MKR's Colin Fassnidge on Jock Zonfrillo's shock death: 'The world just stopped'

EXCLUSIVE: My Kitchen Rules judge Colin Fassnidge has opened up about the stresses of reality TV.

Tahlia Pritchard
·Senior Entertainment & Lifestyle Reporter
Updated ·2-min read

Earlier this year, the world was rocked by the shock death of celebrity chef Jock Zonfrillo, who passed away on the day of the MasterChef season 15 premiere, aged 46.

My Kitchen Rules' Colin Fassnidge states that the celebrity chef world is a tight-knit community and after knowing Jock for over 20 years, he and fellow MKR judge Manu Feildel were devastated to hear about the death of their friend and peer.

"The world just stopped": Colin Fassnidge has opened up about Jock Zonfrillo's shock death. Photo: Supplied.
"The world just stopped": Colin Fassnidge has opened up about Jock Zonfrillo's shock death. Photo: Supplied.

"When that happened [Jock's passing] the world just stopped still," Colin tells Yahoo Lifestyle.

"I remember we had just finished filming and we were on a down day and I was having a swim and everything just stopped. I rang Manu straight away."

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'TV is a stressful life'

"Everybody in our industry was ringing everybody, and we were just like 'It could happen to any of us'," he continued. "We were like, if something happened to us and we're away and you don't see your family... Jock was younger than us and it sort of brings everything home.

"TV is a very stressful life and we work a lot of time away from our families, and it's not the be-all and end-all. I think everyone went home and just hugged their family that night and it brought the industry together. We're a very close industry, when something bad happens they support you."

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Colin's health scare

Colin recently also opened up in an interview with Stellar about a health scare he suffered when a doctor told him he could have cancer.

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Saying that the passing of Jock made him appreciate every day, Colin was eventually given the all-clear.

"The next day, I was putting up pictures of a sunrise [on Instagram] because I was out running going, how good is the world? I think it was because of the whole Jock thing, as well, because he was younger than me. It’s a wake-up call,” he said.

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