'You Haven’t Seen the Last Of Us!'

Ash Pollard and Camilla Counsel. Photo by Paul Leonardo for WHO

The April 28th shock elimination saw My Kitchen Rules contestants Ash Pollard, 29, and Camilla Counsel, 24, exit the competition in tears after Englishmen Steve Flood and Will Stewart out-cooked them by four points to win the first semi-final and a shot at the $250,000 prize. WHO caught up with the Francophiles from Victoria to talk cook-off exhaustion, who they tip to win and what’s next for the polarising reality stars.

What was the first thing you did when you were eliminated?

Camilla: Cry! And we popped a bottle of champagne. I think the tears were a bit of everything: disappointment that you're not in the grand final, but also so proud.

Ash: We were exhausted, beyond tired. You know when you’ve become so hungry you're no longer hungry? That’s exactly what we were: so tired that we were no longer tired. I think that we were just so relieved that we didn’t have to cook again!

What do you think when wrong for you?

Camilla: We just didn’t have our heads screwed on properly. We just kind of got a little too far ahead of ourselves and really didn’t think the menu over properly as best we had in the past.
Ash: I think it was more so just little things and nerves and stress that came into play. You could see it as well with the boys. But they had a better cook that day—it was so close. We are extremely proud of ourselves.

Who do you think will win?

Camilla: Will and Steve are fantastic cooks. Everyone in the Top Five deserved to win and I think we’ve all worked really hard and have shown great skills the whole season.
Ash: I would have to agree With Camilla. It is a competition and the rules are that one team can win, so I think from that I would have to put my money on Will and Steve.

Where to from here?

Ash: We really want to stay in the public eye. We still want to be recognised and we want to pursue a career in entertainment that involves cooking. We also really want to bring back elements of etiquette too, because I think that’s really fallen by the wayside. This is the time you need to be hitting the ground running and working our absolute hardest in order to succeed from what we just accomplished.

Ash, you’ve been spotted shopping for diamond rings with your boyfriend. Are there wedding bells on the horizon?

Ash: I can tell you that I enjoy sizing up diamonds! It’s never really been a past-time of mine, I've never really paid much attention to it, but I thought, “Oh, why not?” But, yeah, I don’t think anytime soon.

My Kitchen Rules second semifinal airs on Sunday, May 3, at 7PM, followed by the grand final on Monday, May 4, at 7.30PM on Seven.