My Kitchen Rules (MKR) is never devoid of big personalities, and NSW cousins Jacinta and Mel are bringing the heat this season, with the feisty pair quite happy to stir the pot.
When it comes to cooking, the duo has a mission to prove that healthy meals don’t have to be boring, with the pair’s ultimate goal to create a cookbook of nutritious and delicious but affordable food.
The pair have already proved to be controversial characters, from Jacinta refusing to eat meat on the show (much to the shock of meat-master Michael), to “outing” Maria’s baking business.
Here’s everything we know about MKR’s feisty cousins Mel and Jacinta
The cousins make quite the competitive pair, with Jacinta bringing a background in nutritional medicine and a love of surprising people with her vegan and gluten-free dishes. Mel likes to balance things out with comfort food classics, but overall both have a heavy focus on nutrition.
The duo are self-confessed “home cooks”, something they reiterated to Chattr recently after causing controversy by revealing fellow contestant Maria runs a pastry business.
“Mel and I are home cooks,” Jacinta told Chattr. “Just knowing that other teams and other people in the competition had cooked [on a large scale], that’s where it becomes difficult. We kind of felt a little bit deflated that we [were up] against someone who’s done it many, many, many times compared to us.”
The cousins describe their partnership and cooking style as “fun, a little chaotic, and genuinely supportive” and are due to cook next Monday, on the 15th of September. Honestly, we can’t wait to see what they dish up for everyone – particularly Michael and his partner Reilli.
Why are MKR’s Mel and Jacinta clashing with Michael and Reilli?
It’s not a proper MKR season without a clash of teams, and so far Mel and Jacinta and Michael and Reilli are bringing the drama.
Things kicked off initially with Michael (the master of meat) voicing that he didn’t think vegetarians should be allowed on the show. Michael and Reilli doubled down on this, telling Chattr they didn’t believe Jacinta should be competing on MKR.
“I do not think that vegetarians or vegans should be on MKR. I think that if they want to go on a cooking show, they should make MKR Vegetarian,” Michael said. “This will sound crazy, but when I was growing up, I actually experimented with a lot of diets and I was vegetarian and I was also vegan, and then I just realised that I love meat, and meat [is] good for you.”
In an earlier episode of MKR, the two teams also found themselves in confrontation after Rielli pointed a butter knife at Mel during a back-and-forth debate, saying, “What are you gonna do bitch?”. Reilli was quick to call it a joke, but Mel felt differently, telling cameras she felt unsettled by the behaviour and that it had “crossed a line”.
Reilli later apologised, but Michael had already made things worse by calling Mel and Jacinta “sooks” for being upset.
MKR’s Mel and Jacinta open up about “strategic” scoring
The opinionated cousins have been accused by MKR fans of giving low scores to the teams they’ve clashed with most at the dinner table.
However, Mel and Jacinta told Chattr they’re not being strategic and prefer to vote honestly. “We’re voting the way that we think the score should go, and we are being truthful for what we feel about the food. And you know, there’s a few comments where… I said that it needs more flavour and spice,” Jacinta said.
“I do put a lot of spices and lots of flavour into my food, and if that’s what I’m looking for, that’s what I was looking for… it’s what we actually really think of the food.”
Watch My Kitchen Rules (MKR) 2025 on Channel 7 and 7Plus.
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