JOCK ZONFRILLO
JOCK ZONFRILLO
4 August 1976 – 30 April 2023
Scottish Chef & TV Host on Masterchef Australia
Jock Zonfrillo (Barry ‘Jock’ Zonfrillo) was born in Glasgow, Scotland. His mother’s family is Scottish, and his father is from Scauri, Italy. He was married numerous times and has four children.
Zonfrillo started working in kitchens aged 12 as a part-time dishwasher where his sister was working as a waitress. He started learning to cook after the restaurants chef had a motorbike accident. He left school aged 15 and started an apprenticeship and was name Young Scottish Chef of the year, aged 16 in 1993. He went on to become a sous-chef and then a cook. He worked in Scotland, London and Australia, and worked in Gordon Ramsay’s Aubergine restaurant. He immigrated to Sydney in 2000
As a teenager he started using heroin and sold drugs to fund his addiction. In 2000, he quit using heroin and went cold turkey and remained clean since. In 2002, he set fire to the pants of an apprentice chef Krammer because he was working too slow. Krammer, sued him after suffering burns to his hand and was awarded damages in 2007. Zonfrillo was declared bankrupt after Kramer took him to court stating that Zonfrillo ‘didn’t pay me a cent’, Zonfrillo was fired from his position. He went on to selling kitchen equipment, opened his own restaurant in Adelaide, South Australia, ran a food truck selling Italian food as well as opening a bar. His businesses closed in 2020 due to voluntary administration due to unpaid debts; Zonfrillo had to sell his family home in Adelaide. In 2016, he started The Orana Foundation, to preserve Indigenous Australian cooking techniques. In 2021, he started selling, ‘worry beads’ bracelets with skulls on them for $500 each. That same year he released his memoir, Last Shot.
In 2014, Zonfrillo started working as a host of cooking programs and became one of the judges on MasterChef Australia in 2019 after appearing on the show previously as a guest chef.
Zonfrillo, 46, died after being discovered deceased at a hotel apartment in Melbourne’s inner north. He had been battling bowel cancer since 2021 and had been enduring treatment for the disease.
The 15th series of MasterChef Australia 2023 debuted just one week after his death. The series premier was delayed to the chef’s death. Network Ten revealed it would be going ahead with the airing of the program with the blessing of his family.
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