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My Kitchen Rules Australia Series 4 Episode 3

When Australia's favourite home-cooking show returns for its fourth series in 2013, the table will be set for a few extra guests.

Welcoming a new judge along with blind taste testing for the first time, the biggest shock for audiences will be seeing who's crashing the My Kitchen Rules dinner parties. Who do you think it could be?

One thing is certain: there are plenty of surprises in store when My Kitchen Rules launches in 2013.

Manu Feildel and Pete Evans return to host and judge the ultimate home-cooking battle as they accept dinner party invites in each state across the country.

This series they welcome new guest judge Colin Fassnidge to the table alongside returning guest judges Guy Grossi, Karen Martini and Liz Egan.

It's state versus state, plate against plate, as teams of two attempt to out-dine and out-wine each other to see whose kitchen rules.

Each team will take turns to transform an ordinary home into an instant restaurant for one pressure cooker night. They'll serve up a three course menu designed to impress not only their fellow contestants but our esteemed judges.

There will be triumphs, kitchen fires, laughter, tears and plenty of opinionated guests as they battle the clock and their nerves to plate up on time.

The top two teams will again battle it out in the grand final where they will present their ultimate dining menu to a full restaurant.

With $250,000 in prize money on offer, the knives will definitely be out.

Group 1 - Dating hipsters

Physical attraction brought this Perth twosome together, but their shared love of food cemented their relationship.

Josh, 24, first spotted Andi, 28, in a Perth CBD menswear store near his office.

"I used to go into the shop where Andi worked just to talk to her. I bought stuff that I didn't really like. That went on for about six months," confesses Josh.

Finally, the two ran into each other while out on the town. "And he said, ΓÇÿYou know all those t-shirts I bought? They're still in their bags. They're ugly,'" laughs Andi. "It just went from there."

On their first few dates, Josh took Andi out for breakfasts. Says Andi, "Then we'd be like, ΓÇÿWhat will we have for lunch?' And then we'd be: ΓÇÿSettle down, we only just finished breakfast!' All we'd talk about was food."

Not a lot has changed. For Andi, now a buyer for a chain of fashion stores and Josh, a business development manager, cooking remains an essential park of their busy lifestyles.

"The whole car trip home from work all we talk about is food and what's for dinner," says Josh. "We can't do anything until we've decided what we're going to eat."

They stop and get the ingredients for something ΓÇÿsimple, fresh and clean', then hit the kitchen together to prepare it. "We work from seven to seven and we don't want to be eating at 9.30pm," says Josh. "If we both do a bit, things get done faster and we can sit down and relax."

Says Andi, "We might make a fresh basil pesto, and stir it through some pasta. Or we like Mexican, real shared food, so we might do deconstructed tacos on a kind of mezze plate."

On the weekend they get serious about their cooking. "We work a lot of late nights. So on Sundays we spend the whole day cooking. We go to the market, get beautiful produce and spend the day that way," says Andi. Then they might have friends over to enjoy it al fresco in the Perth sunshine.

Or they might head over to each other's family homes for a meal. "My father is Burmese. Cooking is in the culture. And Mum is Irish. It was so drummed into my headΓÇ¿ as a child how important beautiful food is," says Andi.

"I remember my first Burmese/Irish Christmas," smiles Josh. "There was curry and ham in the spread. And guess what? They're great together!"
"Nothing nicer than a samosa and a bit of ham at Christmas," Andi concurs with a laugh.