Ibby and Romel are set to apologise this week over the strategic scoring scandal.
Last week, the teams in Group 2 were left dumbfounded when Anne and Jennifer were eliminated – all because of Ibby and Romel’s low scores. This week, the pair apologise for their actions.
“There were definitely some upset people around the table,” Romel, 42, tells TV WEEK. “We felt that if we didn’t own what we’d done, there would be resentment.”
Ibby and Romel are NOT sorry for their strategic voting.
Group 2’s Victor applauds the apology.
“Obviously, the damage was done and Anne and Jennifer suffered the consequences,” he says. “But it was big and noble for them to do that on television and in front of everybody.”
But did Ibby and Romel genuinely regret their scoring strategy?
“At the time we did,” Romel explains. “But having watched the episodes now, no.”
In fact, Romel says he thinks other teams quietly adopted similar scoring tactics.
“[But] nobody else owned up to it,” he adds. “Ibby and I did. We’re two honest guys.”
Romel says they were the only team who owned up to strategic scoring.
Romel has plenty of fans on Twitter ready to back him up on this point, with many pointing out that Ibby and Romel are not the first contestants to score strategically or to give out lower than deserved scores… they were just more obvious about it.
“I seem to recall Pat & Bianca being prepared to vote strategically to keep themselves out of the bottom two in their instant restaurant round,” pointed out one viewer.
“Ibby and Romel are being roasted for strategically scoring OPENLY. Everyone else just does it and doesn’t say anything about it,” wrote another.
The drama is sure to continue as MKR does this week!
My Kitchen Rules airs Monday to Wednesday, 7.30pm, and Sunday, 7pm, on Channel Seven.
