MasterChef fans torn over Ten’s impossible decision

MasterChef viewers know this season will be a difficult watch – but there is also a move afoot to pay their own special tribute to Jock Zonfrillo.

Network Ten faced an impossible choice after news of MasterChef judge Jock Zonfrillo’s death broke on Monday, just hours before the show’s new season was set to air.

Schedules were hastily rearranged to pull the show’s premiere, as fans and those in the industry reeled from the news that the much-loved TV chef had been found dead in a Melbourne hotel room in the early hours of Monday morning aged just 46.

Ten filled the empty timeslot with another Australian reality series, The Bridge, which had earlier made its debut on streaming service Paramount Plus.

As speculation grew about what exactly Ten would do with this already-filmed season of MasterChef, the network on Wednesday announced that the show would go on.

MasterChef will now premiere at 7:30pm on Sunday night, following a special edition of The Sunday Project that will serve as a tribute to Zonfrillo. In a statement, Ten said the decision comes “with the full support of Jock Zonfrillo’s family.”

The announcement sparked much discussion among MasterChef fans on social media, with many praising Ten for continuing with the season after an appropriate pause. Others, though, admitted they might struggle to watch the show so soon after Zonfrillo’s death.

L-R: MasterChef stars Andy Allen, Jamie Oliver, Melissa Leong and Jock Zonfrillo. Picture: Supplied/Channel 10

“Honestly I’m not sure I’d be able to watch,” wrote former The Block contestant Tanya Guccione under MasterChef Australia’s Instagram post. “It’s a catch 22 watch to honour his life or not watch to respect and honour his life gosh this is a hard one.”

“This season will be extremely hard to watch,” wrote one viewer.

“Man this’ll be hard to watch. Dunno if I can,” said another.

“Oh man, it’s going to be an extremely hard watch,” wrote another fan in one of the post’s top rated comments, before clarifying: “But I wouldn’t miss it.”

“I’ll be watching with tears rolling down my face,” said another.

Other fans insisted Zonfrillo would’ve wanted the season to air: “I think Jock would have wanted it to go on. It will be hard to watch we are all so shocked but fitting i think,” one wrote.

“I’m incredibly glad you allowed the series to proceed. I believe Jock would’ve wanted that and most of all, the contestants would’ve wanted the world to see just what a gem of a human he was,” said another.

One fan suggested viewers raise a glass in tribute to Zonfrillo when the show airs on Sunday.

“I propose a toast to Jock on Sunday 7th at 730pm and hope everyone will join me!” they wrote, a post that has attracted hundreds of likes as others vow to do the same.

Fans are vowing to toast in Jock's honour on Sunday night.

Fans agree this season of MasterChef will sometimes be hard to watch.

Zonfrillo’s death left fans and those in the industry shell-shocked, and among the most heartbreaking public tributes so far have come from his two fellow MasterChef judges, Melissa Leong and Andy Allen.

“This all feels too raw to process still, I suspect it will for some time. Such is the impact of a life lived so large, with so much levity and entirely on your own terms,” Leong wrote in a moving Instagram tribute to her colleague.

“Thanks for making me constantly laugh and being there when I needed to cry. You really were the complete package mate and life will never be the same without you,” wrote Allen, before paying tribute to Zonfrillo’s wife Lauren and four children.

“I know you’ll be looking down on Loz, Ava, Sophia, Alfie & Isla. Give it up for Jock Zonfrillo.”