While the judges said it was well cooked, viewers commented that it looked ‘revolting’.

MKR viewers had a mixed reaction to Michael and Rielli’s controversial meat dish in Wednesday night’s episode. Photos: Channel 7

My Kitchen Rules viewers were left divided watching Wednesday night’s episode when one team served their co-stars a controversial meat dish. Self-proclaimed ‘Meat Master’ Michael and his partner Rielli decided to challenge themselves by cooking buttered beef tongue with braised cabbage and potato straws for their instant restaurant.

While Manu Feildel and Colin Fassnidge dug straight into the dish, the contestants sitting around the table had a mixed reaction. Mother-daughter duo Anne and Maree remarked that the beef tongue reminded them of a family recipe; however, best friends Lol and Lil complained about the texture and struggled to swallow it.

“It made me want to gag in my mouth,” Mel added in her piece-to-camera interview. “It didn’t taste good, it didn’t smell good, it didn’t look good.”

Mel, who has already clashed with both Michael and Rielli throughout the season, also announced at the dinner table that she “really disliked” the meal and couldn’t finish it.

“Is that more of an in-your-mind thing? What was the flavour?” Colin asked her, to which she replied, “No flavour. I was really wanting some sauce, some salt, something to just let me get that meat down”.

Some contestants admitted they couldn’t finish the dish. Photos: Channel 7

‘No way would I eat it’

Viewers were extremely divided on social media following the episode, with many saying that they thought the dish looked “revolting”.

“I could never bring myself to eat tongue. Yuck,” one person wrote, while another added, “Couldn’t think of anything worse to serve guests”.

“No way would I eat it,” a third declared, followed by someone else who said, “That looked disgusting”.

“I seriously had to look away when he was preparing it,” a different user remarked, with another commenting, “Wouldn’t even take a bite of anything and score him zero”.

Viewers share ‘tasty’ beef tongue recipes

Meanwhile, plenty of fans admitted they were fans of beef tongue and either grew up eating it or enjoyed cooking it themselves.

“I had tongue many times as a kid. It was a very cheap meat, it was always served cold and sliced on sandwiches to get by,” one viewer shared, while another replied, “Actually cold in a sandwich with tomato it’s rather tasty”.

“Grew up with my grandmother cooking tongue. It was pressed into a tin. Lovely served cold with mustard pickle,” someone else shared, followed by a different user who said, “If cooked well, it’s absolutely delicious since it’s a very hardworking muscle”.

“Don’t see why it’s any different to any other part of the animal, just tastes like beef. Some pretty basic palates around the table,” another commented.

Michael and Rielli received mixed feedback from the judges. Photo: Channel 7

What did the judges think?

Ultimately, Manu thought the beef tongue was cooked extremely well and had been braised nicely, but it was “very disappointing” that there wasn’t any sauce on the dish to accompany the meat.

“It’s lacking goodness, it’s lacking flavour, it’s lacking layers, it’s lacking seasoning,” he declared, before scoring them a 3.

Colin added that it seemed like there was “absolutely no love” that went into the sides because their focus was solely on the meat, and scored them a 4.

“I was just so disappointed,” Rielli said in her piece-to-camera interview. “It’s just not how I thought it was going to go at all.”