My Kitchen Rules 2016: Group 3 contestants

No sign of My Kitchen Rules slowing down or ending for some time, with Seven now confirming a third group of contestants will join the series.

Added to a possible 4th trip visit to instant restaurants, group battles, and kitchen HQ duels, it’s going to make life very tough for Nine and Seven for a long time.

In case you had forgotten, last year the show ended in early May.

Here are bios and select quotes for the third group cooking off from next Monday.

Group 3

Eve and Jason, Victoria
Lovebirds Eve, 44, and Jason, 43, might’ve been together for 23 years, but they’re just as in love as any newlyweds. In fact, in all their years together they’ve only spent two nights apart. Ever.

What’s an average dinner at home?
Eve: It’s no surprise to anyone we know, we’re curry mad. We make curry quite a lot. I love braises and I love spices. A curry on day four or I’ve after you cook it is unbelievably good, that’s kind of our standard. We don’t really do the meat and three veg thing. We eat a lot of Asian food, and Jase will often grab a book, it might be Heston or Thomas Keller and be like, ‘I’ve been reading this thing, let me cook it’ so I get these kind of weird and wonderful meals thrown at me occasionally.
Jason: I like Finding really old recipes, like some strange recipes that no-one cooks anymore.

Chris and Cookie, NSW
Chris, 44, and Cookie, 44, almost couldn’t have met any younger than they did – their fathers played rugby league together in Newcastle ensuring an in-built love of sport and a lifelong friendship from birth. Chris, now a sports physiotherapist, and dietician Cookie are both fathers to two looking for the next phase in their careers.

Anything you won’t eat?
Cookie: We tried pig’s intestine the other day and that was disgusting. But we’ll have a go at most things. Chris will try more offal than me, I’m not big on it, I think there are so many good things to eat, why would you eat offal!
Chris: I’m not big on kale.
Cookie: We’re just sort of set against it as it’s supposed to be a super food; there’s a lot of wankiness around that stuff.

Hazel & Lisa, Queensland
Hazel and Lisa are not your typical mother-daughter team. Fitness trainer Hazel, at 48, is only 10 years older than her step daughter and they are more like best friends who love to shop and cook together. Expect a focus on clean eating when sitting at their dinner table.

Do you focus on healthy food?
Hazel: When I’m at home, most definitely. But if it’s a special occasion or we’re sorting out a dinner party, that’s not usually clean eating but we’ll sort of try to use the best products possible. But usually when it’s just me cooking for the family, eight times out of 10 I’ll cook something clean because you can make a lot of clean desserts too and everyone loves a dessert. Lisa: You can make a lot of food that’s clean and a lot of people don’t even realise, it’s not as hard you think.

Mike and Tarq, Queensland
Only child Tarq has always had the undivided attention of his dad Mike in the kitchen and it certainly shows on the plate when they cook together. Tarq, 26, and Mike, 55, love nothing more than cooking for friends after a round of golf. Since the invitation often comes from the 19th hole, it’s lucky they have a well-stocked pantry.

How would you describe your cooking?
Tarq: Fairly generous to start. We love our chilli too, that’s a really big part of our food, bringing a lot of very flavourful elements. We like multiple layered kind of food; bringing different things to the party that you may not always expect. Probably our best asset is our versatility, bringing different flavours and cuisines together, our fusion of cuisines and ingredient.

Tim and Dee, NSW
Tim, 30, and Dee, 28, celebrated their one-year wedding anniversary by signing up for MKR! Always after an adventure, these sweethearts love to travel, cook and gather new knowledge along the way to add to their multi-cultural union

How did your love of food evolve?
Dee: We’ve always loved to eat food. Food is just a bit part of my family; we were always in the kitchen cooking, eating, hanging out so I guess Tim just spent a lot of time in our kitchen and now we live together we do the same in our kitchen.
Tim: Through our families, our culture (Tim is Chinese Australian; Dee is Spanish). But mum did most of the cooking so that is where I learnt the basic cooking techniques, but I didn’t really pay attention, I didn’t pay attention to the names either but I just kind of knew it without really knowing it. And then when I started dating Dee I got a bit of a passion for it. The BBQ is my thing.

Carmine & Lauren, South Australia
Before Lauren, 31, decides to become a mum and practice her pureeing techniques, she’s having a shot at the MKR title! While green smoothies and clean eating are normally on the menu at home, this nutrition student and her concreter husband Carmine, 33, are bringing the full flavours of their Italian heritage along for the MKR ride.

What do you love most about each other?
Carmine: I love Lauren’s passion for what she wants to achieve. She never lets go of her dreams and goals and always does her best to achieve what she wants in life. She’s a very hard worker. Lauren: Carmine is the same – he’s very hard working, very caring, very loving. He’s very hard working but at the same time he can be very carefree and be able to wind down and I wish I could do that. I’m not a stress head but when I want to do something I’m going to do it now.