New Instant Restaurant Rounds
Colin's Secret Round — For the first time, six teams competed in a new round of instant restaurants with judge, Colin Fassnidge. It is the first time Colin has made an appearance in the instant restaurant round. Furthermore, the first team eliminated from this group, Lynn and Tony are the first contestants ever in the show, to have never cooked for regular judges, Pete and Manu.
Redemption Round — The lower scoring teams from the three groups were combined and competed in a 4th Redemption round. This is not an entirely new concept, as contestants in the past have competed in an additional round from scoring low the first time before.
Challenge Round Format — The rounds between eliminations were simplified compared with previous years. After the People's Choice challenge, two teams are sent directly into Sudden Death, skipping the past process of a kitchen cook-off to determine the second team. As a result, teams who pass the People's Choice are deemed safe and the winner becomes safe from two eliminations.
Judging Panel Changes — There were a few changes for the main judging panel this year. Judges; Manu and Colin were only present during selected challenges. For the off-site People's Choice challenges, Colin Fassnidge joined Pete Evans as a co-judge for the teams cooking, while Manu is present for cook-offs held in Kitchen Headquarters. Pete was featured as a judge for all challenges. During Sudden Death cook-offs, Colin continues to be a part of the blind tasting panel, along with the regular three guest judges
Twelve teams commenced in the competition, split into two groups. For this series, New South Wales, Queensland, South Australia and Western Australia commenced with two teams, one team from the Australian Capital Territory and three teams from Victoria. After the first two instant restaurant rounds, an entire new group of 6 teams joined the competition as Colin's 'secret round'. This makes this series have a total cast of 18 teams.
In this table, teams numbered 1 or 2 are part of the initial 12 teams—groups 1 and 2. Teams numbered '3' joined the competition as part of Colin's secret round—group 3. These group numbers are only of significance in the instant restaurant rounds.
Note:
^1 - Due to health reasons, Vicky and Celine withdrew from the competition at the start of the Top 12 round. As a result, the remaining teams became the Top 11.
In the instant restaurant rounds, each episode focuses on one team's day of shopping, cooking, hosting and serving opposing teams and judges a three-course dinner—entrée, main and dessert. All teams give their "instant restaurant" a name and theme, and decorate the room/space and table setting to match that theme. Teams may only start cooking three hours before the other teams arrive at their house. After the team serve all three meals to the judges and their opposition, each team gives them a score out of ten for the overall performance—i.e. food, service, entertainment, etc. Afterwards, each judge gives a score out of ten for each of the three dishes, totaling the highest possible score of 110 (50 points from guest teams and 60 points from judges)
For the "secret" third round, Colin Fassnidge made his first appearance at the instant restaurants. He was also the only judge present for this round.
Episodes 1 to 6
Airdate — 2 to 10 February
Description — The first of the two instant restaurant groups are introduced into the competition in Round 1. Each team represented a state or territory. An elimination for the lowest scoring team is held at the end of the round.
Episodes 7 to 12
Airdate — 11 to 18 February
Description — The second group now start their Instant Restaurant round. The same rules from the previous round apply and the lowest scoring team is eliminated.
Episodes 13 to 18
Airdate — 19 February to 2 March
Description — A new group of 6 teams entered the competition and will compete in a 'secret round' of instant restaurants. For the first time, this round was not judged by Pete and Manu, but instead by Colin Fassnidge. The lowest scoring team was also eliminated.
Note:
^1 - As Colin is the only judge for this round, all his scores out of 10 are doubled, therefore making them out of 20.
Episodes 19 to 24
Airdate — 3 to 11 March
Description — The 4th and 5th placed teams from the previous three groups must cook again in an instant restaurant redemption round. Pete and Manu return as the judges and the lowest scoring team is eliminated.
Note:
^1 - 98 is the highest instant restaurant score in the show's history, beating the previous tied record of 95 set by Helena & Vikki from series 5 and Nic & Rocco from series 3. However, this score was beaten in My Kitchen Rules (series 7) by Gianni and Zana who scored a 105 points.
