'My Kitchen Rules' contestant Carla Mangion reveals new relationship

A contestant from My Kitchen Rules has revealed that she is enjoying a relationship with someone she met while filming the show.

Carla Mangion from Victoria, who is coupled with her best friend Tom Carr on the Australian cooking reality show, said that her fellow contestant set her up with local chef Andrei Escobar during a night out while filming the show in New Zealand.

Mangion told the Herald Sun that she has been regularly flying to Auckland for the past six months to visit Mexican-born Escobar.

"Once we had a 24-hour break from filming so I went over to see Andrei for 17 hours," she said. "Filming can be really stressful and Andrei has been a breath of fresh air. We have so much in common - a love of food, a passion for travel and new cultures."

Mangion revealed that Carr has been very supportive of her new romance, saying: "He just wants to see me being happy, I think. No matter what happens on the show, I'll be glad I did it just to meet him."

Escobar has said that he would like to move to Australia permanently so that he and Mangion can be together.

Mangion and Carr recently revealed that they are upset that they were being portrayed "badly" on My Kitchen Rules.

Carr said: "I hope people acknowledge it is a TV show and the characters they're building aren't really us."

My Kitchen Rules airs Monday to Thursday at 7.30pm on the Seven Network.

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Watch a sneak peek from My Kitchen Rules below (Australian users only):