It was bright and early when I rang Manu Feildel and Colin Fassnidge to interview them about the upcoming new season of My Kitchen Rules (MKR).
Manu answered promptly and we chatted briefly before Colin clicked on, maybe a minute or so later.
“He’s always late,” Manu told me.
“I was in bed, I didn’t even know we had this,” Colin said.
“You need to read your emails, mate. He doesn’t read emails,” Manu quipped.
The pair dissolved into laughter and two things were instantly clear: Manu and Colin are truly good friends, and I was in for a fun interview.
Manu has been a host and judge on My Kitchen Rules since its inception in 2010. Whereas Colin first appeared on My Kitchen Rules as a guest judge in 2013.
He then continued to guest judge on the show for the last ten years… But this year, the Irish chef will now be Manu’s co-host and co-judge.
And I’m willing to bet before the new season premieres on September 4 on Channel 7 and 7Plus that Manu and Colin as co-hosts/co-judges will be a match made in heaven.
“Nothing,” Manu joked when I asked what he liked best about working with Colin on this year’s MKR.
After all three of us chuckled, Colin answered instead.
“I’ll be professional. Look, we hang out as friends outside of work; we really just hang out as friends. So, at work, we just had a good time.”
It sounds like Manu and Colin weren’t the only ones having a ‘good time’ on the 2023 My Kitchen Rules set though; according to Colin, he and Manu gave out multiple high scores to this year’s contestants.
“This year, there were so many highs; like there were so many tens this season. People were just knocking it out of the park.”
“Usually at the beginning of the competition, we can see who will go to the end but this year, it was tougher to choose,” Manu echoed.
The duo even struggled to answer which team viewers should take note of when this season airs.
“Every team cooks well. They all talk a great game but actually, most of them are backing it up this year,” Colin said before adding:
“Radha and Prabha’s food was really good. Just the spicing of the food was amazing.”
The conversation then organically moved to previous seasons of My Kitchen Rules; Manu reminisced about how despite him typically teaching the contestants, some have instead taught him.
“That’s what’s great about our industry; it doesn’t matter how long you’ve been cooking or how old you are or who’s cooking for you, you always learn something. And there have been many times where I’ve used a recipe [that I learnt] from a contestant.”
Colin agreed and shared, “There was once a team that made this consommé, this mushroom consommé and they seasoned it with soy sauce. But it wasn’t an Asian dish, so I thought, ‘Oh that’s very clever –’”
“And now you put soy sauce in everything,” Manu interjected before they both started laughing again.
The brotherly bond Manu and Colin have is infectious; I couldn’t help but laugh with them every time they playfully teased one another.
In fact, I had to really compose myself after the following hilarious exchange:
Colin: “Every time Frenchie [Manu] comes over for dinner, I make this green sauce; [it’s] beautiful. But he complains every time I give it to him.”
Manu: “It’s a really nice sauce. But it’s always the same sauce!”
After I managed to stop laughing, I asked, “Speaking of sauce, Manu, your catchphrase on MKR is ‘Where’s the sauce?’ Do you have a favourite sauce?”
“No, I don’t… Actually, the green sauce is my favourite.”
We all laughed once more.
Near the end of the interview – and obviously after many, many laughs – I asked Manu and Colin to share what their favourite moment of filming My Kitchen Rules 2023 was.
A jokester to a fault, Manu replied, “When Colin cried. It was lovely.”
Colin on the other hand shared a surprising tidbit: that Nigella Lawson – who will also appear on this year’s My Kitchen Rules – is his celebrity crush.
“Mine was when I was filming with Nigella. Because I haven’t filmed with Nigella before but I’ve always had a huge crush on her. And you know, they say don’t meet your hero. But I got to meet one of my heroes, and she was talking and I was just standing there beside her with my mouth open, staring at her. And then Manu, once we’d stopped filming, pointed it out [laughs].
“She just says stuff. Like the words, I don’t even know where they come from; she’s like a dictionary. And just the way she puts words together, it’s like, ‘Oh my God.’ She’s just a great person to hang out with.”
The new season of My Kitchen Rules premieres on Channel 7 and 7Plus at 7.30pm on September 4.
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