Episode 25
Airdate — 12 March 2015
Location — The Basin, New South Wales
Description — The teams headed into the first challenge to serve a breakfast dish for 200 hungry campers. The campers voted for their favourite dish and the team with the most votes received People's Choice, sending that team safe from two eliminations. Judges Pete and Colin sent the two weakest teams directly into the first Sudden Death Cook-Off. Teams who won the previous instant restaurant rounds were automatically safe from elimination and did not participate in this challenge. All other surviving teams advance to the Top 13.
Episode 26
Airdate — 16 March 2015
Description — Annie & Lloyd and Vicky & Celine did not impress the judges at the Camping Challenge, so they must go head to head in the first Sudden Death Cook-Off. The team with the lower score will be eliminated and the surviving team will proceed through to the Top 13.
Episode 27
Airdate — 17 March 2015
Location — Australia
Description — Teams cooked for the farmers, highlighting their produce as a way of saying thanks for all their hard work supplying it. Teams were each allocated a main ingredient to highlight in their dish and were split into two groups, first group cooking savoury and the second cooking sweets. Farmer's voted for the favourite dish awarding one team the Farmer's Choice, making them safe from two eliminations, while the judges sent to two weakest teams into Sudden Death.
Episode 28
Airdate — 18 March 2015
Description — Eva & Debra and Sheri & Emilie must compete in the second Sudden Death Cook-Off after they disappointed the judges at the Farmer's Challenge. The lower scoring team will be eliminated and the surviving team proceeds to the Top 12.
This should be the Top 12 round, however after team Vicky and Celine voluntarily withdrew from the competition because of Celine's bad health condition, it has become the Top 11 round.
Episode 29
Airdate — 19 March 2015
Location — Balmain, New South Wales
Description — Teams took charge of pubs around Balmain in Sydney to cook for the lunch-time pub crawl and had to prepare meals to service for paying customers. Two teams were assigned to a pub, and diners paid for what they believed the meal was worth. The team who raises the most money is awarded People's Choice and like the previous rounds, judges Pete and Colin sent the weakest two teams to Sudden Death.
Episode 30
Airdate — 23 March 2015
Description — Rob & Dave and Robert & Lynzey failed to impress the judges at the Pub Crawl, so they have to compete against each other in a Sudden Death Cook-Off, where one team will be eliminated. The other team goes through to the Top 10.
Episode 31
Airdate — 24 March 2015
Location — Burnham Grove, Cawdor, New South Wales
Description — For this challenge, the teams catered for a wedding reception with a Modern Australian theme in mind. Three teams focused on one course each (entree, main, dessert), with 90 minutes prep time and then 30 minutes for service per course. All guests voted for the People's Choice and judges Pete and Colin sent the weakest two teams to Sudden Death.
Episode 32
Airdate — 25 March 2015
Description — After a poor performance at the Wedding Challenge, Jane and Emma face against Rob and Dave in the Sudden Death Cook-Off. For Rob and Dave, they are the first team so far to compete in a Sudden Death Cook-Off more than once. The lower scoring team is eliminated and the surviving team proceeds to the Top 9.
Episode 33
Airdate — 6 April 2015
Location — Melbourne, Victoria
Description — Teams created canapés for a harvest party using the fresh produce from pop-up garden patches located in Melbourne's St Kilda and Federation Square. The team with the most votes will be People's Choice and safe from the next two eliminations, whilst the two weakest teams head to the next Sudden Death Cook-Off, where one team will be eliminated.
Episode 34
Airdate — 7 April 2015
Description — Will & Steve and Carol & Adam must compete against each other in the Sudden Death Cook-Off, after a poor performance at the Garden Challenge. The lower scoring team will be eliminated and the surviving team will go through to the Top 8.
Episode 35
Airdate — 8 April 2015
Location — Luna Park Sydney
Description — Teams headed to Sydney's Luna Park to serve fairground food to emergency service workers and families for the annual 'Give Back' day. The public voted for their favourite dish sending that team straight to the Top 6 as the bottom two compete in another Sudden Death.
