MKR's Colin Fassnidge responds to 2025 replacement rumours: 'Little surprises'

After this year’s season of My Kitchen Rules ended on Tuesday night, fans will now have to wait until 2025 for the popular reality show to return. Channel Seven announced last month that applications for season 15 are officially open, however, there have been plenty of rumours surrounding whether Manu Feildel and Colin Fassnidge will be involved.

Multiple publications have claimed that the pair might not return to the series next year, with Woman’s Day reporting that producers are eyeing Curtis Stone and Gordon Ramsey “to stir the pot”. A production insider also recently told Yahoo Lifestyle that Manu and Colin have “threatened to quit” if either Curtis or Gordon were to join MKR.

Colin has now addressed the rumours and confirmed to Yahoo Lifestyle that not only will he be returning to the show in 2025, but he loves the idea of Curtis and Gordon sitting on the judging panel.

“Curtis is a good friend of mine, so I’d love to work with Curtis again because we’ve done it before,” he says, referencing the chef’s previous four seasons as a guest judge. “And then Gordon, I actually worked for Gordon and Gordon's a champion in the industry. I'd be proud to be on the show with Gordon.”

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Colin went on to say that although certain people like to “stir up trouble”, most TV personalities in the food industry are friends.

“Also, if Gordon Ramsay was on the show the ratings would go through the roof which means I'll get hired again for next year,” he remarks. “We’ve all got bills to pay, school fees, so whatever makes it better.”

While he doesn’t confirm or deny the rumours of Curtis and Gordon’s involvement next season, he says: “I’ll put it this way - with MKR, there are always little surprises.”

Colin announces new series with Manu in 2025

Not only will Colin and Manu be returning for MKR in 2025, but they will also be hosting another series on Channel Seven called Off The Grid.

The Irish chef tells Yahoo Lifestyle that the series is an “off-the-beaten-path food adventure” where he and Manu travel around New Zealand for a month in a caravan.

“We did the North Island and the South Island, and it was sort of like a chef’s dream scenario where you get to shoot, fish and hunt,” he details. “We did a lot of cooking with the Māori people, Manu and I got tattoos which wasn’t planned, I managed to split my head open - you’ll have to watch the series for that one.”

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Colin explains that Off The Grid was filmed “a few months ago” in between production for MKR Australia and MKR New Zealand, but has been a long time in the making.

“We’ve been talking to Seven about it for years, just getting on the road,” he shares. “Manu had an idea to do a thing called ‘A Big Lap Around Australia’ and no one wanted to do it, but when we were in New Zealand I said, ‘We should do it in a caravan’. It was Manu’s idea, but I made it better.

“We saw this little caravan in the garden one day when we were shooting MKR over there and we said, ‘Wouldn't it be great to do it in a 1960s caravan?’. We sent it to the producer of Screentime in New Zealand, who works very closely with Channel Seven, and he said, ‘Let’s make it happen’, and then Seven jumped on board.”

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