Judges grimace over Amy and Tyson’s MKR dish

There’s one expression that no chef wants to see, and this is it…

And the disgust their food inspired no doubt came as a shock to My Kitchen Rules’ Serious Sibs Amy and Tyson, who have barely put a foot wrong throughout the entire show.

Having won the advantage in the last round, the duo got to choose their opponents for the semi-final on Tuesday, taking on David and Betty in the hope of eliminating their biggest threat.

But it all went awry when, after declaring themselves pickling pros, they decided it would be a good idea to pair pickled cucumber in a dessert with Pimm’s and ginger jelly.

“This could almost be the perfect dessert,” Tyson even bragged as their dish was taken to the blind judging table.

At first it seemed like Pete, Manu and their guest chefs Colin Fassnidge, Karen Martini, Guy Grossi and Liz Egan were loving every bite.

Until the pickle.

Desperately reaching for the water, Karen’s dislike was written all over her face, while the rest of the panel openly grimaced.

So did Tyson and Amy, the latter of who had earlier taunted her rivals, sniping, “I hope you’re watching us from the sidelines for the grand final!”

It was the climax to one of the most nail-biting episodes yet, which saw the two teams cook three courses, with 90 minutes for the entré, an hour for the main, and 30 minutes for dessert.

Never ones to back away from a challenge, Amy and Tyson cooked squab (a baby pigeon that hasn’t flown yet), with kale almonds and onion cream to start.

But while Amy got busy with the chopping knife, dispatching the young birds’ heads without so much as a flinch, Tyson’s inner Angry Man made a surprise appearance.

“I hate these scales. Piece of sh**,” he raged, launching into a tirade of expletives.

“There’s a lot more pressure than usual…” fretted Amy, willing her brother to get a grip.

Meanwhile, things were going from great to even greater for David and Betty, who nailed their Vietnamese sugarcane prawns.

On the other side of the kitchen though, the proverbial almost hit the fan once more when Amy screwed up the sauce she’d been reducing by completely forgetting about it.

“Amy and Tyson looked really stressed, they’ve left it too late I think,” said Pete.

Despite their flustered kitchen performance, the squab was a hit, with Colin remarking that it was “as good as you would get in any fine dining restaurant.”

Betty and David also won raves, with Pete declaring the battle well and truly on.

For the main course, the Hustlers got started on twice cooked pork belly with pumpkin puree and nashi pear, while the sibs chose duck and turnips – two types of duck and three kinds of turnip to be precise.

Yep, with pickled turnip, mashed turnip and turnip confit, there was A LOT of turnip.

“If the judges don’t like turnip, they won’t like anything about our dish,” said Amy, stating the obvious.

David and Betty soon had trouble afoot, with their pumpkin refusing to cook and their pork crackling refusing to crackle.

Loving the drama from the sidelines, Mama V got out the popcorn, noting, “this could be the end for them, they could be going home.”

Tyson feared he’d be the one going home though, after ignoring his sister’s warnings and over-cooking the duck breast.

“The judges expect perfection and so do we. To not have that is really disappointing, and it might send us home,” the repentant reality star sweated.

Luckily for them, the judges were equally unimpressed by David and Betty’s pork belly, with Colin noting it verged on being undercooked.

“It’s a good dish but they could have done a better job at it,” agreed Manu.

And so to dessert.

Betty and David made a mango sorbet with sticky rice, and were confident it would impress the panel.

“We know that it’s enough. That last plate was for my mum and we know that we put our heart and soul into it,” Betty said.

And impress it did, with Colin hailing the coconut sauce “standout”.

But there was one problem – the “dry” and “chewy” rice.

“I think it would have been a cracked 10 out of 10 dessert if their rice had of been perfect. But it’s not,” he added.

Of course, his reaction didn’t compare to pickle-gate, leaving Betty and David with everything to play for.

Especially when Liz told Amy and Tyson, “I thought your pickle idea was good, but you had too bigger pieces.

“You can imagine if you ate that one piece of pickle, your mouth is full of vinegar. If you had just chopped them up and sprinkled them on… well you were just this close to perfection.”

Scoring eights from everyone except Colin, who gave them a nine, it looked like Betty and David’s 49 points would be enough to see them through to the final.

Until Amy and Tyson scraped 51 points.

“Two points, it’s so close but so far. They scraped through by the skin of their teeth. Hashtag disappointed,” said a clearly gutted David, with Betty adding, “hashtag you beat us this time Angry Angry Man.”

“You guys put in an incredible effort, hashtag respect,” replied Manu.

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