Jock Zonfrillo’s final episode of MasterChef Australia is revealed

The final MasterChef Australia episode with Jock Zonfrillo is set to air on Channel Ten on Sunday night.

The celebrity chef was found dead in his hotel room in Melbourne on April 30, and was laid to rest at an intimate funeral in Sydney in May.

The episode, which will see Brent Draper and Rhiannon Anderson compete to win the 2023 title, will mark the last episode filmed before Jock’s death.

Ten delayed the launch of the cooking show’s latest series by a week, but it aired in May with the support of Jock’s family.

The network is currently on the hunt for a new celebrity judge for the 2024 season to replace Jock.

‘International names such as Jamie Oliver, Nigella Lawson and Shannon Bennett have all been thrown around,’ an insider told Woman’s Day last week.

However, the source added these culinary experts all have hectic schedules so booking them for the competitive cooking show was currently ‘a pipe dream’.

The network is also reported to be considering bringing back ‘heritage’ names to the series, such as original judges George Calombaris and Gary Mehigan, to attract older viewers.

Jock died in his hotel room at Zagame’s House on Lygon Street in Carlton, Melbourne on April 30 and was found by police at about 2am on Monday, May 1 – the same day Channel Ten was meant to premiere the fifteenth season of MasterChef Australia.

He is survived by his third wife Lauren, and his four children: grown-up daughters Ava and Sophia from his first two marriages and Alfie and Isla with Lauren. 

The media personality was scheduled for several publicity engagements for season 15 of MasterChef when he died suddenly.

The episode, which will see Brent Draper and Rhiannon Anderson compete to win the 2023 title, will mark the last episode filmed before the death of Jock. Pictured judges Melissa Leong, Jock and Andy Allen

Daily Mail Australia can reveal that when the police entered the hotel room to conduct a welfare check, officers believed that Jock had died of natural causes and didn’t find anything that suggested otherwise.

There was also no drug paraphernalia found in the hotel room, sources said.

A heartbroken Lauren said at his funeral: ‘We were two halves that found each other in the exact right moment in life when we were ready.’

‘We were ready for that big love, to live a life of adventure, to become parents together, to imagine things and to actually make them happen.’

Jock died in his hotel room at Zagame’s House on Lygon Street in Carlton, Melbourne on April 30 and was found by police at about 2am on Monday, May 1 – the same day Channel Ten was meant to premiere the fifteenth season of MasterChef Australia