My Kitchen Rules grand final to plate up nail-biter finish
It was the season that featured the biggest catfights in My Kitchen Rules history but on Sunday night's finale the confected drama is thrown out the window and the focus returns to cooking.
The original 16 pairs have been whittled down to a final two with Melbourne mothers Kim and Suong facing Gold Coast couple Alex and Emily to take home $250,000 in prize money.
Both teams have cooked up some of the top-scoring dishes of the season. Kim and Suong, who specialise in Vietnamese cuisine, have a winning edge when it comes to the depths of their flavours – refusing to let anything go to waste in order to create the perfect stock or dipping sauce.
Their weakness is in their desserts. Sunday's evening's cook-off, which features a staggering five-course meal, will put all of their skills to the test.
Alex and Emily are renowned for presentation, technique and using a drop or two of alcohol in their modern cooking. But some fiery disagreements could de-rail their last hurdle to the MKR crown.
Sources at Seven have promised the season nine finale will be close and contain enough slip-ups to keep fans guessing to the very end. MKR producers film two different endings, so not even the contestants know who comes out on top until they see which cut goes to air.
Whatever the outcome, all four amateur cooks have given up a lot to film the series. Teams that make it into the grand final are away from family and friends for around six months. Those with careers have to also put their professional lives on ice.
Melbourne contestants Kim and Suong told Fairfax Media this was the hardest part of filming MKR. Unlike most of the contestants on other shows like The Bachelor, the pair had to leave their children behind, encourage their partners to become primary careers and still somehow pay the mortgage.
"Not being home for them broke my heart," Kim said. "I cried and cried."
"It's the first time Kim and I have put ourselves first," Suong said. "It's the first time we've done something for ourselves. For me, I would give birth on the Monday and go back to work on the Tuesday. It's what we've always done."
Both women are beyond chuffed to have made it into the grand final. Suong, for example, came to Australia as a refugee and has never visited a five-star restaurant.
"We applied on a Saturday, the day before applications closed," Suong said. "We took a photo in our pyjamas [for the application]. There was no time to think."
The My Kitchen Rules grand final airs Sunday night on the Seven Network from 7pm.