My Kitchen Rules (MKR) 2025 viewers were shocked when ‘villain’ Michael interrupted Mark and Tan’s judging to insinuate that Tan had professional cooking experience. While Tan manages five restaurants, he doesn’t work as a chef in any of the kitchens.
When judges Manu Feidel and Colin Fassnidge were complimenting Mark and Tan’s Chicken Khao Soi main, Michael asked Tan if this dish is served in his restaurants, to which he replied: “Absolutely. Any Thai restaurant should have it on their menu.”
Tan tells Chattr it was “annoying” to have Michael pipe up at the dinner table, but was pleased when Manu stood up for him.
“It was more annoying for me. We obviously know Michael talks a lot. Like any time, people are [allowed] to ask questions about whatever they want, but it’s more like a time and place,” Tan says.
“I think going into this competition, I [knew] there would be people [who would talk about my restaurants], but maybe not as much as Michael did. And after clearly explaining that I’m not a chef, [he still carried] on about it.”
After Michael had his moment during judging, Manu shut him down and told him off.
“It’s pretty cool, just in general, seeing Manu having your back kind of thing was a great moment. But other than that, it was kind of satisfying to have it put to rest,” the MKR contestant adds.
While Tan was a bit diplomatic about Michael’s behaviour, his mate Mark was pretty blunt.
“It’s just Michael being Michael. He’s always pretty rude and disrespectful… there’s a time and place, but you know, I guess that’s Michael, just trying to make excuses for why they might not cook as well,” Mark says.
“I think [he’s] trying to get the OGs on his side, so they [can] basically just try to push all the gatecrashers out.”
Does MKR’s Tan cook in his restaurants?
Tan tells Chattr he has no time to cook in his restaurants as he is too busy managing them.
“I am not a professional chef,” Tan says. “I have helped my parents in the kitchen, but [that wasn’t a] commercial setting, and that was a very long time ago when I was younger.
“I’ve got five businesses to manage, so I don’t have time in the kitchen.”
Mark and Tan ended up scoring an 80/110 for their Instant Restaurant, placing them second on the leaderboard behind Danielle and Marko.
My Kitchen Rules (MKR) airs on Monday and Tuesday nights at 7:30pm on Channel 7 and 7Plus.
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