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My Kitchen Rules Australia Series 4 Episode 6

When Australia's favourite home-cooking show returns for its fourth series in 2013, the table will be set for a few extra guests.

Welcoming a new judge along with blind taste testing for the first time, the biggest shock for audiences will be seeing who's crashing the My Kitchen Rules dinner parties. Who do you think it could be?

One thing is certain: there are plenty of surprises in store when My Kitchen Rules launches in 2013.

Manu Feildel and Pete Evans return to host and judge the ultimate home-cooking battle as they accept dinner party invites in each state across the country.

This series they welcome new guest judge Colin Fassnidge to the table alongside returning guest judges Guy Grossi, Karen Martini and Liz Egan.

It's state versus state, plate against plate, as teams of two attempt to out-dine and out-wine each other to see whose kitchen rules.

Each team will take turns to transform an ordinary home into an instant restaurant for one pressure cooker night. They'll serve up a three course menu designed to impress not only their fellow contestants but our esteemed judges.

There will be triumphs, kitchen fires, laughter, tears and plenty of opinionated guests as they battle the clock and their nerves to plate up on time.

The top two teams will again battle it out in the grand final where they will present their ultimate dining menu to a full restaurant.

With $250,000 in prize money on offer, the knives will definitely be out.

Group 1 - Newly dating

After a series of upheavals, Lisa had found contentment. Then fate brought Stefano into her life and she discovered true happiness.

Now, after a couple of years together, they're thinking long-ΓÇ¿term togetherness. "We have a dream of one day having a B&B somewhere," says Lisa.

"It would be perfect for us to welcome people into our home and cook for them. We like to cook simple, relaxed, good food that the family can enjoy. Food that makes people happy and content."

That dream is quite a world away from Lisa's former life, in which she was an AFL player agent in a business started with her former husband. She gave it away to bring up her three small children (now 12, 10 and eight). Then in 2006 her marriage fell apart.

"My marriage breakdown made me change my life. I sat downΓÇ¿and thought, ΓÇÿWhat can I do?' So I went to uni to study criminology."

Then a couple of years ago, Stefano, 32, was about to go through an upheaval of his own - he was on holiday from his native Italy, travelling around Australia, when he met Lisa, 41, in her hometown of Adelaide.

Says Stefano, "Facing a different culture has been hard. I've had to adjust to the Australian way of life.

"I am just for the first time facing this world of Asian food, which ΓÇ¿I love," says Stefano. "The first time I ate an avocado was here in Australia. I say, ΓÇÿWow!' But the first time I have a mango I say, ΓÇÿIt looks like a big apple.' So I washed it like an apple and took a bite, skin and all. I say, ΓÇÿWhat? This is not what everybody says it is! They are taking the piss!'"

But overall, he loves Australian food. "The quality of produce is super, first class, nice and juicy and flavoursome."

As an Italian, food is naturally very important to Stefano. Fortunately, it is for Lisa, too. "Food is a way of making everyone happy and feel good," she says. "It has been a way of nurturing and showing love to my children. My food passion has evolved. I love to eat and the importance of having good healthy food has made me explore."

Now they love to cook together. "We entertain; we have family over for meals. It's important to do that. It's a nice bonding experience, especially with Stefano coming into my family."

When quizzed on the age difference between herself and Stefano, Lisa says "it's really not an issue".

"We are two people who love, respect and care about one another; we share common goals and dreams and are heading in the same direction in life.
"When we met two years ago, the issue of numbers never came up until at least three months into our relationship. It wasn't a factor that either of us ever considered in a negative light."