They're seen as the villains of the smash hit My Kitchen Rules, but Thomas Carr and Carla Mangion claim otherwise.

According to Mangion “we're great mates with everyone, and we needed to make a few calls to say we loved your entree, we loved your dessert.”

“Every good show has some great villains, and that’s what makes the show memorable,” Carr said.

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But many believed the pair got their just desserts this week, serving up the worst dessert in the show's history.

“Carla and I had been so critical previously, and I guess it was time for us to be on the other end of the stick,” Carr said.

“If you're going to go bad, you might as well go down in a blaze of glory. There’s no point getting a two or a three. I’m shattered we didn’t get a zero,” said Mangion.

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Underneath it all, the fun-loving friends are as soft as melting cheesecake. Away from the kitchen Mangion is a speech therapist, working with special needs children at Scope Victoria.

“I love my job, I’m very passionate about what I do, I love working with kids,” she said.

Carr also works in health. “I work as a podiatrist in the community health sector, so I work in the public health sector. I see clients who may not be able to access private hospitals,” he explained.

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So how do they cope with busy careers and newly, famous faces? “We take the Mickey out of ourselves all the time. Those lavender cheesecakes were an absolute disgrace really,” Carr said.

According to TV critic Craig Bennett “you walk into a show like My Kitchen Rules with your eyes wide open - if you don’t, you’re a bit foolish, because these shows are all about actions and reactions. These shows are about villains as well.

“We love a TV villain, and they should be proud that they’ve been pegged in that category,” he said.

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“A show like My Kitchen Rules, which is a ratings bonanza, is all about the balance, it’s all about getting the ingredients right. So as well as people we love, there are those we’re not going to like so much. We need those TV villains to make the mix fabulous, to keep that soufflé up,” Bennett concluded.