Cooking WIth Love MKR Exe's Tragic Farewell

Losing their biggest fan.

- Megan Mcchesney

When the grand finale of My Kitchen Rules New Zealand goes to air on November 26, newly separated husband-and-wife team Chris and Bex Wright will be shedding tears, regardless if they win or lose.

Competing in the ultimate all-or-nothing TV cooking competition was epic, exhilarating and exhausting for the duo, but it was also the last time they ever saw one of their best friends.

Larger-than-life Harry Hitman, 37, who was a groomsman and the MC at their wedding almost three years ago, was the Wanaka couple’s biggest cheerleader and they thought he would always be in their lives.

But just a few short months after the TVNZ 2 reality series wrapped, the property developer died in a tragic road accident and for Chris, who’d been firm friends with Harry for 17 years, it was the end of an era.

The two Brits met in their halls of residence on their very first day at the University of Manchester. “He’d come home after losing a shoe and went off to register wearing just the one,” laughs Chris. “He really was the life and soul of the party.”

The following year, they and a bunch of friends shared a house, where foodie Chris began honing his cooking skills and Harry enthusiastically scoffed the results. It was Harry who inspired Chris to relocate to Aotearoa. “Harry’s mum Helen lives in New Zealand, so he visited a lot and he was always showing me pictures of glaciers, telling me about the skiing and snowboarding.”