This show has degenerated since its inception. The show ostensibly is about contestants cooking skills being judged over several weeks and a winner named. However, now it is just the soap opera style dramatics of the interactions between the contestants.

When will it end. It's been going for almost 6 months

I've always loathed reality television for many reasons but the one big gripe I have with the genre is that it's all scripted, there is no prize money (it's just a work) and the contests are pre-determined and rigged.I live in Canada and a new channel added here called Gusto airs all the seasons of My Kitchen Rules. MKR is Australia's most popular television program and I decided to see if Australian reality television might be better than the shoddy American ones. Well, after 40 or so episodes it's a tiny bit better but it's still the same malarkey you will find elsewhere.The only positives I can give the show are:1. Australians are a much more laid back and easy going group of people unlike the Americans, British and Canadians. They are more tolerable to put up with on a program like this.2. At least here in Canada, the swear words are not bleeped and they use R-rated language.3. There is no audience of screamers until the final episode where the eliminated and the finalist's families are in "Kitchen Headquarters".4. The people they use are real and not a bunch of actors. Tresne Middleton is actually a real estate agent, for example.It is clear that every second of the show is scripted. Not one single amount of true emotion is shown. All reality T.V. is scripted but this show is blatant in that regard.It's also droll how they have to call them Bree & Jessica or Helena & Vikki at all times. No changing of their title whatsoever is allowed. Why not an occasional Kelly and Chloe? Mr. Evans and Mr. Feildel must stand/sit right next to each other 95% of the time. It's clear that every moment is scripted by the producers. They just pull numbers and opinions out of their butt. I love how they constantly need to repeat the names of the dishes they are cooking, the endless talking head segments that who knows when they were filmed (before or after?) and lots of scripted events. It's never a smooth ride for these people.I also love how the camera always captures those moments, it's always there at the right time. A good one was with the aforementioned Ms. Middleton. She was doing a lunch truck challenge and one of the guest judges (Colin Fassnidge) criticized her cooking technique. She then went over to her partner Carly Saunders to be consoled and the camera "catches" her being hugged and then giving somebody that stare. You know when a kid is upset and runs to her mother and then she looks at the person or animal that hurt her? That stare.I love the centipede of cars for the "visits" of contestant's homes, the fake emotions of certain contestants, the forced trash talk and the constant editing. BAM BAM BAM with the visuals. I love how this show gets all those plants to show up at the end of the time limit as if they were waiting in buses or something. The school was realistic but I find it hard to believe in reality that they could find enough grown adults to show up at these lunch truck and restaurant challenges.Of course, after season 5 all the allegations came out. I'm not surprised about the faked home visits. We don't want groupies taking pictures so all of these "homes" were in undisclosed locations and the dinners took place at 6 in the morning. The other facts (some of these contestants were trained prior to taping at a school, they were told what to cook, other chefs created meals, etc.) just takes away from the real reason I watched the show, like how many cases of food poisoning or how many blue band-aids would I see.Anyway, I'm sure Australia will still watch in droves come Season 6. I won't. Sad thing is, I did have one more reason to watch: they have some beautiful women in that country. Oh well, the sacrifices I make...

Okay, yet ANOTHER TV Show from Australia that panders to the lowest common denominator. This is a show that is pretty much the same thing as dozens of other shows out there (probably because the seasons of one show are run in between another so fans can say they have something to do). What makes this as bad as I say? Well I'm glad you asked.The show is basically a cooking show... No not how you can cook something, then I might see something I can see people enjoying in it. But a contest where you have people that people can get behind and the villains (I'll get to them later because I have a lot to say) They are judged by the food equivalent of CinemaSins (You know, those guys that pick apart EVERYTHING as opposed to just enjoying what they like) They continue cooking dishes and then win the contest.Okay the biggest complaint is the villains. The villains in an episode of The Secret World Of Alex Mack seem subtle compared to this, and that was a Nickelodeon show made in the mid 90's (At least they have more defined characters). I have even seen articles out from the people they were making out were bad guys talking about how everything was either edited together to show very different reactions to things instead of their actual reactions, or have stuff taken out of context among other stuff and the people who watch this show will remember them like that and have the reputations of the "villains" destroyed.Okay, here's the thing - you want to make a show that is pretty much a contest of people cooking and living up to their lifelong dreams - Okay it doesn't sound like my sort of thing. Want to portray people in an overly competitive nature? That's fine but DO IT AS AN ADULT! Not in such a manipulative way that portrays people being the contest as demonic.The emotional manipulation of this show is beyond pathetic. Every single time they want you to feel something they don't just, I don't know - have the viewers feel it for themselves. They put in emotional manipulation, If they want you to feel sad they play sad music and the same thing happens with EVERYTHING ELSE. Maybe not music bu usually some form of editing the sound is in this show to force the viewer to feel the emotion they want you to feel. Something like... A dish the cooks made falls over due to an accident - Couldn't that alone make people feel something if they were invested? I mean if you DON'T put in any sad music over it and just show that their dreams might not be fulfilled.So this is pretty much "reality" crap. This is the last reality show or contest show I'm going to review, I don't know why I watch something that was made just to go cheap on never hiring actors or writers that has somehow turned into the dumbest of all fads, I hope it dies out. Unless you want the most contrived, forced and manipulative thing ever to hit Australian television then stay away from this one. If you read into it, there will be something that tells you how much they do manipulate and fabricate.