Alisha and Deanne have shared why they believe their My Kitchen Rules (MKR) 2026 journey was over before it really had a chance to begin.
Following their elimination at the end of Round Two, the fan favourites claimed there was off-camera tension surrounding the contestants’ scoring that left them feeling like they “couldn’t win” — no matter what they did.
Speaking to WHO, the Adelaide besties said strategic scoring behind the scenes made them feel they were “doomed” throughout the competition.
MKR’s Alisha and Deanne share why they felt ‘doomed’ to fail
While every team is responsible for scoring one another’s dishes, Alisha and Deanne believe some contestants began thinking beyond the food as the competition progressed.
According to the pair, strategic voting became more noticeable towards the end of Round Two, but they felt they were judged more harshly than everyone else whenever their own scores came under scrutiny.
“When we came back to the table after cooking, [the feedback] wasn’t said quite as badly, and then you’re watching and you’re like, ‘You liars! Why didn’t you say it to our face?'” Alisha told WHO.
She also claimed other contestants were playing the same game.
“You could tell other people were strategically scoring a little bit here and there as well, but they don’t get as much hate,” she said.
“But for our scoring, it seems like there was more than that.”
Deanne said they felt trapped regardless of what score they handed out.
“You couldn’t win,” she said.
“It didn’t matter what we scored. Even when we loved Oliver and Harrison’s food, we were apparently strategic, even giving them a high score. We said it was our favourite meal, our favourite menu.
“You’re doomed if you do, you’re doomed if you don’t.”
The gals previously called out the “revenge scoring” that occurs on MKR in an exclusive interview with Chattr.
“Oh, it is personal. Definitely,” Deanne said of the scoring.
“I think they wanted us gone very quickly. Like, it’s easy to drop out a team if you can score them quite low.”
The pair say they were constantly trying to prove themselves
The duo also admitted it became emotionally exhausting trying to convince both the judges and the other contestants that they deserved to be there.
“We had to fight the hardest to kind of show that we wanted to be there,” Alisha told WHO.
“Our personalities are loud and we do say things. It felt like we weren’t just proving we could cook. It was trying to prove nearly to have people even like us.”
After repeatedly landing near the bottom of the leaderboard, the pair said they worried Australia would think they simply couldn’t cook.
“We did say we wanted to make our kids proud. It just felt like it was a little bit embarrassing, feeling like we couldn’t cook,” Deanne said.
Although their MKR journey has come to an end, it’s clear Alisha and Deanne believe the competition involved far more than what viewers saw on screen — and that the off-camera scoring dynamics ultimately left them feeling “doomed” from the start.
My Kitchen Rules airs on Channel 7 and 7Plus.
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