'MasterChef' judge Gary Mehigan slams 'MKR'

One of the judges from MasterChef has slammed a rival cooking show.

Gary Mehigan, who is a judge and mentor on the Australian version of the Channel Ten reality television series alongside George Calombaris and Matt Preston, said that My Kitchen Rules is a copycat version of their show.

Mehigan told National Features: "My Kitchen Rules is quite obviously a blatant rip-off. The set looks similar to ours and the phrases are the same," while food critic Preston added: "I hear that [My Kitchen Rules judge] Manu [Feildel] has borrowed my speech just in case he wins a Logie this year."

Preston also insisted that MasterChef is his "priority" despite reportedly being in talks to host his own chatshow, saying: "I see it as something I will be doing for the next five to ten years.

"Would I like to do other stuff? Absolutely. Whenever I've had those conversations [about other offers] with Ten, they've been supportive. If they have a concern I usually totally understand it and move on."

Preston recently said that he thought they were too "overly dramatic" in last year's season of the show and hopes that it will be more "natural" this year, but Calombaris has promised that it will be a "big, big deal".

MasterChef premieres on Sunday, May 1 at 7.30pm on Channel Ten.