Is Oliver guilty of strategic crying? That’s what Angus suspects on My Kitchen Rules this week, following on from Sydney hipster mates Harrison and Oliver’s high-scoring instant restaurant, where Oliver got emotional cooking the way his Italian grandfather taught him to cook.
But Oliver just laughs off the accusation.
“If I was able to cry that well on cue, I think I would have definitely continued with acting,” he tells TV WEEK. “The connection of the food with my Nonno… it was just a lot of emotion that welled up to the surface.”
OG team Angus and Simon have been trying to stir up trouble ever since the gatecrashers arrived at the table, and Harrison and Oliver say they got sick of them constantly niggling pescatarian Zoe and her friend Zac. Harrison says he thought it was “a bit harsh” – and he thinks Angus and Simon could have been shooting themselves in the foot by doing it.
“It puts a target on their back when it’s their time to cook,” he tells TV WEEK.
This week on the show, Oliver starts singing opera to break the tension.
“I decided on the Toreador song from Carmen because it looked like Zoe and Simon were in a bullfight together,” he explains.
Bottle shop attendant Oliver, who’s appeared in “multiple musical theatre shows”, says he’d love to make another TV series with bar manager Harrison after My Kitchen Rules – and Harrison is totally up for it.
“If someone wants to watch us eat food in Italy, and [Oliver] can do some opera there, I’m happy to go along for the ride!” he laughs.
But even if Harrison and Oliver don’t get another TV gig, they have other things they’d like to do together – in the long-term, a couple of brick-and-mortar restaurants.
“Our dream is to run a little something together,” Harrison says. “It’d be fun.”
Catch My Kitchen Rules on Mondays and Tuesdays at 7.30pm on Channel Seven or on 7plus.
