MKR's Lauren & Carmine: "We're not cheaters!”

Strategic … or just plain sneaky? In the wake of claims that she and her husband Carmine are undermining their fellow Group 3 competitors on My Kitchen Rules by purposely giving them low scores, fiery Lauren, 31, is hitting back with a denial.

RELATED Judge Rachel Khoo says drama is real

“We don’t think we did anything bad,” she tells WHO of claims from Queensland “stepsies” Hazel and Lisa that she has pulled an unfair power play in an effort to avoid elimination. After they botched their Instant Restaurant round on Tuesday night by serving a nearly inedible seafood spaghetti in a bag main (“I don’t want anything in a bag ever again,” she laughs), Carmine and Lauren handed father-son team Mike and Tarq a score of 5/10.

And Lauren says it was nothing but fair.

“We also took into account technique, and there wasn’t a hell of a lot of it. We thought it was average food, so we gave them an average score.”

For more, pick up a copy of WHO on sale now.