‘We had to risk it!’

Can My Kitchen Rules' Maria and Bailey's dreaded dish save them from elimination?

Maria and Bailey risk everything with a cursed dish.
Image: Channel Seven

My Kitchen Rules contestants Maria and Bailey are risking everything when they decide to serve the dreaded ‘dish of death’. Will it mean curtains for these cooks?

This week on MKR, the six remaining teams must cook a main or dessert to fit one of three themes – ‘family favourites’, ‘date night’ or ‘plant-based’. Adelaide ‘boss friends’ Maria and Bailey dive into date night, but their choice of dish – a prawn risotto – sends shock waves through Kitchen HQ.
Can Maria and Bailey impress judge Manu Feildel on MKR?MKR judge Manu Feildel inspects Maria and Bailey’s cooking. (Credit: Image: Channel Seven)
Risotto is considered a cursed dish on MKR and other cooking shows, because of the very precise timing needed to get the bite of the rice just right. Even last year’s eventual winners, Simone and Viviana, had a risotto fail.

“Risotto is like the death dish,” Bailey concedes.

Greek-born Maria tells TV WEEK they knew the dish would be hard to get right. “It can be chalky and overcooked and turn to porridge,” she says. “But it was important to show everybody that we can cook and take big risks.”

Will their risotto buck the trend and keep them safe from elimination?

The challenge sees Maria and Bailey go up against Michael and Rielli. Although Michael has polarised the other contestants – and viewers – Maria and Bailey are fans of the self-proclaimed ‘Meat Master’.
MKR's Maria and Bailey plate their dish in the pick-a-fridge challenge in Kitchen HQ.Time for MKR’s Maria and Bailey to plate their dish. Will it be a hit? (Credit: Image: Channel Seven)
“He’s outspoken and blunt, but Maria and I are also very blunt individuals, so we ended up falling in love with Michael and Rielli,” says Bailey. “We looked after each other.”

But there was a contestant they clashed with. “I did not get along with Mark,” Maria seethes. “I would go for a drink with Tan [Mark’s team mate], but Mark, no! I wouldn’t be upset if I never saw him again.” Ouch!

If Maria and Bailey win the competition, she plans to use her share of the prize to open a shopfront for her Blondie’s Bakehouse cookie business. Somehow, we don’t think Mark will get an invite to the opening!