MasterChef star Ben Ungermann reveals he has returned to Sydney as he shares his first social media post after being charged with the alleged sexual assault of a teenage girl
MasterChef Australia star Ben Ungermann has shared his first post on social media after abruptly leaving the hit Channel 10 show in early March.
The 34-year-old’s sudden departure came after he was charged with the alleged sexual assault of a teenage girl while he was filming in Melbourne.
On Friday afternoon, Ben posted a photo of himself to Instagram, showing him leaning against a white post with Sydney’s Darling Harbour in the background.
Home: On Friday, MasterChef star Ben Ungermann revealed he had returned to Sydney as he shared his first social media post since he was abruptly removed from the hit cooking show
‘Home’ he captioned the image, followed by a red love heart emoji.
In the picture, Ben folded his arms as he gazed off into the distance.
The cook wore a tight black T-shirt with a pair of camouflage print cargo pants, white sneakers and a large round pair of sunglasses.
Case: Ungermann was charged on March 6 with two counts of sexual assault, following an alleged incident in Melbourne’s Docklands on February 23 involving a 16-year-old girl
The Back To Win contestant was charged on March 6 with two counts of sexual assault, following an alleged incident in Melbourne’s Docklands on February 23 involving a 16-year-old girl.
At the time, he was filming the latest series of MasterChef – but was removed from the competition once producers learned of his arrest.
On March 20, it was first reported that Ungermann had been arrested.
Back To Win: Ben was filming the 2020 series of MasterChef in Melbourne at the time but was quickly dumped from the series after producers learned of his arrest
At the time, a spokesperson for Endemol Shine described his arrest as being ‘of a personal nature’ but didn’t provide further details.
He was expected to appear before Melbourne Magistrates’ Court on June 25 but he was believed to have been holed up in Queensland and was not present at the web hearing.
His lawyer Sarah Condon told the Melbourne Magistrates Court via video link that Ungermann intended to fight the charges.
Court documents state police allege Ungermann intentionally touched his alleged child victim without her consent – and he knew it – at least three times.
Allegations: Court documents state police allege Ungermann intentionally touched his alleged child victim without her consent – and he knew it – at least three times