Channel Seven was forced to issue a reminder to keyboard warriors after two My Kitchen Rules contestants were attacked by online trolls.
The network took to its Instagram and Facebook Stories after Monday night’s episode, which aired this season’s final instant restaurant, to remind fans at home that the contestants were “real people.”
“Our amazing MKR contestants are real people,” the statement said.
“Comments are encouraged, but offensive or personal attacks are not permitted.”
While the posts did not name any of the current contestants in particular, social media users criticized Victorian brothers Rob and Liam Watt during the episode.
“It’s almost time tonight, I’m totally fine,” Liam captioned a video posted to his Instagram Stories on Monday, in which he raised a glass to his lips with a shaking hand.
The Watt siblings were eliminated after mother-daughter duo Janey and Maddie failed to “bomb” as hard as they would have liked.
The siblings started the competition on a high note, however, fans did not react well when the duo refused to rate a single dish from Janey and Maddie’s three-course menu.
Channel Seven has been forced to issue a reminder to keyboard warriors after two My Kitchen Rules contestants were attacked by online trolls.
“We tried so hard,” Liam said when the pair were eliminated. ‘Congratulations to everyone, we wish you the best of luck.’
MKR’s official Facebook page racked up hundreds of comments about Rob and Liam following their elimination, with fans of the series expressing their frustrations over the brother’s “negativity” towards the other contestants and “strategic” voting.
“Bye,” was the most common comment, with other viewers calling the brothers “sour grapes,” “childish,” “Melbourne snobs” and “wafflers.”
“I enjoyed watching the spoiled loser brothers get fired,” one fan wrote on MKR’s Facebook, for example.
However, others took aim at Janey and Maddie, particularly the duo’s mother who licked her fingers and then touched the food.
While the posts did not name any of the current contestants in particular, Victorian brothers Rob and Liam Watt were criticized by social media users during the episode.
“Let’s not forget the pineapple spin and then he licks his fingers,” one fan noted.
“I saw Janey lick her fingers and then touch the food,” someone else commented, followed by another who shared, “Her hygiene is disgusting.” Licking fingers and handling food all the time.’
‘I agree,’ another viewer responded. ‘They should have been disqualified for using canned tomatoes and puff pastry (sic). After all, it’s supposed to be a cooking show.
While someone else took aim at Maddie and Janey: “The show is a joke now, the mother needs to grow up.”
“Both teams are so unpleasant that it stopped mattering which one stayed,” someone else assessed.
Daily Mail Australia has contacted Channel Seven for comment.
Mum Janey was also heavily criticized for licking her fingers and then touching the food.
‘Is anyone else offended by Channel 7’s position?’ commented one MKR viewer.
‘Maybe Chanel 7 should tell their contestants that. Viewers react to what we witness, your page makes it possible for us to react.’
Meanwhile, other fans said they were tuning out, after spotting a glaring continuity error (and not for the first time this season).
Viewers were left baffled when they saw Janey take a hot tray out of the oven with her bare hands.
An MKR viewer took to Facebook to ask if anyone else had been “offended” by Channel 7’s statement.
“Some errors in the staging (for example, removing the tray from the oven with bare hands, etc.) unfortunately reinforce the opinion that everything is a stage show and that these contestants do not really cook,” one person wrote on Facebook .
“I turned it off and went to bed.”
Earlier this year, MKR judge and celebrity chef Colin Fassinidge also took aim at online trolls.
Talking about the Mental like anyone On the podcast, he said he’s willing to put up with online criticism, but targeting his wife Jane Hyland and daughters Lilly, 14, and Meave, 12, was crossing a line.
‘Someone said I would abuse my children. Someone said they would rape my wife. Someone said they would burn my house down. That’s just because they don’t like your TV show,” Colin said.
“You can criticize me for being the worst cook in the world, my restaurants suck and you hate my hair, but leave my kids and the contestants out of this.”
And I said, “Really?” People think they can say whatever they want. I don’t care when they attack me, but when they go to the next level, that’s when I go crazy.’
Colin contacted New South Wales Police in 2015 after receiving a disturbing tweet relating to his daughters.
“A guy told me he would take care of my kids indirectly and I went to the police and asked them what they were going to do about it,” Colin said. news.com.au in 2015 at the time of the incident.
‘The police officer said ‘he didn’t say he was going to abuse them’… and he couldn’t do anything.’
Viewers were left baffled when they saw Janey take a hot tray out of the oven with her bare hands on Monday night and said the show felt “staged”.