The Most Memorable Moments On My Kitchen Rules Over The Years

My Kitchen Rules Australia is known for its incredible highs and devastating lows.

The reality TV show sees teams from every state battling in out through a series of instant restaurant rounds, and pressure cooking challenges, to be named Australia's best home cooks.

With season 13 of the hit cooking show premiering on Sunday, September 4, we thought we'd take a look back at some of the series' biggest controversies and most heartwarming moments from seasons past.

Here are the most memorable moments from MKR over its 12-year run:

Ah, the great curry paste scandal of 2017.

In season 8, contestants Alyse and Matt made a homemade curry to serve to the judges and the other contestants during their instant restaurant. However, when judge Pete Evans went into the kitchen to check on their progress, he discovered they were using a store-bought curry paste. Gasp!

The couple told the judges they used the paste to save time, but it ended up costing them in the final scores.

"We're looking for cooking from the heart, not from a jar," Evans told them during the judging segment of the episode.

"If you're not going to cook, we're going to nail you," added Colin Fassnidge.

When Dan and Steph entered the MKR competition in 2013, they quickly became fan favourites.

The Queensland couple were testing their home-cooking skills in the hopes of winning the competition and using the prize money to start their own family.

So, when they were announced as the winners in the finale, there wasn't a dry eye in the room.

The couple has also been open about their fertility journey, allowing followers to join them on the emotional journey. Soon after the show wrapped, the couple opened their own restaurant and after rounds of IVF, Steph fell pregnant.

"Five years on, we look a little bit different, but so many of our dreams have come true," Dan said during the MKR reunion show in 2019.

In 2017, Queensland's Tyson and Amy, aka the 'serious siblings', were awarded the highest score ever in the show's history.

The Brisbane siblings' menu included lamb brains for entree, pork jowl for main, and a chocolate raspberry 'discovery' for dessert.

Judge Pete Evans gave the brother and sister duo three 10s of out 10 for their menu, while fellow judge Manu Feildel gave them 10 out of 10 for the entree and the dessert, and 9 out of 10 for the main dish.

Their score came to a grand total of 102 out of 110, beating South Australia's Tim and Kyle who scored 100 out of 110 the previous night.

Tyson and Amy's time as record breakers ended when mother and son team Lisa and John received 10s across the board from judges Pete Evans and Manu Feildel during their instant restaurant in Margaret River, Western Australia, in February 2019.

"We have never had a team where Manu and I have both awarded ten for each and every course," Evans said to the pair.

Feildel added that it was an achievement he had never seen during his time on the show.

"First time I've ever given three tens in a row in MKR in ten years," he said.

"Tonight you've made MKR history."

In 2022, contestant couple Janelle and Monzir served Monzir's father's Sudanese lamb cutlets at their instant restaurant.

While serving the cutlets, Monzir told the judges and his fellow contestants the touching story behind the recipe.

“The entree is my dad’s recipe, it’s something we do together, we bond over food and barbeques,” he explained. “He used to do festivals and he’d sell lamb skewers."

“One day he had a heart attack and he went to the hospital," he continued.

So Monzir stepped in and made his dad proud.

“When he came back out he was actually so proud and now I’m like, okay, I want to make him that proud again," Monzir explained. “So for me to get it right really means a lot.”

And make his dad proud he did. The lamb cutlets were a hit among the judges, with Nigella Lawson describing them as a "knockout". “The texture was so luscious, and I think the confidence of a cook is that you’re building the heat up gradually, you don’t need to hit people with it straight away,” Lawson told the couple.

“And that amount of heat, it made it feel that, with each mouthful, you were building to something," she continued. “That was everything I hoped it would be and more. I can’t stop smiling.”

In 2018, the long-running reality show experienced its most controversial season, which culminated in one team being removed from the show.

During an instant restaurant, best friends Sonya and Hadil, who were representing NSW in the competition, launched an extraordinary verbal attack on their rivals, sisters Jess and Emma. They attacked the sisters' physical appearance and their cooking abilities.

“I’ve got a really good doctor you can go to to fix your ugly face,” Hadil said to one of the sisters, before telling the rest of the table the sisters didn't "belong in the top eight because they can't cook".

The exchange became so heated, the best friends were asked to leave the table and were later removed from the competition.

There have been a few rumoured romances on MKR over the years, but none were quite as exciting as the fling between Bek and Kyle in 2017.

The competitors flirted throughout the season and ended up locking lips at Tyson and Amy's instant restaurant. Bek later admitted there was a 'spark' between her and Kyle but they were better off as friends.

“It was me that decided to keep it as friends,” she told News.com.au at the time. “It looks like I’m the desperate one who’s absolutely in love with him (on the show) but it wasn’t really like that.

“I’m not saying he wanted a full-on relationship with me but he did want to take it a bit further. I’d met someone at that stage that I had real feelings for."