MasterChef star Andy Allen says there are five words that continue to haunt him following the shocking death of co-star Jock Zonfrillo.
The Scottish-born chef and TV personality was found dead in a Melbourne hotel at around 2am on Monday, May 1, leaving behind his wife Lauren and four children.
WATCH THE VIDEO ABOVE: Andy Allen on the last time he saw Jock Zonfrillo.
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Speaking to Channel 10 ahead of the airing of the first episode of this year’s season, a visibly upset Allen spoke of how much Zonfrillo loved his family.
With Lauren Zonfrillo, he had two young children, son Alfie and daughter Isla, as well as two grown-up daughters, Ava and Sophie, from previous marriages.
“Every day he made time for Lauren and the kids,” Allen said.
“Every day (on the MasterChef set) we’d be doing makeup, he’d get a call, he’d FaceTime them.”
Alan then revealed the five words from Zonfrillo’s young son Alfie that brought him to tears.
“The hardest thing is that I always have Alfie’s voice and face in my head saying ‘you’re my best friend dad.’
“He said it every day.”
Dzonfrillo’s family started a new life in Italy and the plan was for the 46-year-old chef to return to Australia for MasterChef, including travel for promotional engagements.
Alan said the fact that Lauren had to return home alone after receiving the devastating news was unimaginable.
“That’s the thing that hurts her the most — she lost her best friend,” Allen said.
“I just can’t even imagine what it feels like.
“They wanted to live together in Rome for this life.”
Allen said it was heartbreaking that his colleague would miss out on important moments in his children’s lives.
“Jock has three daughters and it’s kind of like never being able to walk them down the aisle, which meant so much to Jock,” he said.
MasterChef guest star Jamie Oliver was preparing for his first appearance on this year’s show when he received the heartbreaking news.
The UK-based celebrity chef told Zonfrillo, MasterChef is not “just a job”.
“I’m gutted,” he said.
“I was texting him as the race went on … you could tell by the way he was writing that it wasn’t just work.
“He was rooting for all the contestants.”
Gordon Ramsay also paid tribute to Zonfrillo, saying “very few chefs like Jock can cook, talk and command the room”.
“This guy made it,” he said.
“Ninety-five percent of the chefs I know can cook, but they can’t talk.”
Zonfrillo was found dead at an address in Ligon Street, Melbourne, in the early hours of May 1 after police carried out a welfare check.
It emerged last week that wife Lauren had called for help from Rome when Zonfrillo failed to answer their regularly scheduled calls.
When police arrived at the address, they found Zonfrillo’s body in the hotel room.
No drug paraphernalia was reportedly found, no one else was in the room, and police concluded that Zonfrillo died of natural causes.
An official cause of death has not been released and a medical examiner’s report will be prepared.
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