Episode 36
Airdate — 12 April 2015
Description — Unfortunately, Drasko & Bianca and Rose & Josh didn't impress the judges in the Luna Park Challenge. They now must compete in a Sudden Death Cook-Off. The lower scoring team will be eliminated and the safe team will advance to the Top 7.
Episode 37
Airdate — 13 April 2015
Location — Sydney Airport, Jetstar Flight JQ7001
Description — For this challenge teams prepared and cooked in-flight meals for Jetstar flight passengers. Each team prepared 40 portions of their meal to be served to on-board passengers for scoring out of 10. The team who receives the highest score, wins the Passenger's choice and will have their meal served on select Jetstar flights for three months. The judges once again sent the two weakest teams to Sudden Death.
Episode 38
Airdate — 14 April 2015
Description — Eva & Debra take on Kat & Andre in a Sudden Death Cook-Off. The lower scoring team is eliminated and the other team proceeds to the Top 6 Finals Decider.
In the Top 6 round, teams competed in a number of cook-offs held in Kitchen Headquarters. At the end of this round, five teams advance into the finals. This also sees the return of the Rapid cook-off and Showdown challenges, which have so far been omitted this season.
Episode 39
Airdate — 15 April 2015
Description
Rapid Cook-off: Street Food — Teams were challenged to cook a street food dish in 30 minutes. The winner of this cook-off earned an advantage for the following Showdown challenge.
Showdown: Fine Dining — In the Showdown, teams were challenged to create a fine dining style dish. This was a head to head challenge, where one team faced off against another. The winner's advantage from the previous cook-off was the ability to set the match-ups between the teams. Three winners of the head to heads were safe and advance to the Top 5, while the bottom 3 head into an elimination knockout round.
Episode 40
Airdate — 19 April 2015
Description — The bottom three teams from the previous finals decider challenge face off against each other in a three-round knockout. In the first round, teams must neatly segment citrus fruits. The team who did the best job, earned an advantage for the second round. In round two, teams must cook a vegetarian dish in 45 minutes. The winner's advantage was the ability to select the main ingredient for each team to use. These included; mushrooms, cauliflower and okra. After this round, one team is safe as the other two compete in a final Sudden Death round, each creating their own 'signature dish', to determine the last team to join the Top 5 and another elimination.
Episodes 41 to 45
Airdate — 20 to 27 April 2015
Description — For the start of the finals round, the Top 5 teams head around the country once again in an Ultimate Instant Restaurant round. All teams have to cook two dishes of each course (entree, main and dessert) for their fellow finalists and judges for scoring. Guests have a choice of choosing one of the options per course while the judges Pete and Manu each taste one of the two options. The lowest scoring team is eliminated as the remaining four teams are ranked into the semifinals.
Colour key:
– Judge's score for course option 1
– Judge's score for course option 2
Episode 46
Airdate — 28 April 2015
Description — Ash & Camilla take on Will & Steve in the first Semi-Final Cook-Off. The lower scoring team is eliminated and the winner proceeds through to the Grand Final.
Episode 47
Airdate — 3 May 2015
Description — Eva & Debra take on Jac & Shaz in the second Semi-Final Cook-Off. The lower scoring team is eliminated and the other team becomes the second team to proceed into the Grand Final.
Grand Final
Episode 48
Airdate — 4 May 2015
Description — In the final cook-off for the series, the top 2 teams face-off in the ultimate Grand Final. Teams each cook a five course degustation in the format of a cold entree, hot entree, seafood main, meat main and dessert. 20 plates of each course, totalling 100 plates per team were served to all eliminated teams, friends and family. Guest judges returned for the final verdict of awarding the $250,000 prize to the winners. Teams also wear chef attire and have their Instant Restaurant represented.
Colour key:
– Highest rating during the series
– Lowest rating during the series
– An elimination was held in this episode
– Finals week
