MKR's Smiley Sam smiley no more

This weeks challenge is to cook with a unique herb but not all contestants managed to cook with what they want.

MKR's Sam and Chris. Picture: supplied Source: news.com.au

IT was herb and spice night in My Kitchen Rules headquarters tonight for the second rapid cook off and things certainly got spicy - and erm, "herby" I guess.

In short, an all-too simple salad and a bad butter chicken wiped the smile off Smiley Sam and his cousin Chris' face as they were sent straight to the first sudden death cook off by judges Pete and Manu.

In a little more detail, here's what happened:

Ashlee and Sophia declared they "were gonna smash it" - yeah, yeah, yeah, we've heard it all before.

Contestants almost came to fisticuffs over the coriander when snatching a herb of choice.

"We're not a bloody herb cash converters" said Smiley Sam after offering to swap his coriander for mint and then refusing to swap mint for basil. He'll learn to regret that later.

Jake fought, and fought hard for the wrong herb. He mint to get the coriander that thyme. "DAMN."

Ashlee decided basil wasn't Asian enough. "It's not Asian at all, I don't use it" - cue "2.0, fusion" Asian basil.

Jake took his thyme adding more puns into a sentence than you can poke a bunch of herbs at.

"It'll be thyme-ariffic! You'll have a great thyme," he said.

Pete and Manu drop a bomb - a time bomb. A collective and silent 'how DARE you' death stare competition rings out among the kitchen, throwing evil eyes the judges way.

Jake wins, naturally.

For the remaining 15 minutes, only one person may cook. The teams have a coronary.

Kerri: "I'm dying"

Andi: "Stop sweethearting me"

Steph: "Dan's in slow motion!"

Ashlee: "BABES!"

Stop the clock - three teams are safe: Ashlee and Sophia, Jenna and Joanna, Dan and Steph.

Four teams are unsafe: Sam and Chris, Jake and Elle, Kerri and Craig and Josh and Andi

Cue a second rapid round This time, it's all about spice... Where are the spice girls when you actually need them?!

It's ok, Jake and Elle plan to make up for their absence with their "spice train … of spices"? Ok.

"It feels like I'm walking the streets of Istanbul" Jake says referring to his chilli prawns .

Jake, that's in Turkey. "Oh, i don't know what country I'm in." That's makes two of us.

Sam and Chris run out of gas - literally. The flame on their butter chicken has been out for twenty minutes. We all wonder how they didn't notice that for TWENTY MINUTES.

In the end, Kerri and Craig's cardamom pear balls are pear-fect.

Josh and Andi's lamb and cauliflower two ways are great in two ways - spicy and tasty.

Jake and Elle still don't know what country they are in and neither does Manu or Pete.

"There's a fine line between creativity and confusion," says Pete. There's also a fine line between pleasure and pain and this perfectly sums up what it's like to watch Jake and Elle in the kitchen.

But ultimately it's Smiley Sam (and cousin' Chris') par-cooked butter chicken that will see them go head-to-head with Kieran and Nastassia in the "cauldron" tomorrow night.

And with that, Smiley Sam was no more. He was just Sam. Melancholy Sam.

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