MasterChef contestant Brent Draper reveals heartbreaking reasons behind his exit from the competition

The contestant who suddenly quit MasterChef has given heartbreaking details about the “really quick decline” he suffered behind the scenes.

There were emotional scenes during Sunday night’s episode of MasterChef Australia as one of this year’s favourites withdrew himself from the competition due to concerns over his mental health.

Judges Jock Zonfrillo, Andy Allen and Melissa Leong were all in tears as they announced contestant Brent Draper would be leaving the show, effective immediately, for “personal reasons”.

And in a candid video posted to social media after the show aired, Draper explained exactly what those reasons were – saying that he battled mounting anxiety, panic attacks and dark thoughts during filming, all exacerbated by two separate stints in mandatory quarantine.

Brent announces he’s leaving the competition.

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“Every single person in this kitchen is so proud of you,” Zonfrillo told Draper in last night’s episode, his voice breaking. “By the way you cook, and for your courage in making this decision and holding your hand up and saying, ‘You know what? I need to sort myself out.’ The competition’s going to be poorer without you.”

Mel Leong was in tears.

MasterChef judge Jock Zonfrillo reacts.

Fellow judge Leong, who has been open about her own battles with mental health issues, also spoke up.

“Above all, we just want you to be happy,” she told Draper. “And whatever that takes, we are there for you. We are a family, so we want to know how you’re going. And I think these conversations about what we need to do for ourselves in order to be really happy … it’s crucial and it will matter to so many people out there as well.”

Draper spoke more about his decision via his Instagram account after the show aired, pinpointing the moment he put his hand up and asked for help while on the show – a moment he says he’s “bloody proud of”:

Draper went into further detail about the circumstances of his departure in an Instagram Live video posted last night.

He said he wanted “to be honest” about why he felt he had to leave the show, explaining that his mother got “really sick” just before MasterChef started filming.

“I think I just brushed it off too quickly, like us males tend to do – I just moved on, straight into quarantine. Quarantining is not fun – I did it twice. There’s no fresh air, no human interaction.”

He said anxiety became overwhelming and he had a “rough time”during his second quarantine – compounded when he learned his grandmother passed away. “Once again, like us males do, I moved on without really thinking or talking about it.”

With his family and young son Archie at home, he experienced “gut-wrenching homesickness” that turned into “an anxiety and stress build-up that started to snowball”.

Brent Draper speaks out about his MasterChef experience.

He was filming 12-hour days and not sleeping, experiencing “severe” panic attacks during the night. At one point, in the middle of the night, he packed his bags to flee his hotel. “I don’t know where I was going to go … but I just couldn’t deal with it.”

Draper said his condition really declined when his stress and anxiety started to manifest physically. “My mind just disconnected … I was thinking just the worst of the worst (thoughts). It was a really quick decline in about the last four weeks – you can probably see it on the show, but I tried so hard to mask it with a smile.”

Eventually, he knew what he had to do: “I had to get some help.”

The good news, a few months on and after visits to a doctor and psychologist: “I’m feeling a lot better. The train’s back on its tracks.”

Draper is not the first Australian reality TV contestant to exit a show after struggling through pre-filming quarantine: Earlier this year, Amazing Race viewers were stunned when model twins Alex and Jack Newell abruptly left the race in its earliest stages. Their exit came right after they placed second in the race’s first challenge – but Jack explained that his brother’s mental health had declined during their strict quarantine before filming began.

Amazing Race contestant Alex left the show after struggling in pre-filming quarantine.

“Before this had to begin, obviously we had to quarantine for 14, 15 days. During that time, something surfaced for Alex that he had to deal with and the race environment isn’t the right environment for him to deal with that,” said Jack at the time. “So we’ve made the right decision to step out of The Amazing Race Australia.”

Alex added: “I think a lot of stuff from my past came up, and Jack and I have been through similar things and he has sought out help and I was always too proud to seek out help, and now I will seek out help because I realise how important it is. I think mental health is incredibly important. Probably more than physical.”