MasterChef Australia judge Andy Allen has revealed that the death of his close friend and co-star Jock Zonfrillo was the ‘hardest time’ of his life.
Beloved celebrity chef Jock was tragically found dead in a hotel in Carlton, near Melbourne’s CBD, on April 30, 2023 – which was also Andy’s 35th birthday.
Andy, 36, has now opened up about losing Jock, who was also a judge on MasterChef Australia, and told how it was ‘really difficult’ grieving in the public eye.
The TV personality candidly described it as the ‘hardest time’ of his life and revealed it was the first time he had dealt with such a personal tragedy.
‘It was the hardest time of my life, I had never had tragedy like that hit me so close, it was very uncharted waters and multiply that by it being in the public eye; it was really difficult,’ he told the Herald Sun.
Andy said he didn’t give himself a chance to grieve because he wanted to be there for Jock’s family – his wife Lauren Fried and their kids Alfie, seven, and Isla, three, as well as his adult daughters Ava and Sophia from past relationships.
He detailed his heavy emotional toll and told how he spent a ‘full day crying’ after travelling to Sicily to mark Jock’s birthday in August last year.
‘I spent a full day just crying, a full day, in a couple of hour increments, just having a good old cry, then I would be quiet and then I would go again,’ he shared.
Andy said his grief only really hit him twice while shooting the latest series of MasterChef, which was also his first without his close friend Jock.
Andy previously admitted that he almost didn’t appear on the 2024 season of the cooking contest, but is ‘so glad’ he decided to push through the grief.
‘It was tough. I didn’t know if I was going to do it. I’m so glad that I did, I really am, but it was hard,’ he told The Project earlier this year.
His death came just one day before the 2023 season of MasterChef was due to premiere, and it was delayed in arriving on air for a week ‘out of respect’.
Network 10 dedicated the fifteenth season to Jock and his family as they aired his scenes posthumously, acknowledging his ‘sudden and tragic passing’.
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At the time, his wife Lauren was in Italy with their two children and had phoned Victoria Police to request a welfare check because he stopped answering her calls.
His sudden death was still being investigated in March almost a year after his tragic passing, the Coroner’s Court of Victoria confirmed at the time.
Jock’s death came just one day before the 2023 season of MasterChef was due to premiere, and it was delayed in arriving on air for a week ‘out of respect’.
Network 10 dedicated the fifteenth season to Jock and his family as they aired his scenes posthumously, acknowledging his ‘sudden and tragic passing’.