Has there ever been a My Kitchen Rules team that’s stirred up as much trouble as quickly as home-schooled brothers Josh and Austin?
From the very first Instant Restaurant, fireworks erupt as Josh, 25, declares that his initial impression of Karito and Ibby was that they’re Ian and Romel’s “mail-order brides”. He then goes on to describe Ruby and Andy as “the plastic chick with the friend you brought along to make yourself look prettier”.
Unsurprisingly, his comments don’t go down well with his fellow diners.
“They need to learn when to just keep their mouths shut,” Blake, 32, tells TV WEEK. “I think that’s something they didn’t learn by being home-schooled.”
Josh and Austin’s comments did not go down well with other contestants.
As for Romel, 42, he says he gave as good as he got, and that a lot of the time he found the straight-talking siblings “quite funny”. But not always.
“I had moments where I just wanted to jump over the table and strangle them,” he admits.
Josh says a lot of people came on the show looking for friends, “like it was high school or something”.
“Austin and I came in with the mentality of, ‘This is a competition and we’re going to do every single thing in our power to win,'” he says. “That meant segregating ourselves from everyone.”
Romel (right) was not impressed by the comments.
It doesn’t take long for the other teams to suspect the brothers are paid actors.
“I’m like, ‘This is fake, it’s got to be scripted,'” Blake remembers. “It was very tongue-in-cheek when I said it. It was funny, because a few people thought the same thing.”
Josh and Austin admit they played along with the idea that they were actors and tried to make the others think they were working from a script. They would even leave the room together and come back whispering.
“We would mess with them,” Austin, 22, says of their tactics on the show.
Austin says he would “mess” with the other contestants.
As for Josh’s controversial remarks, he tells TV WEEK he only has one regret: the comment about Andy’s looks.
“I was like, ‘Hang on a second. No, you’re not ugly – that was just harsh.'”
But he doesn’t regret what he said about Ruby.
“Oh no. She is plastic!”
Andy and Ruby were also ‘targets’ of Josh and Austin’s comments.
My Kitchen Rules airs Monday to Wednesday, and Sunday, 7pm, Channel Seven.
