All things may be fair in love and war but not on My Kitchen Rules after Josh Geard and Danielle Najda were sent home under a different sudden-death format.
The experimental foodies lost out to twins Helena and Vikki in a one dish cook-off on Wednesday instead of the usual three-course format.
Making the result even harder for Geard and Najda to swallow was that their main meal was compared against a dessert.
The twins served up a Greek walnut cake while the Victorian pair, who are long-term partners, made Mexican spiced beef in a broth.
The judges were not overly impressed with either dish.
They scored 39-35 in favour of Helena and Vikki.
"It's hard to go out in that situation, they are completely different meals," Geard told AAP.
"That combined with the fact we never made the dish we planned to, didn't sit well."
It was the second sudden-death cook-off for Geard and Danielle and the first abridged version of the series for a do-or-die dish.
Previous sudden deaths have involved three-course meals and Geard is positive they would not have been sent home if the format was the same.
"The fact it wasn't a proper sudden-death didn't help," he said.
"If we got the chance to cook three dishes like normal a sudden-death, we would have been a bigger chance.
"If you have one bad dish you have two others to help you out.
"It's part of the competition but I would have loved to have had a proper sudden-death."
Geard and Najda's departure leaves five teams to fight out the series and while they may rue losing the sudden-death challenge competing on MKR did have upside.
Having watched how they interact in the kitchen, which was at times very intense, Geard said he and Najda now have a stronger relationship, improving the way they communicate.
"Watching it back we thought we should tone it back a bit," Geard said.
"It's one of those things that could have broken us up but it's made us stronger.
"We have built a bigger respect for each other by the way we were able to handle the pressure."
There will be another elimination on Monday when either mother and daughter team Cathy and Anna, Bree and Jessica or besties Thalia and Bianca, will be sent home.
