Back at Puggles in the Gold Coast hinterland, the pair had their first-round 72 to improve on and a fresh batch of rivals to impress. Sheridan and Ted had opened this round on 69. By the end of the night, that target would look a very long way behind them.

A Note From Dad Before The Pressure Hits

Before the cooking took over, a handwritten message from Lucy's dad reduced both women to tears. For Lucy, the reminder that her family was backing them meant plenty.

Then came a menu with ambition in every course: chilli crab with shio pan and lime butter, sticky duck with Asian greens and thousand-layer potato, and a chocolate, honey and amaretto éclair.

With a self-taught baker in the kitchen, the bread and pastry were going to get plenty of attention. They ended up telling two very different stories.

The Crab Gets Two Perfect 10s

The entrée was the sort of opening that makes the remaining teams reconsider their menus. Generous crab, confident seasoning, beautifully made shio pan and lime butter gave Manu Feildel and Colin Fassnidge very little to complain about.

Colin called it “a grand final dish”. Both judges awarded 10, giving Krysten and Lucy the full 20 points available for the course.

Zoe was impressed too, putting the crab roll among the best she had eaten. After all the conversation about what she would and wouldn't taste, here was a dish she could happily get stuck into.

The sticky duck kept things moving in the right direction. Pink, tender meat came with a punchy sauce, while the thousand-layer potato had the crisp outside and soft middle the dish needed.

Manu and Colin each gave it eight. Two courses down, the hosts had banked 36 out of 40 judges' points. Puggles was having a very good evening.

The Table Finds Something Else To Argue About

The guests, naturally, had other business to attend to. Sheridan and Ted wanted to know why the other teams' scores for their Garden Club dinner had been so much less generous than the judges'.

Angus's answer was that the food hadn't tasted good, with Alisha defending everyone's right to an opinion. Asking for feedback at this table remains a fairly efficient way to receive more than you wanted.

Things became personal when Sheridan described Alisha and Deanne as loud. During the exchange, raised hands only made matters worse, with Sheridan calling their behaviour rude, disrespectful and aggressive.

Deanne had raised her hand while trying to let Sheridan finish speaking as Ted attempted to join in. What might have been a passing interruption became another dispute about the Adelaide friends' personalities.

Manu and Colin tried to lighten the mood, but Alisha was hardly about to turn the volume down on command. The original teams and newcomers were still struggling to find a comfortable seat beside each other.

Meanwhile, Angus and Simon continued questioning Zoe's place in a cooking competition as a pescatarian. Zoe defended being able to assess meat dishes visually, while teammate Zac could taste them. One successful crab course was never going to settle that argument.

Lucy's Pastry Lets Her Down

Back in the kitchen, dessert was supposed to play to Lucy's strengths. Instead, the choux came out flat and dense, leaving the baker devastated and the planned éclair in trouble.

The pair adapted, stacking two pastries around the chocolate filling. It got dessert to the table, but it couldn't give the choux the lightness it was missing.

The flavours still won fans. Simon even called it “the best dessert I've ever had”, a generous review on a night when the judges were less convinced by the texture.

Manu awarded seven and Colin six. The pastry had cost them, but 13 points for dessert still left an impressive 49 out of 60 from the judges.

A 20-Point Improvement And A Huge New Target

The guests added another 43 out of 50, the first guest total of the season to reach the 40s. Angus and Simon gave a perfect 10, Sheridan and Ted and Zoe and Zac each awarded nine, Alisha and Deanne gave eight, and Harrison and Oliver scored seven.

Manu's 25 and Colin's 24 brought the final result to 92 out of 110. That was 20 points better than Krysten and Lucy's first dinner and 23 clear of Sheridan and Ted.

The hosts had wanted redemption and had plenty to celebrate. Even a failed batch of choux couldn't stop them taking a commanding lead, with four teams still to cook in this round. Colin warned the remaining cooks to watch out, and the gap at the top made it easy to see why.

Next are Sydney Gatecrashers Harrison and Oliver, opening Bloody Bellissimo with treasured Italian family recipes. Krysten and Lucy have left them quite a number to chase.

My Kitchen Rules continues tonight at 7.30pm on Seven and 7plus.