Holy guacamole.

It’s season SEVEN of MKR and as usual, there is drama, tears, and backroom bitchiness with more burns than a Bunnings barbecue.

Paleo Pete and Manu The Sauce are back to judge the skills of various cartoon-character teams.

Clearly, you watched it, and clearly, right now, your favourites are Rosie and Paige.

Or, if you’re Rosie Waterland, Gianni and Zana.

And like the six seasons before it, we know a few things to be true: there will be high fives and/or bum slapping in the kitchen.  There will be tears of joy as Manu pretends to hate a dish and then PSYCH, he’ll exclaim it to be the best thing he’s ever tasted. And the pair who are nasty or overly critical….cough….Zana… of everyone else will be the ones that massively cock it up when it’s their turn.

But there are a few things we didn’t know. And finally a former contestant has spilled the broad beans on what really goes into making this show.

Steph Mulheron, one half of Steph and Dan who walked away with the competition in 2013, ripped the cap off our new TV podcast this week, telling Rosie Waterland and Sarah Jane Collins behind-the-scenes details that were so juicy, we almost had to start an instant restaurant called  “Mop up the drool from my open mouth”.

Like, those Instant Restaurant dinners? Looks like a lovely way to spend a few hours, right?

OH NO. NO NO NO.

The food is cold and some of the nights were so long, that contestants would get drunk, hungover, and then STILL be there at 5am to see the sun come up.

“We learnt the very first instant restaurant, you get pissed, then you get a hangover, then you just want to go to bed,” says Steph. “It’s a long night.”

Listen to Steph spilling the gourmet beans, here: (post continues after audio)

She says it’s all part of the reason all the contestants are so emotional: people are exhausted.

“They [producers] try and poke and prod you and make you tired, and that’s where all the drama comes out, when people are exhausted. And at the end of the day, that makes good TV.”

“When people are tired, you’re very vulnerable. So that’s when you get angry, and hangry, and it can lead to bad comments coming out.”

She says when contestants watch the show back six months after filming, it’s often a surprise to see the what others have said. “Everyone’s watching at the same time and all of a sudden you get these texts going “I didn’t mean to say that!”.

“Things on the show are sometimes blown out of proportion. But, at the end of the day, those people said what they said from their own thoughts, and that’s what they wanted to say.”

“I’m sure that some teams this year are cringing about the way they are portrayed, but they just have to own it in the public eye.”

Steph also went into whether or not Pete Evans actually eats the food on the show, whether the cooks are really cooking in their own kitchen, and then she dropped a massive hint about WHY these apparently accomplished cooks stuff up so often.

She says that during the months-long audition process, the teams are under pressure to submit dozens and dozens of potential recipes to the food producers.

“A lot of teams just copy and paste from the internet, and then submit them. Not knowing that they [producers] choose a three-course meal out of everything you’ve sent through. And then you get told about it at 6am on the day.”

“That’s why some teams will say ‘I’ve never cooked this before’ and you’re yelling at the TV ‘but you’re on MKR!'”

The full episode, with more behind-the-scenes chat, is here:

Or listen in itunes. 

The Binge is Mamamia’s weekly podcast for people who watch TV and need to know more.  Every week, Rosie Waterland and Sarah Jane Collins talk to different industry people or critics about what’s on the box.  Subscribe to it here, and you’ll get the episodes the moment they’re released. 

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