beef and sweet potato mash,which he claims is cooked perfectly. The touching and flirting continues.

Louise seems a little shattered that Jeremy says the only way to a man’s heart is through his stomach as she seems keen to explore other ways.

As usual,Jeremy fairly gushes with compliments about the sweets. Louise is rating Jeremy an 8 or 9 and would love to see him again. Jeremy really “liked her getting him involved’ and the flirting and pawing.

Manu returns ,telling us that Jeremy has a “toff” decion to make. Not really, Jeremy plonks for the bottle blonde Louse that looks like she’ll put out.

Jeremy takes flowers and a card to the two women he didn’t go for.(Idiot)

Jeremy rocks up at Louise’s and tells her about her good looks helping her get the chocolates and they’re off for a potentially dirty weekend at Palm Beach.

Louise is coy and says she won’t kiss and tell about Palm island.

Manu returns to gladly inform us that yes,this time a couple are keen to catch up again.he signs off with:

“When zere is luff ,zere are no boundaries”

I’m finding it hard to believe that this show is prime time.

Thank you all for the comments last week.

Again Brain Dead Dave has done a hilarious recap of Dinner Date – however his recap has got me curious to know what happened on his dates where he got blind???

The recap below:

Dinner Date begins late again with some Manu-script about the way to man’s heart being through his stomach. Off his face, three sheets to the wind,hypnotised and loaded up on Cointreau – is how readers variously described Manu’s performance last week. We need subtitles for the seemingly poleaxed Pepe le Peu’s narratives Janine is a 28 yr old brunette. Dance Teacher and disco queen by night, radiographer by day. She’s been single for eight months and says her love life has been “crazy” and “out there”.

Seafood is a favourite of Janine’s and she plonks for the menus of Justin,Rhys and Adam from the five possible suitors- inoffensive looking guys in the mid 20′s 30 range.

Justin is an adventurer /outdoors type. He does some smoke blowing about kayaking across the ditch to NZ with a mate,unsupported. Oh whatever,mate,it takes a lot more tenacity and passion to watch a season of Ma$terchef.

Justin’s got a slow roasted lamb dish with tomatoes for a main and raspberry chocolate cheesecake planned. He starts panicking about the graininess of the home made ice cream and we see him sculling a drink as

Janine’s arrival nears. As she arrives Janine admits to being apprehensive about “blind dates”. I’ve never been one one myself…plenty of dates where I got blind, but.

Janine’s is underwhelmed with Justin’s walking around in his socks. He’s pretty naïve to think that won’t matter. Women get fussy about thongs and stuff like that.

Justin tells her he’s “professional” adventurer and reruns the kayaking to NZ yarn,making me wonder exactly what goes across the ditch with them on these “adventures”.

Janine then stalks Justin into the kitchen commencing an interrogation into his love history. Bad move because the prawns are burning and the asparagus is overcooked. Janine’s hanging in the kitchen ,laughing.

Nevertheless Janine says the entree is “yummy” and they get to talking about books they’ve read. She’s impressed that Justin has read the twilight series.

The main is slow roasted lamb with blistered tomatoes on a green pea mash. Janine loves it and reckons Justin can cook,has muscles happening and handsome.

Sweets are chocolate brownies and raspberries. Justin’s faltering and freaking out about the home made ice cream but Janine’s impressed ,telling him that he’s outdone himself. She gets some leftover brownie and a mint plant and kisses him goodnight.

Justin scores her an impressive 8 out of 10 and as we go to an ad break Manu returns to champion Justin’s effort as “magnifique”

Second date Rhys Janine’s next dinner date is Rhys, a 30 yr old online sales guy. He’s been single for two years and with that Justin Bieber haircut he’s packing ,it’s no wonder..He loves the ocean,Japan and seafood and has duly “‘prepared” sushi Atlantic salmon,tempura prawns and a chocolate self saucing pudding, among other things for her dining delight.

Rhys gets off on the Japanese theme even more by tarting up in a kimono before Janine arrives .We hear the tune Turning Japanese,then Rhys opens the door and insists that Janine don a kimono as well.She’s happy to play along and Rhys reckons she’s very good looking. She isn’t too bad at all.

They ‘re enjoying the sushi and Janine starts her interrogation about why Rhys is unbelievably single etc. She doesn’t like the beard he’s sporting either.

Rhys reveals that he’s never done tempura before and it’s taking ages to do. Janine let’s him know about it with “I’m dying for it”,ruining Justin’s concentration even more.

Janine loves the main ,telling Justin he’s “superseded her expectations” before she notices a burning smell coming from the kitchen. It’s a pot of hot ,smoking oil still on the burner. Rhys takes it off and completely at his wit’s end he puts it on the floor,burning a crop circle like design into the carpet.

Manu takes us to an ad break,noting Rhys’ embarrassment.

Janine has to help with actually baking the dessert . The oven hasn’t been preheated and we hear JJCale’s After Midnight to remind us that the date is dragging on badly here. Justin spills chocolate over the kitchen floor and finally at 1.20 am the cake /pudding comes out of the oven.

Janine goes home at 1.30having still enjoyed herself,describing Rhys as funny and witty. He scores her 9/10,praing her for putting up with his stuff. Manu calls Justin’s effort “impressive” and praises him for surviving and turning the situation to his advantage.

