Fans think MasterChef's Larissa and Derek are dating

Things are heating up on MasterChef Australia this season, and not just in the kitchen.

The show’s resident heartthrob Derek Lau is a favourite amongst female fans, and a new social media snap has got some wondering if he and contestant Larissa Takchi are an item.

Larissa, 22, has shared a photo of her and 27-year-old Derek wearing the exact same shirt, and from there the cute banter between the pair has kicked off.

“Pretty sure I wore this better,” Larissa captioned the post, before Derek cheekily commented, “You gotta stop shopping in the male section”.

Larissa used a classic Mean Girls line for her comeback, saying, “your mums chest hair (sic)”, to which Derek responded, “you little ....”.

Hmm, sounds like some innocent ‘treat them mean, keep them keen’ flirting to us, and some fans thought so too.

“Are you [love hearts emojis]” one fan asked, meanwhile another teased, “You guys” along with love heart eye emojis.

Unfortunately MasterChef fans, these two are strictly friends and cooking buddies.

“I’m definitely not in a relationship,” Derek tells Yahoo Lifestyle Australia.

The financial analyst says he’s not necessarily on the look out for a romance, explaining, “I’ll just take it as it comes”.

It comes after he told TV Week that becoming Australia’s next Bachelor was not on his agenda.

“I don't think it's really for me,” he told the publication. “Too much drama!”

MasterChef continues at 7:30pm on Channel Ten.

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