Former MKR villains say show's poor ratings 'serves them right'

They were considered My Kitchen Rules’ most controversial contestants and now Sonya Mefaddi and Hadil Faiza have lashed out at the reality program, claiming the poor ratings “serves them right”.

The pair were dubbed MKR villains when they appeared on the cooking show in 2018. During the series Sonya and Hadil were kicked out of the competition by judges Manu Fieldel and Pete Evans after a dinner party showdown with rivals Jess Alvial and Emma Byron turned nasty.

A huge 2.39 million viewers tuned in to watch the argument take place over the dinner table, compared to 422,000 metro viewers MKR had on Tuesday night for its revamped version of the show MKR: The Rivals.

“I signed up to be part of a cooking show,” Sonya said in an interview with The Daily Telegraph, after their TV gag order was reportedly lifted, adding producers only ‘wanted drama’.

“It serves them right. The cause of MKR ratings dropping is simply the affect of the producers' wrong doings.”

Even fans have taken to the My Kitchen Rules Instagram account to share their disappointment at the new format of the cooking show, with some likening it to Big Brother.

“Was so much better when they did the home town cooks and every team voted individually as it actually felt like a COOKING show... It’s turned into MAFS/Big Brother somehow,” one person wrote.

“Why would you people change a great show to this shit. I even gave it another go last night but it was so tragic I turned it off,” another added.

While a third agreed, asking: “The judges, why don't they step in and stop the drama?”

MKR judge blames dire ratings on network

MKR judge Colin Fassnidge on the other hand has placed the blame for the program’s dire ratings squarely on the shoulders of Channel Seven.

The Irish-born chef pulled no punches while chatting with 2GB’s Chris Smith last week, admitting that while this season is the ‘best ever’ it’s been sabotaged by Seven’s programming choices.

“This year was the best one we’ve done but not everyone’s watching it, at the moment, cause we’ve got some people in Channel 7 who don’t know how to program a show,” he said.

“But what do I know? I’m only a cook!” he laughed.

Collin went on to roast his home network for their ‘stupid decision’ to pit MKR against ratings juggernauts Married At First Sight and the Australian Open.

MAFS steamrolls MKR in ratings war

It’s still early days but Married At First Sight is already a clear winner when it comes to TV ratings, consistently taking out the top spot every single episode (bar one) since it launched in early February.

MAFS’s drama-packed 2020 season premiere attracted a whopping 1,154,000 viewers, beating out rival reality shows MKR and Survivor as well as heavy hitters Seven and Nine news.

The debut episode of Channel 10’s Survivor: All Stars - which sees previous contestants battle it out - placed tenth in the top 20 programs with 624,000 viewers.

Channel Seven’s revamped My Kitchen Rules: The Rivals trailed behind at number 16 with a measly 517,000.

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