
Shock win in My Kitchen Rules GF
Best mates Luke and Matt have controversially been crowned My Kitchen Rules champions for 2019.
The buddies from Newcastle walked away with $250,000 in prize money after defeating Ibby and Romel in the first all-male Grand Final showdown in the show's 10-year history. But some viewers, and even one of the other MKR contestants, were "shocked" by the result and have accused the show of being rigged.
In the grand final each team had to produce a five course menu for a restaurant filled with family, friends, all the previously eliminated teams (apart from Viktor and G, Chris and Lesley and Karito and Ian) and 10 judges who have appeared on MKR over the years.

Here's the full menu from each team.
Matt and Luke:
1st Course - Confit Salmon with Peas
2nd Course - Duck Ravioli with Wild Mushroom
3rd Course - Barramundi with Roasted Fennel
4th Course - Beef Cheek with Parsnip Mash
5th Course - Peach Bellini

Ibby and Romel:
1st Course - Kibbeh Nayeh with Nigella Seed Lavosh
2nd Course - Lebanese Shish Barak with Pine Nuts
3rd Course - Chargrilled Octopus with Muhammara
4th Course - Spiced Kangaroo with Freekeh and Labneh
5th Course - Knafeh with Pistachio Ice Cream

According to Sportsbet Matt and Luke were the firm favourites heading into the grand final, but they got off to a shaky start when a number of their ravioli for the second course stuck to the tray and fell apart.
"These have just gone to f***ing s**t," Luke said matter of factly about the dish.
The hiccup meant they only served two pieces of ravioli on each plate instead of the three they were aiming for.
Things then almost went to s**t again for the cricket mates as they prepared the sauce for their beef cheeks.
"The sauce is just becoming gluey … That's not usuable, it's just not right," Luke said, before he pulled a rabbit out of the bag (not literally) and fixed it.
This. Is. Not. Good. 😰#MKR | https://t.co/DIdria31ne pic.twitter.com/D2rCJVvOOA
— #MKR (@mykitchenrules) April 28, 2019
On the flip side things appeared to go relatively smoothly for Ibby and Romel right up until the fifth course. That's when Ibby dropped a few serves of pistachio ice cream when they had just minutes left to plate up their knafeh dessert. The duo managed to avoid disaster by making several spare serves of ice cream just in case.
But at the end of the day the 10 MKR judges felt Matt and Luke had done enough to take home the crown. They scored 92 out of a possible 100 points whereas Ibby and Romel scored 88.
Viewers were surprised by the result and MKR contestant Josh Bonwick tweeted that he was "shocked" by the judges decision.
Watching #MKR grand final (dont judge me) and the way the (white) judges are complaining about the Middle Eastern team's food being too "spicy" is so eye-roll worthy. Classic framing of the true blue aussies vs inner city queer middle easterners. I wonder who will win... 🙄🙄
— Blair Williams (@BlairWilliams26) April 28, 2019
So obvious that they wanted the Aussies to win & not those contestants who were promoting their own culture. Ibby & Romel should have won. #MKR
— Zahra Adil 💥 (@ZahAdl) April 28, 2019
I can say with a clean conscience after eating both team's dishes tonight, I believe Ibby and Romel should have won as their food to me was superior in flavour#MKR
— Joshua Bonwick (@JoshuaBonwick) April 28, 2019
The food was chalk and cheese tonight. We were all so shocked.
— Joshua Bonwick (@JoshuaBonwick) April 28, 2019
Matt and Luke, both from Newcastle, met at the Hunter Academy of Sport when they were teenagers and have been close ever since.
In a recent interview with Who magazine, Luke revealed that Matt has always been a loyal friend.
"Matt came to my wedding with his girlfriend at the time, and they actually broke up at my wedding," Luke told Who.
"I didn't know about it because he didn't want to spoil the day or take the attention away," Luke confessed.
As for what they plan to do with their prize money, Luke recently told New Idea: "Matt and I, we're currently trying to work together on a few ideas we've had. There are a few little things in the pipeline. We are keen to stick with our passions and see if we can integrate food into the things that we love to do already. Matt works in social work and I'm a teacher, so we're hoping to integrate food and education in a way that can benefit young people."

Ibby and Romel were one of this season's most controversial teams who faced accusations of cheating from rival teams.
They outraged the other contestants early on when Ibby told them he was a male nurse, only to later come clean and admit he's actually a restaurant and cafe owner, which some felt gave him an unfair advantage.
Other teams also criticised the pair for sinking thousands of dollars of their own money into the competition to hire kitchen hands to help them while they practised their dishes in their apartment.
"Give or take we put in $30,000 combined," Romel told news.com.au.
"Ibby and I both run businesses. What we found early on was that chopping up, cleaning up, running to Coles a gazillion times a day, it was just consuming all our time. We thought, why don't we just hire a kitchen hand to clean after us, chop things up and run to Coles?
"The staff we hired, it wasn't a secret from the other contestants," Romel explained. "At no point had we broken any rules. It was basically to save time. And as far as creating dishes for us, that absolutely never happened. They didn't create menus, they just cleaned and chopped up."

This year's season of My Kitchen Rules was rocked by several controversies, including a sex scandal between two rival contestants and a dinner party faux pas where one female contestant told another, "I thought you were trans".
Yeah, no. I can't believe I watched this show for months just to see a team which is super inconsistent win... Not a fan! #MKR
— Lucia (@lfsleigh) April 28, 2019