A former contestant tells Yahoo Lifestyle about the reality show’s hygiene rules – or lack thereof.

MKR's Colin Fassnidge / Anne.

MKR viewers spotted an ‘unhygienic’ detail in Tuesday night’s episode. Photos: Channel 7

My Kitchen Rules viewers have called out this year’s contestants for being “unhygienic” while cooking for their co-stars. Tuesday night’s episode saw mother-daughter duo Anne and Maree host their instant restaurant, honouring their late Yia-yia’s legacy with traditional Greek recipes.

While the ‘Gourmet Greeks’ received enormous praise for their cooking, many viewers were disturbed by an alarming detail in the episode. Fans took to social media to question why neither woman tied their hair up while cooking.

“Can’t understand why their hair is not tied up!” one person commented, while another added, “I know, right? I was thinking the same thing”.

“Both ladies should tie their hair up, too risky,” a third said, followed by someone else who replied, “Basic hygiene when you’re cooking for guests, and besides, they’ll lose points if a hair is found in the food”.

Others also pointed out that the women weren’t wearing gloves when using their hands to plate up their main dish.

“No tongs to serve the salad with?” a viewer remarked, with another writing, “When plating up, they should be wearing gloves”.

“The boys also wore rings when kneading their dough and cooking,” a different user said in reference to Justin and Will’s instant restaurant in Monday night’s episode.

MKR's Anne and Maree using their hands to dish up.

Fans also complained that Anne and Maree didn’t use gloves when preparing their dishes. Photo: Channel 7

MKR contestant spills on hygiene rules

Hannah Campbell, who competed last year’s season with her partner Lawrence Murphy, tells Yahoo Lifestyle that, surprisingly, the show doesn’t enforce contestants to tie their hair up when cooking.

“You can wear your hair however you like,” she reveals. “But I’m pretty sure I always chose to wear it up when cooking because I was scared my hair would get into the food.”

MasterChef’s hygiene rules

This is a stark contrast to MasterChef, which has “pretty specific rules” regarding hygiene, according to 2024 contestant Sumeet Saigal.

“We’re always told before we go onto the set that our hair has to be tied up and away,” she told Yahoo Lifestyle. “In the heat of the kitchen, sometimes something may happen. However, when the final food is actually brought onto the table, everything’s made sure of that there’s no contamination on it or there’s no hair on it, for example.”

MasterChef also employs a large team of people to monitor food safety behind the scenes, including meat temperatures and double-dipping.

“We actually have very active food teams that stand along the side. So you don’t see them [on TV], but every bench has got a representative of the food team that stands watching this stuff,” Sumeet explained. “So they’re constantly watching to see that you’re not double-dipping and anything that falls on the floor is picked up and thrown in the bin, because food hygiene is a very big part of it.”