Third date. Adam

Adam is 30 and runs a wedding car hire service. He loves his Lebanese family and lives at home in their palace. He’s built like Rocky Balboa.We see him preparing sweets, pouring some Midori over mangoes. I get a phone call here and miss several minutes.

Adam’s invite a heap of family and friends to the dinner date there’s Lebanese finger food on offer., which he’s got his Mum to prepare.

Adam’s nervousness is a major factor in proceedings.

First ,Janine tells him she’s a radiographer -he thinks that’s a DJ.

At main time,Adam can’t turn the oven on properly to cook some seafood he’s managed to put in a frypan. I thought maybe he doesn’t know how to turn it on. He lets his failure with the oven get to him and he becomes even more nervous and can’t hold any conversation at all at the table. The mango comes and goes amid the awkward atmosphere.

Janine still liked the seafood though she notes “it’s a little bit raw with the oven”.She’s a trouper and tells us she enjoyed herself but really needs ’funny” guys. Poor Adam was giggling at nothing through sheer terror.

Adam scores Janine 9/10. She’s been a good date on the three occasions, in my opinion,apart from the interrogations in the kitchen.

It’s time for Janine to choose and I really thought she’d go for the first guy Justin.

But Janine chooses Rhys, the bearded guy who I thought might have been tipsy and burned a lot of the food.

They get a weekend at Palazzo Versace on the Gold Coast. Nice place. Their dinner is interesting as Rhys has shaved his beard off with high hopes and Janine has got another Maria Venuti top out to distract him with. Rhys says he could get serious about Janine and they’ve plans to catch up..  Manu winds up with details that the two are stiiill talking about another date…but that if you’re planning to visit Rhys…”Ring ze fire Brigade”

Thanks for the comments last week. I love the pieces of music played. the producers have got a sarcastic sence of humour with their song placement.

The show moves at a fast enough pace,I don’t really get time to note what the contestants are wearing(or not wearing).

I have to be honest I have not seen the full episode as I fell asleep at the start of it.  I did notice there was a lot of twitter chat around it. Not a lot of it was positive, but then Twitter can be a bit snarky. But the plus side for Channel Seven at least people were talking about it.

Thankfully regular commenter Brain Dave Dead did see the whole thing through and here is his recap:

9.30 on Tuesday night is the time for Dinner Date, hosted by Manu. You’ve just watched Ma$terchef and The Renovators, so why not a bland,blind dating show around being a host and cooking a la maison, as Manu wouldsay, for a member of the opposite sex?

It starts with Manu explaining ze rules at ze beginning ,then the show is pretty much a bludge for him after that. Subtitles for Manu’s segments would be a plus as I struggle with his accent. The dancing chef is having a crack at playing Cupid now. Zut Alors!

The chick was a uber gorgeous Asian and she met three male suitors for dinner at their places . Unfortunately, I don’t remember the names of the contestants, or what they cooked. I don’t have IQ,so feel free to fill in any tidbits.

Uncomfortable moments,stilted conversation and train wrecks are a feature of the dinner scenes.Just how I like it.

One of the guys reacted like they’d found a turd in his bathtub when the found out the woman was a single mother. The second guy was a single Dad,he crapped out.The third guy didn’t mind so much so he won and went for a massive tonguey on the second date. His mantra was “I’m not chauvinistic,it’s just tradition” He took half the poor girl’s face off.

You’ll hear snatches of romantic hits of the past on this show and I think the producers have been canny not to have Manu overkill…it’s mostly about the dinner dolts.

Needless to say,he won…

Channel Seven thinks you cannot get enough of Manu Feildel as he will be hosting a new show called Dinner Date. It merges two reality genres, cooking and dating. Yes my eyebrows are raised.

The article in the Herald Sun states:

Playing on his cooking skills and French way with the ladies, Feildel will host Dinner Date, Seven’s new cooking-meets-dating series.

Marrying a Perfect Match set-up with our current obsession for food TV, the show introduces one single to five suitors, offering three-course menus to earn a date.

Three are chosen to cook for the lucky guy or girl, with the potential for love or indigestion. Just don’t expect Feildel to play cupid.

“I’m not naked with arrows and wings in my back … that would be cute though,” he said, laughing.

Channel Seven have had the golden touch with reality shows lately, but I must confess I will have to wait and see this before I get too excited about it.

I suspect the ladies who apply for the show will be hoping for a date with Manu rather than the single guys.

After Almost Bourdain posted these twitpics on twitter it started a twitter conversation on which one was the most delectable picture.

Which one do think looks the hottest?

And sorry male straight readers you are welcome to comment but I could not find any saucy female chef photos to add in.

I love the way TV stations are promoting their reality shows in their news programs. I am not condoning it but it does show just how popular the reality TV genre is. Channel Seven is no exception and they devoted over two minutes showcasing the contestants on the show. (see footage below)

It looks like a great cast this year, and one of my favourites before she has even done a two-step is “socialite” Brynne Edelsten. You just know she is going to give great reality TV. She is finally getting some media coverage, with a great article complete with video of her home and interview in news.com.au.

Manu Feildel is going to prove very popular when he sizzles it up with the samba, but I have to say I found the below advertisement with him dancing solo a little off putting. Not sure why as regular readers will know I am a big fan. What do you guys think?

No news of a start date yet, but rumours have been circulating it will be Sunday 8 May, and if it is like last year it will be a 6.30pm start time.

Before the show starts I will put up my form guide, rating the contestants chances.