Channel Seven titled an interview with Pete Evans: "Grilling", however what viewers were served was an entree to his upcoming movie.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
or signup to continue reading
The chef, who is the face of one of the network's most successful franchises – My Kitchen Rules – appeared on Sunday Night to dissect his Paleo lifestyle and his controversial thoughts on fluoride, dairy and sunscreen.
He told reporter Alex Cullen he agreed to participate in the segment "to share the truth".
Instead viewers were treated to little more than a 20-minute promotion for his commercial ventures like MKR, his speaking tours and cookbooks (both the published ones and the baby Paleo baby cookbook that was pulped after it recommended feeding infants bone broth as a baby formula).
The segment also featured close ups of Cullen's bemused facial expressions, that at times looked like he'd swollen a paleo-certified fly, and several minutes of Evans attempting to argue how something like a Certificate IV in Commercial Cookery and "common sense" is more powerful than a medical degree.
"What do you need a qualification for? To talk common sense? Why do you have to study something that is outdated, that is industry backed, that is biased, that is not getting the results? That would be insane to study something you're going to waste your time with. That's just crazy," Evans said.
Channel Seven was granted access to his "secluded farm" in northern NSW and interviews with his mother, children and new wife, Nicola Robinson.
Robinson, a former model, reality TV star and ex-wife of millionaire Warriors league club owner Eric Watson, spoke candidly about her past.
"I wasn't leading a natural life. Which is why I have two toxic, silicon implants attached to my chest.
"Deepest regret of my life. I dabbled in fillers, Botox, all types of things that were driven by my fear to try and make myself feel better," she said.
"And I wasn't eating the right foods. So no, I wasn't living the clean, pristine life that I do now."
Robinson, like his legion of fans, credits Evans for turning her life around and for encouraging her to "seek and be the best I can be."
Meanwhile, instead of delving further into the specific scientific research he claims supports things like his bone broth baby formula, Evans sounded like an Australian - albeit clear-eyed, glowing - Donald Trump.
"A journalist wrote a lie about it which then got regurgitated through all the media outlets that said, 'Pete Evans promotes bone broth over breast milk' and I never said that," he said.
"We promote breast milk first and foremost.
"I've never said don't use sunscreen, I've just said make sure you choose one that's the least toxic," he clarified.
He also stuck by his actions that saw him encourage a woman with osteoporosis to give up dairy because, according to evidence he found, it removes calcium from bones.
The evidence can be seen if you pay $99 to join his 10-week online eating program or in "scientific journals" he failed to name.
"It's just a known fact. It's a myth to think that drinking cow's milk is the be-all and end-all for calcium intake," Evans said.
"That's a pretty big statement to say dairy takes calcium from your bones," Cullen pressed on.
"The calcium dairy myth is the best piece of marketing I've ever heard," Evans volleyed back before host Melissa Doyle closed out the highly-publicised interview with a telling line.
"Coming soon, Pete Evans: The Movie. A feature length documentary called The Magic Pill. It's due for release in cinemas later this year."
