"The (cameraman) said he filmed us unexpectedly doing a few 'coupley' things and I said, 'You can't use that, you don't have my permission.
"He said, 'I can use whatever I want'."
Afterwards, Bathgate said she and Gilray "toned down" their blossoming romance when the cameras were rolling - but found it too tough so gave up.
"I guess you never know when the camera is on, and towards the end (we) didn't really care."
Bathgate, who is hoping to swap nursing for cooking by studying at Le Cordon Bleu in Wellington later this year, said being in the bottom two next to Gilray was "horrible".
"Having to stand there and then fight for our case, why we should stay in the competition, was horrible.
"I felt like just bursting into tears right there and then, but I was like, 'Nah I'm not going to give the judges the satisfaction of crying in front of them, I'm not going to be weak'."
Despite being picked on by the judges for being "distracted", Bathgate said her relationship with Gilray wasn't to blame for her elimination.
"If you watch other episodes they made a big deal out of it, saying Matt was distracted and I was distracted. I don't think it affected our cooking.
"The producers would have been loving it and it made great TV."
Gilray recently told the Herald on Sunday the pair had talked about their romance and said: "If it's meant to be it's meant to be."
"We talk pretty much every day. We text, email and Skype and we have caught up fairly often."
Bathgate was also cagey when asked if they were still dating.
"We're really good friends and we keep in touch a lot, and when we see each other it's really good."
* MasterChef screens on TV One every Tuesday night. nzherald.co.nz will interview every contestant as they are eliminated.
