MasterChef’s Jock Zonfrillo reveals the moment he hit rock bottom as a teenage heroin addict – and how Marco Pierre White saved him from a life of misery
MasterChef Australia judge Jock Zonfrillo has revealed his teenage heroin addiction almost ended his culinary career before it even started.
The 44-year-old, who moved from the UK to Australia in the year 2000, started using smack at the age of 15, just as he was starting out at restaurants.
He told The Australian Women’s Weekly he used to be a high-functioning addict who was ‘always in the kitchen on time, ready to work’ – but everything changed when he didn’t show up one day and was fired from his job in Scotland.
‘I was high functioning’: Scottish chef and MasterChef Australia judge Jock Zonfrillo (pictured), 44, has spoken out about his addiction to heroin, which he developed at age 15 and kicked to the curb when he moved to Australia in 2000
‘I was high functioning. I was always in the kitchen on time, ready to work. Except this one time during my apprenticeship… when I turned up for work four days late. In hindsight, I was lucky to be alive,’ he said.
After being sacked at the age 17, Jock was given a second chance when he packed his bags, headed to London and knocked on the door of the Hyde Park Hotel.
World-famous chef Marco Pierre White was running the place, and Jock said he was the ‘last person’ he expected to give him a job – but that’s exactly what happened.
Hired by the best! World famous chef Marco Pierre White (pictured), 59, gave Jock a second chance at pursuing a career in the kitchen. He gave him a job at the Hyde Park Hotel when he was age 17
Details: Jock’s comments about his heroin addiction come as he spoke to The Australian Women’s Weekly about life with his 40-year-old wife, Lauren (right), and their children -Alfie, three, and 14-week-old Isla
‘Marco was amazing because he understood what was going on with me as a young man,’ Jock said.
‘People were very quick to judge a drug addict. He didn’t. I was on my last chance, there’s no doubt about it, but he treated me exactly the same as everybody else.’
The candid interview comes after Jock revealed the premiere date for thirteenth season of MasterChef Australia.
Whoops! Jock recently leaked the premiere date for anticipated new season of MasterChef Australia on Instagram
When a fan on Instagram asked him when the show would be returning to screens, he replied: ‘Around Easter I reckon.’
The cooking program will likely begin once The Amazing Race has finished.
Jock is joined on the MasterChef panel by celebrity chef Andy Allen and respected food critic Melissa Leong.
They’re back! Jock will return alongside judges Melissa Leong (centre), and Andy Allen (right), who just last year replaced long-standing judges Gary Mehigan, George Calombaris and Matt Preston on 2020’a twelfth season