MasterChef makes 'urgent' changes following Jock Zonfrillo's death

Channel 10 has made several “urgent” changes to this year’s season of MasterChef Australia following the sudden death of judge Jock Zonfrillo.

Season 15 of the cooking competition was scheduled to premiere May 1 but was pushed back to May 7 after the Scottish-born chef was found dead by police at a Melbourne hotel at 2am last Monday.

According to The Australian, the show’s production company Endemol Shine has been working tirelessly to review every single episode and remove anything that could potentially draw attention to Jock’s passing.

However, the changes reportedly “won’t be too heavy-handed” and will “try to remain true” to his personality.

“There are two schools of thought,” one source told the publication. “If there is too much of an edit, it can take away from what he was as well. For example, if he tries a dish and says, ‘That one’s a killer’, well, that’s him.”

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Another major change is that Channel 10 has dropped the tagline for this year’s season of the show out of respect for Jock.

While season 15 was being promoted as MasterChef Australia: Secrets & Surprises, similar to season 12’s Back to Win and season 14’s Fans & Favourites, the Secrets & Surprises subtitle has since been removed from all promotional material.

Andy Allen's tearful tribute to Jock

Ahead of MasterChef’s rescheduled premiere on Sunday night, fellow judge Andy Allen paid tribute to Jock in a heartbreaking special edition of The Project.

The 35-year-old broke down in tears as he spoke with host Sarah Harris in the MasterChef studio about how much he’ll miss his friend and shared a message from Jock’s wife, Lauren.

“I saw Lauren and the kids last night. I went and cooked them some food, and they just wanted me to say how much they can feel the support for Jock and themselves,” he said. “They're hurting but it does help. They've been overwhelmed with how much support there has been for him and the family.

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“It's been unreal to see how much support and where it's come from and who it's come from. So, yeah, they just wanted to - for me to say that they feel it. They feel it. It's tough. But they feel it.”

Andy also said Lauren is devastated to have “lost her best friend” and what's “hurting her the most” is the fact that Jock will never get to walk his three daughters down the aisle.

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