18 NT NEWS. Monday, March 28, 2011. www.ntnews.com.au

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AManuof fewwords

Manu’s kitchen rules

COOK-OFF

Frompage 15

Toofey’s, Hugos, Restaur-ant VII, Bilsons, then hisown restaurant, L’etoile.

All that work came at apersonal cost and his12-year relationship withJonti’s mother ended in2009. ‘‘I had times when Iwas crushed and wentdown a big black hole formonths and years, but I’vealways picked myself up,put the gloves back on andfought,’’ Feildel says.

The fact that Feildel’s ac-cent almost stopped himgetting the My Kitchen Ru-les job makes the show’sratings success that muchsweeter. ‘‘To get the jobwas very hard,’’ Feildelsays. ‘‘My French accentwas a big issue (for Seven).It was yes, then no, thenyes, then no for a while.’’

But Feildel’s accent is sopopular that some viewershave accused him of mak-ing it even more pro-nounced in this year’ssecond series. ‘‘Sometimesmy accent is a little thick-er. I put it down to stress,’’he says. ‘‘You have thecameras, the contestantslooking at you, and youknow 1.5 million viewersare going to watch you.Sometimes I can’t find thewords.’’

My Kitchen Rules hasturned his fortunesaround. He has a hit TVshow, an acclaimed rest-aurant, a new tapas-styleeatery and a just-releasedcook book.

n My Kitchen Rules,Channel 7, Monday, Tues-day, Wednesday, 7.30pm