After MasterChef and the UFC, Melissa Leong dives in the deep end

Melissa Leong has wasted no time in diversifying her portfolio following her exit from MasterChef Australia. After co-hosting the Foxtel and Kayo Sports broadcast of American mixed martial arts competition UFC Fight Week in January, the food critic turned television personality donned scrubs to participate in SBS’ three-part series, The Hospital: In the Deep End.

Following in the footsteps of her Singaporean-born mother, a former emergency department nurse unit manager, Leong shadowed staff at St Vincent’s Hospital, in Sydney, to find out what night shifts are like for workers in the overstretched health system.

The Hospital: In the Deep End hosts Samuel Johnson, Melissa Leong and Costa Georgiadis.

“I wanted to be in that space to understand what a high-pressure environment that is,” says Leong. “Crazy things happen after dark in the ER, so that was a real eye-opener for me. I have such admiration for my mother in general, but even more so after going through this.”

The series, which also features actor Samuel Johnson and Gardening Australia’s Costa Georgiadis, aims to offer “a more accessible insight” than perhaps other factual series, such as Foxtel’s Kings Cross ER, filmed at the same location. During the show, Leong also visits the neurosurgery department, Johnson is allocated to the alcohol and drug service and mental health unit, while Georgiadis spends time in the palliative care unit and on the streets with the homeless outreach team.

“It’s about understanding what the public health system goes through,” says Leong. “The crucial difference is that we, as everyday, albeit emotional human beings, get to go into this intense environment and meet people going through intense experiences, and hopefully, we get to reiterate that in a way that the average audience member will be able to feel some kind of connection with. It’s about education, and understanding the emotional toll that is placed on frontline workers.”

Leong is visibly affected in the series by a respiratory case in ER, and later observes reconstructive surgery following a mastectomy. Leong says the memories will stay with her.

Melissa Leong and Amaury Guichon on the set of Dessert Masters.Credit: Paramount/Ten

“I expected it to be emotional, but I didn’t know how that would impact me,” she says. “In conveying the stories happening in front of my eyes, I went away inspired, but also exhausted. It was a real honour to be involved in something that hopefully sheds light on something that we all participate in.”

In the series, Leong wonders whether she will encounter a more “nuanced” situation than what is portrayed by headlines decrying the dire state of the public health system, stating: “More often than not, it’s the negative thing that gains clicks.” Following the shoot at St Vincent’s, which took place over two weeks mid-last year, her perception of the media has not changed.

“We’re in a period of journalism where there is a lot of pressure to get eyeballs on pages, and views and clicks really do matter because it can mean the survival of a publication or the passing of it,” she says. “And so there is extra pressure to sensationalise things … I’ve certainly been [the subject of] many sensational headlines in the last 12 months, and I hope to God people don’t believe everything they read because most of it’s not true.”

Leong is referring to news articles claiming she was “axed” from the judging panel at MasterChef Australia, which now comprises Poh Ling Yeow, Sofia Levin, Jean Christophe-Novelli and returning judge Andy Allen. Network Ten and Leong maintain she left due to scheduling clashes. She continues to co-host spin-off series Dessert Masters with French-Swiss pastry chef Amaury Guicho.

“The plan was always to expand and evolve, and to grow, and to try new things,” Leong says. “So doing The Hospital, putting myself in the deep end, and seeing how I would go with a documentary format, and being in an environment that is as equally brightly lit, but definitely a lot less glamorous, was a highlight of my career so far.”

The Hospital: In The Deep End premieres on Thursday, June 6, at 8.40pm on SBS.

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