Nigella Lawson has completely charmed viewers with her My Kitchen Rules debut, as fans declared she will “save the series”.
The British home cooking queen, who was earlier announced as Pete Evans’ replacement for the 2022 season, appeared alongside French chef Manu Feildel on Sunday night for the struggling cooking show’s much-anticipated return to screens.
And her star-power could prove to be the winning ingredient to bolster MKR‘s ratings, with viewers rushing to social media to give the 62-year-old their tick of approval.
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At one stage during the premiere episode, which saw Victorian father-and-daughter duo Peter and Alice cooking first, Lawson ditched her cutlery to chomp into a lamb cutlet, much to the delight of people watching from home.
Prior to the show airing, Lawson took to Twitter to say she was “excited and nervous in equal measure”, as she urged her followers to tune in with a “glass of wine or mug of tea”.
The 12th season of the Channel 7 cooking show follows a two-year hiatus for MKRwhich suffered declining ratings in 2019 and 2020.
Presumably in a bid to compete with its rival prime-time show, Channel 9’s Married At First Sightthe series was copping criticism for overdoing it on the dramatics and straying from its humble roots.
In an effort to reinvigorate the franchise, the network parted ways with original Judge Evans following a slew of controversies, and promised the series would be bouncing back to its core values of “real food and real people” in 2022.
Meanwhile Evans, 49, responded to the news of Lawson’s appointment back in April, wishing his “dear mate Manu” the best for the future of the series.
“I wish Channel 7, the crew and my dear mate Manu ️all the very best on their upcoming series,” he wrote on social media at the time.
“I will always cherish the many years we spent together, creating so many wonderful memories.”
It’s understood Lawson will only feature in half of the season, with former MasterChef judge Matt Preston joining Feildel for the back half.
Celebrity chefs Colin Fassnidge and Curtis Stone are also set to return as guest judges.
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