My Kitchen Rules (MKR) has been thrown into controversy after eliminated team Tiffany and Giancarlo hit out at the show’s scoring system, following Simon’s shock admission that he deliberately scored them down to secure their exit.
During Wednesday night’s episode, Simon revealed he strategically awarded lower scores to Tiffany and Giancarlo because he viewed them as a bigger threat — instead choosing to keep Zoe and Zac in the competition because he believed they would be easier opponents to beat.
The confession sparked outrage among viewers, with many accusing Simon of turning the cooking competition into a tactical game rather than one based purely on food.
After their elimination, Tiffany and Giancarlo opened up about the moment they were sent home, questioning whether contestants should have so much power over each other’s scores at such a crucial stage of the competition.
Tiffany and Giancarlo slam MKR’s scoring system
Looking back on the experience, Giancarlo admitted the elimination was emotionally devastating after the amount of preparation they had put in.
“It was super rough, I’ll be honest with you,” he said. “We were so upset. We were up until 4am the night before practising our hearts out.
“It is a competition at the end of the day.”
Tiffany, however, believes the competition should ultimately come down to the quality of the dishes.
“But it’s a cooking competition,” she said. “It should be judged on food.”
Giancarlo questioned whether the contestant scoring system gives too much influence to the teams.
“The show’s super successful and it’s been on for a long time,” he said. “But maybe that part of it is a bit flawed, that there’s so much power at the end there for someone to do that.”
Tiffany agreed.
“For the other contestants, we think at that stage it definitely should just be with the judges.”
Giancarlo revealed they were later given instructions about how scoring would work.
“Our scoring still counts after this, and we were all told afterwards that we can’t score under a five to stop that from happening,” he said.
Tiffany believes intervention should have happened sooner.
“If that was the case, then production should have stepped in when Simon was low-balling us, and possibly other teams,” she said.
A Seven spokesperson confirmed to Chattr that the guest teams’ scores were averaged before being combined with the judges’ scores, meaning the judges’ scores carried greater weight in determining the final result.
MKR fans call out Simon’s ‘unfair’ scoring strategy
Viewers were left furious after Simon admitted his decision was based on strategy rather than the food itself, with many taking to social media to argue Tiffany and Giancarlo deserved to stay in the competition.
Some fans called for Simon to face consequences over his scoring decisions, while others questioned whether contestants should have the ability to influence eliminations in the first place.
“Simon should be disqualified!” one fan wrote on Instagram.
“Truly disappointed with the scoring tonight with Simon. So much for a cooking show, a team who truly deserved to stay has gone home,” another shared.
“So unfair!!!!! Tiffany and Giancarlo should’ve make it to the final!” wrote a third.
Others described the move as unfair and argued that strategic scoring had no place in a cooking competition.
“The strategic scoring is not it. With 100k on the line it’s match fixing. Simon and Angus need to go,” they wrote.
“When they see a threat they will do anything to be at the top. Unfair,” another said, with a final person simply writing: “Ridiculous.”
With the scoring system now under scrutiny, fans are questioning whether My Kitchen Rules will need to make further changes to prevent future contestants from using tactics over taste to get ahead.
Watch My Kitchen Rules (MKR) 2026 on Channel 7 and 7Plus.
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