My Kitchen Rules 2022: Janelle reveals what it was REALLY like to meet Nigella Lawson

The saying goes you should never meet your idol – for good reason – but new My Kitchen Rules contestant Janelle is happy she did. 

The sassy baker, 27, said it was a surreal experience meeting Manu Feildel, but Nigella Lawson is who she was really nervous to see face-to-face.

‘I was scared to meet her,’ Janelle told Daily Mail Australia on Friday after she got back from filming the show. 

She said: ‘You know the feeling of when you’re about to meet your idol you’re like, “Oh, I hope they‘re nice because if they’re not nice it’s going to ruin the image in my head.”

‘But when I met her, and she was so lovely and beautiful and had such a beautiful presence, it just cemented why I love her.’ 

Janelle also gushed over French chef Manu, 48, saying he was ‘a very humble person’. 

The sassy baker said it was a surreal experience meeting Manu Feildel, but Nigella Lawson, 62, (pictured) is who she was really nervous to see face-to-face

And yet, while he was ‘very down to earth’ and ‘loves to joke around’, it seemed Janelle couldn’t help saying ‘but Nigella was amazing’. 

Dubbed the ‘Kardashian of cakes’ for her successful cake decorating business, Janelle will be competing alongside her partner Monzir, 26, who has a knack for a good barbeque. 

The pair, who hail from New South Wales, are one of six pairs front lining the new season for the first round with another six couples filling out the second. 

The pair, who hail from New South Wales, are one of six pairs front lining the new season for the first round with another six couples filling out the second 

With ratings dwindling in the last season before the show’s two-year hiatus and the disgraced leave of former judge Pete Evans following his controversies, the pressure is on for MKR to make a comeback. 

According to Janelle, it was something all the contestants felt.

She said: ‘The fact that MKR wasn’t around for a few years definitely put some pressure on us to bring it back and leave it on a positive note as well. 

‘I think that it has definitely put a lot of responsibility on each of the contestants to bring it back and make it better than ever or else what’s the point in bringing it back?’

With ratings dwindling in the last season before the show’s two-year hiatus and the disgraced leave of former judge Pete Evans, 48, (right) following his controversies, the pressure is on for MKR to make a comeback. (Pictured on the show next to Manu, 48)

The contestants won’t be the only fresh faces gracing our screens this season with Nigella taking Pete’s place in the first round next to Manu, and Matt Preston filling in for the second. 

Celebrity chefs Colin Fassnidge and Curtis Stone will then man the show’s finals, both of whom Janelle says she has ‘met along the way’. 

My Kitchen Rules airs Monday at 7.30pm on Channel Seven

My Kitchen Rules airs Monday at 7.30pm on Channel Seven