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MasterChef's Melissa Leong claps back after online criticism: 'Appalling'
Melissa called out a fan for trying to tear her down on social media.
MasterChef's Melissa Leong has responded to a viewer on social media who criticised her judging abilities on the Channel 10 reality show.
Taking to the comments on Facebook, the fan wrote: “Melissa stop stuffing food up your nose so appalling on TV.”
It wasn’t long before Melissa, who has been a MasterChef judge alongside Jock Zonfrillo and Andy Allen since 2020, replied to the comment and explained her process.
“Part of judging food is bound in aroma,” she wrote. “It's a critical part of the way we professionally critique food. Of course you wouldn't do that at a dinner party, but if I don't do it, I'm not doing my job.
“If it offends you, imagine how offended you'd be if it were someone just standing there to look pretty, but couldn't do the work!”
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Melissa went on to call out the user for posting negative comments online in an attempt to tear her down.
“My experience over the past few years in this job tells me that usually when someone posts something designed to hurt or offend, that the writer is having a hard time or a bad day,” she continued.
“In that regard, I sincerely hope you're feeling better, but also that you learn to find ways of comforting yourself that don't involve attempting to pull strangers down.”
Her response was met with hundreds of positive ‘reactions’, and she later posted a screenshot of the interaction on her Instagram Story alongside the text: “Have you heard? I’m appalling!”
Brent Draper reveals plans for $250,000 prize money
Melissa’s post comes shortly after Jock, Andy and herself crowned Brent Draper the winner of season 15.
The 32-year-old, who first competed on season 13 but withdrew from the competition to prioritise his mental health, beat 47-year-old Rhiannon Anderson in the emotional final episode.
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Speaking with Yahoo Lifestyle following the announcement, Brent shared that he has plenty of ideas on how he will spend his winnings.
“It's an absurd amount of money to think about what you're gonna do,” he said.
“Look, the wife’s laid down a law I can only buy one fun thing with it, which will be my boat because I’m a mad fisherman. So I've been allowed a certain amount of money, and then the rest will obviously go to investments and a cookbook. That’s one of the things that I want to work hard on straightaway.”
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