My Kitchen Rules judges Manu Feildel and Pete Evans. Photo / Supplied
My Kitchen Rules judges Manu Feildel and Pete Evans. Photo / Supplied
After being branded the biggest jerk on My Kitchen Rules, Josh Meeuwissen has hit back at the show with explosive claims about being "blackmailed" by producers.
The reality TV contestant appeared on Kyle and Jackie O in a bid to clean up his truly terrible reputation, after his on-screen behaviour easily cemented his title of "villain".
Australian fans are already up in arms about a teaser for their latest episode, during which Josh calls a female contestant a "slut" after she serves him dinner.
"They [producers] were saying if I didn't do certain things, they were going to portray that differently ... and they were telling me how they were going to edit it unless I played ball," he claimed.
The Broome-based deckhand says after the scene was filmed, he was hounded by a particularly overzealous producer, who "badly" wanted him to discuss the controversial moment in their interview.
Josh and Amy from MKR. Photo / TVNZ
"She followed us [he and wife and teammate Amy] to the hotel, took the lift with us, followed us to our hotel room, the entire way hounding, pleading with us, blackmailing us, and then had the audacity to justify this behaviour as 'doing her job,'" Josh said.
Josh then blamed TV ratings for the fact that the infamous "sluts" comment was even being aired at all, ironically stressing how inappropriate it was for the 7.30pm timeslot.
"The ratings are a big thing for them [My Kitchen Rules] - this year against Married At First Sight, they've pulled some low ratings and they're doing anything they can to get viewers in."
And according to Josh, he isn't the only contestant to receive questionable treatment by producers.
"Several teams were heavily pressured into answering questions by producers, who threatened teams that they wouldn't be allowed to leave the interview room until they said a particular thing," Josh said.
But after admitting his comment was off-colour, and that he hadn't used his "best judgment," Josh awkwardly shut down any further questions about it.
"Yeah, we'll go onto the next comment, thanks," he told Kyle and Jackie O abruptly, refusing to speak when they pressed him on the topic.
Later, Josh also claimed producers been purposely extending his time on the show saying there were times he was "pretty much ready to go home" but, "I can guarantee you they swung it in a way so we stayed in the competition."
