There are few more testing environments for a relationship than competing on reality series My Kitchen Rules.
And for 38-year-old Melbourne mums Kim and Suong, it may just spell the end of their friendship.
“We need a break from each other and time to be ourselves,” Kim reveals to TV WEEK. “Then maybe we’ll come back together down the line.”
She says it’s been a bumpy road up to this point.
“Being on MKR really puts pressure on each other,” she says. “And it makes the friendship hard.”
The pals want time apart to refocus.
Since joining the cooking show, Kim and Suong’s time in the kitchen has been littered with fights, feuds – and even medical emergencies. Earlier in the series, Kim was removed from set by the producers due to a sudden bout of sickness.
“There’s just so much fighting,” Kim explains.
“Being together through something so stressful is difficult. We had a lot of arguments, because Suong doesn’t take my advice.”
Kim says their frequent fights about what they’d cook and how they’d cook strained their friendship.
Kim also reveals that even if they take out the My Kitchen Rules crown, along with the $250,000 prize money, the pair won’t go into business together.
“I wouldn’t go into business with Suong,” the mother-of-three declares.
“I want to open something for myself. If we went into business, it would break us.”
Fights in the kitchen became common for Kim and Suong.
Suong, meanwhile, adds Kim is a “perfectionist and very sensitive”.
“She doesn’t handle criticism well,” Suong explains. “With lack of sleep, not feeling well and the pressure, we’re sometimes not ourselves.”
The pair adds that the competitive environment has taken a toll on all the teams, but insist they are grateful of the opportunity.
“MKR is the opportunity of a lifetime,” a post on their Instagram account reads. “It is also a very tough competition and an extremely high-pressure environment.
“I’m very grateful to the competition and appreciate all my fellow contestants’ contribution to the season.”
