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MKR and Better Homes and Gardens star Colin Fassnidge has revealed a sobering conversation he had with co-star Manu Feildel after the death of fellow celebrity chef Jock Zonfrillo.
Zonfrillo died on April 30, 2023, leaving behind wife Lauren Fried and four children.
WATCH THE VIDEO ABOVE: Colin Fassnidge reveals heart-wrenching chat with Manu.
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A cause of death was never publicly stated, although sources close to the family have cited natural causes.
His death at 46 rocked the restaurant and entertainment world, with numerous other high-profile cooks, including Fassnidge and Feildel, paying tribute to him in the days that followed.
Both were friends of the Scottish-born TV personality and were clearly deeply affected by his death.
Now, Fassnidge has opened up about a chat he had with Feildel about what kind of legacy they wanted to leave after they’d gone.
“I was talking to Manu (about this),” he told Marcus Costanzo on a recent episode of The Mouthful podcast.
“Because Jock had died, and we were sort of putting everything in perspective of, ‘If we died, what would be said about you?’
“So we had these chats, me and Manu … and we were like, ‘What would your kids say about you if you died tomorrow?’
“And mine would be quite positive.
“Like, they would say, ‘He’s an idiot and cringe, but you know what, we ate every night, our house was fun,’ you know what I mean?”
Costanzo then began talking about how parents sometimes have to be away from their kids even when they don’t want to be.
“Yeah, and they’d be like, ‘And even though, yes, he’s on the road at times, he makes sure he’s giving us his time’,” Costanzo added.
“Yeah, 100 per cent,” Fassnidge agreed.
Fassnidge has been married to wife Jane since 2006 and they have two children.
The Irish chef had a few emotional moments during the filming of last year’s MKR.
In one segment, he broke down in tears when the season’s eventual winners, Radha and Prabha, talked about the loss of their beloved father when they were just little girls.
Fassnidge later told 7Life the segment had been filmed about a week after Zonfrillo’s death and everyone was feeling emotional.
“Me and Manu had a little campervan out the back of the shoot, so when we’d finished shooting we’d go on a break, and we were actually having a whisky to Jock,” he revealed.
“We were talking about families and kids; we’re both dads and we were talking about that.
“And then we went in and we got hit with this bombshell (story from the sisters) and I was just like, ‘Wow’.
“The first half of the season was very emotional, actually, because Jock had just died, and we were all feeling it; the cameramen, the crew too.
“It was actually quite a nice time as well, because everyone took time to, you know, hug each other and make sure everyone was all right.”
As a result, the sisters’ story of losing their father at such a young age really hit him hard.
“Me and Manu are both Dads and, you know, they cooked for their Dad on Father’s Day, and I was like, ‘F***, here we go, here come the tears’,” he says.
“I was trying not to cry, but it didn’t work.”