Chef and television personality Jock Zonfrillo has died, aged 46. Video / Sky News Australia
In what would turn out to be his final interview, MasterChef Australia star Jock Zonfrillo revealed what he really wanted out of life - and it had nothing to do with the high-profile life he found himself leading as a popular TV personality and chef.
According to news.com, Zonfrillo, 46, said what he dreamed of was a “super, super simple life” out of the spotlight.
He also shared that he was “good in any kind of stressful situation” and could function on just four hours of sleep a night.
But in news that has shocked Australia’s restaurant and entertainment industries, Zonfrillo was found dead yesterday morning in a hotel just north of Melbourne after police attended a welfare check at a Lygon St address.
While the new season of MasterChef Australia, due to air there last night, has been postponed, a lengthy article with Zonfrillo was published across Australia’s News Corp publications on Sunday.
Now understood to be the last article before Zonfrillo’s death, in it he shared much about what he was working on and his desire for a “super, super simple life”.
He told News Corp Australia’s national entertainment writer, Lisa Woolford, he dreamed of “A small house in the middle of nowhere with kids, pets. Just a really simple, uncomplicated life away from everyone. But still part of a community in that remoteness I guess.
“But not the flashy extravagant lifestyle you’d expect from a TV person.”
In fact, he’d be quite happy with “a cup of tea and a teacake” said the chef, who was the owner of three-hatted Restaurant Orana and Bistro Blackwood in Adelaide.
He also said that he was in the middle of writing a recipe book dedicated to pasta and that his current go-to meal was the cheese and pepper-laden spaghetti dish, cacio e pepe.
Zonfrillo with fellow MasterChef Australia judges Melissa Leong (centre) and Andy Allen (right). Photo / Supplied
Woolford also asked the award-winning chef - who among his accolades was voted Australia’s Hottest Chef and won the Basque Culinary World Prize for his outstanding efforts to improve the world through gastronomy - what he believed his superpower was.
“I’m pretty good in any kind of stressful situation,” he told Woolford. “If it’s somebody with blood gushing over their clothes, I don’t freak out.
“It’s probably also why I’m able to operate on pretty minimal sleep,” he added, noting he needed just four hours a night.
And when Woolford asked him how he felt about surprises, he said he was hard to catch, calling himself “hyper vigilant”.
“I kind of pick up the vibe and it makes me f***ing paranoid. And then I get a sense of dread. And then when the surprise comes, I love it.
“I’d much rather be doing surprises for other people than being on the receiving end of one.”
Jock Zonfrillo was a popular MasterChef Australia judge. Photo / Network Ten
The day after the article ran, Zonfrillo was found dead.
According to news.com, before news of his death had gone public, his MasterChef co-star Melissa Leong was still busy promoting their new series in radio interviews.
Speaking to Western Australian show HIT WA Breakfast, Leong said of her co-star: “Over the years I used to be a very competitive eater, especially with Jock. I learned very quickly not to try to keep up with Jock because you will lose. He has hollow legs and can eat at a rate and a volume that defies physics, logic and science.”
Shortly after Leong’s interview aired, Australia’s Network Ten issued a release announcing Zonfrillo’s death and has postponed the show for a week.
MasterChef Australia: Secrets & Surprises is set to debut its new season on TVNZ on Sunday, May 7.
TVNZ said in a statement on social media they will be “talking to our colleagues” across the Tasman about plans going forward for the show and will update viewers when they can.
