Following the unexpected death of MasterChef judge Jock Zonfrillo, it has emerged the celebrity chef secretly battled bowel cancer for about two years. Zonfrillo told only close friends about his health battle and received treatment when he was not filming, as per a Daily Mail report. Zonfrillo was found dead at an address on Lygon St in the Melbourne suburb of Carlton in the early hours of Monday morning, police have confirmed, with Network 10 saying the location was Zonfrillo’s hotel room. Victoria Police said officers had been called to conduct a welfare check and the death was not being treated as suspicious.
Zonfrillo was earlier treated for bowel cancer before 2016.When it returned in 2021, it was more aggressive, the report has said. Due to the chemo treatment his weight dropped and he had nausea and excessive vomiting.Bowel cancer is when the cancerous growth originates in the bowel which includes colon and rectum. This usually begins as non-cancerous polyps.His family issued a statement in which they wrote, "So many words can describe him, so many stories can be told, but at this time we’re too overwhelmed to put them into words. For those who crossed his path, became his mate, or were lucky enough to be his family, keep this proud Scot in your hearts when you have your next whisky (sic)."Celebrities across the world took to social media to express their condolences over the death of the renowned chef. Masterchef Australia took to Instagram and wrote a long note, “Jock was known to Australians as a chef, best-selling author, philanthropist and MasterChef judge but he will be best remembered as a loving father, husband, brother and son”. "Determined and talented and with plenty of grit, Jock was born in Glasgow to an Italian father and a Scottish mother, which meant his formative years were heavily influenced by two strong cultures and it was his obsession with food and desire for a new pushbike that at just 12 years old fuelled Jock to knock on kitchen doors looking for a job."