My Kitchen Rules 2026 launched into Round Two with even more heat than Round One.
As the Gatecrashers arrived after Jane and Shane’s final cook, the teams were met with some cold, hard stares. After fighting their way through the chaos of the kitchen and dinner table, the original teams (or ‘OGs’, as they called themselves) were not too happy to see some fresh faces on their turf.
Hence, alliances and rivalries were formed between the ‘OGs’ and Gatecrashers before the teams even got to know each other, or at least got to taste each other’s cooking.
Alisha and Deanne told WHO about this “stare-off” and why the rivalry was so intense.
“We were judging already,” the ‘Classy Bogans’ said. “We were like, ‘We got it. So you guys can get it.
“We’ve already done a whole round together, the OGs, so it was like, you’re coming in on our turf. Back off. This is us.”
However, while newcomers rarely get the warmest of welcomes, many fans pointed out that the original teams were acting extra critical.
“Why do they have to treat the newys so bad?” one fan wrote online.
“Classy Bogans being extra critical to newcomers,” another agreed.
Speaking to WHO, Zoe and Zac unpacked what it felt like to enter this season as Gatecrashers, and how surprising it was to receive so little support and respect so early on.
Zoe and Zac didn’t realise being a Gatecrasher was a ‘bad thing’
As Round Two kicked off, the original teams were immediately sceptical of the newcomers, with Angus saying to the camera that the Gatecrashers were smiling too hard and Simon adding that they need to “know [their] place”.
While Zoe and Zac expected the competition to bring out everyone’s competitive sides, they didn’t realise just how unwelcome they would be as Gatecrashers.
“I think us going into it, we didn’t really have any expectations of being a Gatecrasher,” Zac told WHO. “And Zoe and I have spoken about how, historically in the show, Gatecrashers aren’t very well received by the general public, but we didn’t really consider that.
“But then it was very quick within the existence of filming that we realised that we actually are receiving quite a bit of heat from the original teams. And that is because they’ve established relationships and they don’t see why we should be there.”
Zac added: “So it was really crazy. We didn’t think it was a bad thing to be a Gatecrasher until other people made it a bad thing.”
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