Lee & Luke's - RECIPE FOR LOVE

The Cantabrian contestants reveal the secrets of their incredibly strong mother-son bond

Ask what makes the bond between Lee Barrington and her son, MKR New Zealand teammate Luke Wielsma, so strong and you get a simple answer - food.

"For me, food is a basic thing of life that brings people together," smiles the business owner, 51, from Kaiapoi, just north of Christchurch. "To me, food is an expression of love."

Sales consultant Luke, 29, adds, "Growing up, we didn't have chicken nuggets and chips every night - it was a lot of veges with a variety of foods and flavours from different cultures. That was the base for my love for food."

It also led to a long-time passion for MKR, with both Lee and Luke making it a tradition to huddle up around the screen, ever since the hit TVNZ 2 reality series made its debut a decade ago, in 2014.

"We'd always watch all the cooking shows together," says Luke. "They were entertaining and fun." "And because they weren't allowed to watch any other shows they wanted to!" quips Lee, who's also a mum to Jody, 33, Kiriana, 25, and Paige, 22.

Grinning, Luke adds, "Yeah, we weren't allowed to watch The Simpsons, so I had no choice, although I did used to go to my room and watch Outrageous Fortune without Mum knowing!"