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My Kitchen Rules is on the boil

Manu Feildel and Pete Evans. Picture: Simon Santi/The West Australian

Australia's official TV ratings season is yet to begin, but the record-breaking start to My Kitchen Rules' fifth season has left celebrity judges Pete Evans and Manu Feildel gobsmacked.

The foodie duo were in Perth yesterday for Channel 7's Perth program launch, joined by some of the network's stars including last year's The X Factor winner Dami Im and A Place to Call Home actress Abby Earl.

Despite the show going head-to-head with reality TV rivals Nine's The Block: Fans v Faves and Ten's The Biggest Loser, My Kitchen Rules' Monday premiere set ratings records across the country (2.38 million viewers based on OzTam's combined five-city metro and regional figures).

In Perth, it attracted 287,000 viewers for its highest ratings for a season launch.

Feildel said he was amazed at how the show had grown in popularity year after year. "It's kind of crazy talking about the fact that the ratings are getting better every year, which is great," he said. "Often for a show it goes down more than it goes up over the years, so we're happy and very proud of it."

Despite a bumper start to the season, Evans and Feildel said ratings were at the back of their minds during filming.

Also at the Perth launch were WA's two MKR teams, "designer and miner" Jess Anderson and Felix Kemmer and feisty globetrotting duo Chloe James and Kelly Ramsay.