It was only 11 days after Mel Schilling shared a major cancer update that she passed away, leaving a nation absolutely devastated. The beloved MAFS expert and relationship coach had been a familiar face on our screens for over a decade and, despite struggling with her health for years, her death last month was a shock to many.
The situation felt all too familiar for Andy Allen, who told The WHO Group Chat podcast that he continues to grapple with the loss of fellow MasterChef judge Jock Zonfrillo, who died in 2023.
The Scottish chef had been on the Australian show for four years, and his wife, Lauren, has chosen to never publicly reveal his cause of death.
With the MAFS season now coming to an end and the show slowly slipping out of the limelight for another year, Andy has urged experts John Atkin and Alessandra Rampolla to learn from his well-intentioned mistakes after the death of Jock in hopes it’ll help them grieve Mel.
“My heart goes out to them (John and Alessandra) because, you know, much like the MasterChef kitchen is, I’m sure that that crew are really tight,” he told WHO. “You can see, especially by John’s comments throughout the last couple of weeks, that Mel meant a lot to a fair few people around. Not just on that set, but around the world.
“It will galvanise you. It will make you a stronger person, but in the dark times, you really just got to stay connected to your closest people and also, look out for yourself.”
Listen to the full chat with Andy Allen on The WHO Group Chat, here.
Andy Allen says his ‘coping mechanism’ worked against him
After Jock’s passing, Andy explained that he immediately thought about others around him and throw himself into looking after them.
And, while he doesn’t regret it, he realised later that it delayed his own grief.
Months later, it all came crashing down.
“I think for me, personally (when Jock died), I was kind of so worried about other people and I wanted to be there for Loz and the kids [Jock’s family], and everyone around MasterChef, and Channel 10, and the extended whoever,” he said.
“The darkest days were probably six months later after Jock passed. I’d never had someone close to me pass, especially under those circumstances before. I think my defence mechanism and my coping mechanism was to look after others, which is lovely, but six months down the track, I just crashed.
“It was a week when I was overseas and we’d won a Logie, it was Jock’s birthday and there was some other milestone all within the same week, and I remember being in Sicily and it just hit me pretty hard,” he explained. “I feel like that was kind of the start of my grieving process from that day.”
Andy Allen wants John and Alessandra to remember one thing
Ultimately, Andy wants John and Alessandra to be mindful of being kind to themselves, and taking time to process Mel’s passing.
“I think you’ve just got to, as much as you want to be there for others, you also need to be there for yourself,” he said.
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