Is the Meat Master going home…?

My Kitchen Rules duo Michael and Rielli have found themselves in hot water as they are set to face the dreaded cook-off.

The opinionated couple have ruffled feathers this series, but found themselves humbled in the bottom two during Tuesday’s Kitchen Headquarters challenge.

After rumours that self-proclaimed “Meat Master” Michael could be axed from the show, they landed in next week’s elimination cook-off alongside Danielle and Marko.

Rielli was reduced to tears when she and Michael failed to impress with their gnocchi main course during the Pick a Fridge challenge, putting them at risk of going home.

Their Family Fave bacon and pea gnocchi was described as being more like “mashed potato” than the potato-based pasta, and left the judges and the other teams underwhelmed.
My Kitchen Rules stars Michael and Rielli are at risk of elimination. (Credit: Channel Seven)
Maria and Bailey, and Mark and Tan both scored higher than them, landing the devastated duo in the elimination cook-off, which will take place on Monday night.

“It’s not shocking, but it doesn’t make it easier to hear,” Rielli admitted after judges Colin Fassnidge and Manu Feildel delivered the upsetting news.

After the dessert round, Danielle and Marko scored the lowest with their strawberry crumble, setting the stage for a nail-biting cook-off.

“The strawberries were acidic, and as you cook strawberries, they give a lot of water, and that made your crumble soggy instead of crispy,” Manu told the pair.

Lol and Lil narrowly managed to save themselves from taking part in a second cook-off after facing off against Anne and Maree on Monday night.

Justin and Will also avoided the dreaded cook-off, but viewers will have to wait another week to find out who will be sent home.
Rielli was left in tears after their gnocchi didn’t go to plan during Kitchen Headquarters. (Credit: Channel Seven)
The result was an unfortunate blow to Michael after he had been forced to skip Monday’s episode due to “personal reasons”.

Rielli was left to judge the first cook-off alone after Michael was unexpectedly absent from the episode, before returning to cook on Tuesday.

His absence wasn’t addressed in the episode, other than when the judges asked Rielli what Michael would have thought of Anne and Maree’s lamb main course.

“If a certain Meat Master was here, what would he say?” Colin asked her.

Putting on an amusing impression of Michael’s voice, she replied: “My fork went in hopeful, it came out disappointed, and I know Rielli said these flavours weren’t marrying together, I agree, they were probably filing for divorce.”

It followed speculation that Michael was at risk of being axed from the Channel Seven competition over his feud with judge Manu.
They will be competing against Danielle and Marko for their place in the competition. (Credit: Channel Seven)
“Michael has been pushing boundaries and it’s not going down well,” a source told New Idea.

Michael had caused a stir when he interrupted Manu mid-critique during Mark and Tan’s Instant Restaurant to accuse Tan of hiding professional cooking experience.

His critique prompted Manu to snap back with: “Listen, you either accept the rules and you play with everyone, or you don’t accept the rules and goodbye.”

With Colin backing Manu behind the scenes, our source said the judges “have the authority to send a contestant packing if they repeatedly step over the line” in the ultimate power play.