Congratulations, well deserved!

Justin and Will have been crowned the 2025 winners of My Kitchen Rules.

They faced off against Maria and Bailey in a tense showdown on Sunday, November 16, and ultimately beat their rivals to the crown.

It was a nail-biting race against the clock in the grand final as the teams had to present four courses for judges Manu Feildel and Colin Fassnidge.

After countless cheers and tears in the kitchen, it was Justin and Will who took home the $100,000 cash prize.

“This is the closest grand final I can remember,” Manu declared, ahead of revealing the results.
Justin and Will have been crowned the 2025 winners of My Kitchen Rules. (Credit: Channel Seven)
And it certainly was, as it came down to the final few points to determine who would be the 2025 winner, with Justin and Will winning by just one point overall.

The best friends nabbed 73 out of 80 points overall, while Maria and Bailey narrowly missed out with 72 points.

“We’ve made ourselves proud, we’ve made our kids proud, that’s just amazing,” Will emotionally said upon their win.

The duo declared that the win made the four months they spent away from their families “worth it” as they broke down in tears.

Speaking exclusively to New Idea after their victory, Will described it as “surreal” to be crowned the 2025 MKR champions.

They revealed they are planning to treat their children to some extra special Christmas presents this year after winning the $100,000 prize fund.

“I want to save some of it for Christmas shopping,” Will revealed. We’ll definitely put some in an account, and we want to go on a holiday. That’s it for the moment.”

They also have no plans to leave the cooking industry and want to open a food truck and travel the world to learn about new cuisines – potentially on a travel cooking show of their own.

 

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“We’ve always loved cooking, so we’re definitely keen to explore this new part of our lives,” Justin said.

While Will added, “I’ve spoken about a food truck to help the less fortunate, but as a dream, Justin and I would love to travel the world. We’d probably start in South Africa and then do Tonga. We’ve just got to do all the little bits to get there.”

But would they be willing to travel the world on camera?

“Probably not another reality TV show, we’re probably not allowed. Our wives would say no straight away,” Justin admitted. “But a [cooking travel] show, I think that is high on the cards.”

They also hit back at accusations that runners-up Maria and Bailey didn’t deserve to be in the final, after fans accused them of cheating due to their strategic voting admission in the competition.

“We didn’t know how close it would be,” Justin said of winning by just one point.

“We didn’t know it was going to be that close. But if anyone was questioning if Maria and Bailey deserved to be there, if you watch last night’s final, you’ll see.”
Justin and Will are eyeing up a travel cooking show. (Credit: Channel Seven)
“They really brought their game from the semi-finals, we were nervous,” Will added. “This complex team started to make it so simple, and we were thinking ‘oh God, what have we gone up against?’”

“When [Colin and Manu] read out the scores, my knees were shaking,” Justin continued.

“When Colin read out that final 10, I straddled Will, I jumped on him.”

Will confessed, “I was like ‘have we done it or not?’ because I was still doing the numbers.”

When asked if they are pleased they applied for MKR 2025, Justin described it as “one of the best experiences” of their lives.

“I would say don’t even think about it. If you can cook, then apply straight away,” Justin said to anyone considering applying for the Channel Seven competition.
They also defended Maria and Bailey against accusations they didn’t deserve to be in the final. (Credit: Channel Seven)
“If you asked us three years ago if we’d have applied, we’d probably have said no,” Will added, though the risk has more than paid off, as they are now the 2025 winners.

During the final, they wowed the judges with their mouth-watering four courses, starting with ham and Gruyère croquettes for the canapés round.

They then served pickled kingfish for their fish course, followed by braised beef short ribs for the meat course.

The best friends then rounded off their banquet with Dubai chocolate eclairs for dessert.

Meanwhile, Maria and Bailey kicked off their feast with olive oil tartlets with taramasalata.

They followed that up with lobster and prawn ravioli and chicken ballotine for the fish and meat courses, respectively.

For dessert, Blondies Bakehouse owner Maria served up her speciality, red velvet and cream cheese cookies.
Judge Manu Feildel described it as one of the closest finals ever as they won by just one point. (Credit: Channel Seven)
The judges were blown away by their delicious dishes, but sadly, they didn’t manage to take home the winning title.

“All the tears, all the stress, it was all worth it,” Maria said after hearing the judges’ praise.

Maria had been hoping to win the $100,000 cash prize so she could open up the first store for her cookie business.

Though they missed out on the win, Maria and Bailey came in as runners-up during the final in an impressive feat.