MasterChef judge Jean-Christophe Novelli says Jock Zonfrillo’s legacy still looms large

Internationally celebrated chef Jean-Christophe Novelli came to MasterChef Australia under the saddest of circumstances and he says the legacy of his late predecessor still looms large on set.

Celebrity chef Jean-Christophe Novelli first heard about MasterChef Australia under the saddest of circumstances.

The UK-based, 5/5 AA Rosette and multi-Michelin Star winning Frenchman fielded a phone call from a London newspaper not long after the sad death in April last year of Scottish chef Jock Zonfrillo, who had been a judge on the hit Australian reality cooking show since 2020.

Novelli had crossed paths with Zonfrillo several times in London culinary circles and through mutual friends and associates such as Marco Pierre White and Gordon Ramsay, and the journalist on the line wanted to get his memories of the ebullient, sometimes hard-living Glaswegian, who had emigrated to Australia and ran several restaurants in his adopted home of Adelaide before branching out into television.

“MasterChef was mentioned because obviously he had become a phenomenon on MasterChef,” recalls Novelli. “Because I didn’t watch MasterChef by the way – I don’t even watch TV shows – but my son, who was 11 years old said, ‘Dad, MasterChef Australia is even bigger than the English one’. And I said, ‘How do you know that? You’re only 11-years-old?’”

French MasterChef judge Jean-Christophe Novelli.

The next time MasterChef Australia entered his life, Novelli thought his sweary long-time friend Ramsay was having a lend of him. Just months after Zonfrillo’s passing and with the long-running Channel 10 favourite looking to reset with new judges, Novelli was on a cruise with limited phone reception when he got a call from his office saying there was “a lovely Scottish man asking if Jean-Christophe would be interested in being on MasterChef Australia”.

Novelli’s instructions were clear: “I said go back to that chap and tell him to f--- himself – it’s Gordon and he is trying to prank me’. I swear on my life. And she called back and said ‘no it’s not, it’s a chap called Marty Benson – and you met him on Hell’s Kitchen 20 years ago’.”

Once Novelli had ascertained that the Benson in question was in fact the creative force behind MasterChef Australia (and countless other reality TV shows) rather than American jazz singer-songwriter George Benson, as he first thought, things moved quickly.

Visas were arranged and before Novelli knew it he was taking his place on the vast Melbourne MasterChef set as part of the new line-up of judges that also includes holdover Andy Allen, series one runner-up Poh Ling Yeow and culinary journalist Sofa Levin.

But even once he arrived and filming was about to begin, the legacy of Zonfrillo loomed large. Although Novelli didn’t know him well, he’d been impressed with their interactions over the years beginning with their very first meeting at a huge culinary gathering in Paris in the ‘90s, well before the Scotsman became a star. The way Novelli tells it, Zonfrillo was the only one with the “bollocks” to approach the Frenchman and his travelling companion White, who was already well known for his fiery temper and no-nonsense attitude.

MasterChef Australia judges, Andy Allen, Poh Ling Yeow, Sofia Levin and Jean-Christophe Novelli

“Others were a bit scared to come out because obviously I was not on my own and they were quite intimidated,” recalls Novelli. “Jock was the only one who came out and introduced himself and it was such a confident reception… so he was the beautiful filling between two slices of bread.”

And while Zonfrillo had been an integral part of MasterChef for the past three seasons, for all his fame and success overseas, Novelli was now the newcomer and was convinced that no-one had a clue who he was. And despite the lavish welcome laid on, he was nervous.

“It was the most unbelievable red carpet of my life,” he says. “I have never experienced that before in my life and I have been everywhere, trust me. I have been to New York, Paris, I’ve had drinks with Elton John and I could give you names and names… but that was like ‘wow’, and I felt intimidated.”

And as he opened the famous double doors, Zonfrillo was once again on his mind.

“I remembered one flashback in my head – the only one I knew was Jock. I didn’t know anyone else and it looked like he was giving me the pass to get in or the introduction.

“That gave me a bit of confidence and I stopped. Nobody knows that and it’s bizarre because I had to be quick and run over there to where all the new contestants had arrived and the other judges were… I stopped and I looked in the sky and put my hand on my heart and pointed my finger to the sky and said, ‘thank you, love you’.”

The late MasterChef Judge Jock Zonfrillo, who died last April. Picture: Eugene Hyland

Even if he might not be a household name in Australia – yet – Novelli’s culinary journey has been extraordinary. He started out in a bakery at the age of 14 and by the time he was 20 he had become personal chef to the mega-wealthy Rothschild family. After moving to the UK in 1983 and working for and living with Keith Floyd, he opened a string of successful restaurants in England, Ireland, France and South Africa and gobbled up awards including Egon Ronay Dessert of the Year and was a finalist representing Great Britain in the European Chef of the Year competition.

After his restaurant chain went bust in 1999, he branched out into TV, appearing on reality shows including Hell’s Kitchen and Chef Academy and also opened his own cooking school, The Novelli Academy, which is regarded as one of the world’s best. The sports-mad father-of-four’s current flagship restaurant is the Mediterranean and French-inspired Novelli at City Quays brasserie in Belfast.

But for all his experiences cooking for and dining with the rich and famous, and setting up his up-market establishments, Novelli says he had never seen anything quite like the MasterChef Australia set-up.

Jean-Christophe Novelli was blown away by the facilities on MasterChef Australia.

”It’s all there,” he marvels. “The best of the best decor and the best quality. Just before I left (the UK), one of the Premier League club owners invited me for dinner in the super gold VIP area that’s only for 100 people. It’s hundreds of thousands of pounds to be a member and when I walked in, if I told you how much those chairs cost... On MasterChef, I was more impressed. I was like, ‘look at that quality – where do you get that stuff from?’

“Then I snuck into the pantry and you have everything that you can imagine. It was like a culinary Alice in Wonderland, I am not joking.”

As for his MasterChef judging style, while he’s not a ranter, a screamer or a plate-thrower like some of his well-known contemporaries, he admits to being a hard taskmaster to the point that he sometimes needed to be gently reminded that he’s dealing with enthusiastic amateurs rather than professional chefs.

“Oh my God,” he groans. “Do you know how many times I got told off and they would have to remind me, ‘JC – they are not chefs’. I have got Marty Benson… printing me a piece of paper in my green room on the wall saying ‘JC, keep smiling, be yourself and importantly remember they are not chefs, they are ordinary people who have given up a lot to try to become chefs’. And then underneath that was ‘remember, it’s a TV show’.”

MasterChef Australia, April 22, 7.30pm, Channel 10

Originally published as MasterChef judge Jean-Christophe Novelli says Jock Zonfrillo’s legacy still looms large