Jock Zonfrillo’s widow Lauren Fried has shared a sweet video of her late husband to mark his MasterChef co-star Andy Allen’s birthday.
Beloved celebrity chef Jock was tragically found dead in a hotel in Carlton, near Melbourne’s CBD, on April 30, 2023, with Tuesday marking one year since his death.
His widow Lauren recently told fans how she plans to share unseen videos of Jock to his social media to honour his legacy, and has now shared the first of such posts.
To mark Andy’s 36th birthday, which is also the one-year anniversary of Jock’s death, Lauren shared a video of a funny moment between close friends Jock and Andy.
The sweet throwback video showed Jock larking around with his fellow MasterChef judge as they celebrated one of Andy’s past birthdays together.
Jock Zonfrillo’s widow Lauren Fried has shared a sweet video of her late husband (pictured) to mark his MasterChef co-star Andy Allen’s birthday
In the footage, Andy was shown trying to catch a cork as it flew out of a bottle of champagne, with Jock in charge of trying to launch the cork towards him.
Getting ready to pop open the bottle, Jock could be heard saying from behind the camera: ‘I need to get focused, I need to get my head in the game.’
Birthday boy Andy then urged him to take the ‘metal bit’ off the end of the cork first, prompting him to joke: ‘F**k that, you’re such a p***y, f**k sake!’
Jock then told his friend: ‘Are you ready? You’ve got to catch it.’
As Jock let go of the cork, it flew at speed and smacked Andy straight in the face in the foiled attempt, prompting him to fall back on to the ground in alarm.
She posted a sweet throwback video of Jock larking around with his fellow MasterChef judge Andy (pictured) as they celebrated one of his past birthdays together
In the footage, Jock tried to launch a cork out of a bottle of champagne for his friend Andy to catch, but instead he ended up falling on the floor (pictured) when the cork hit him in the face
Through laughter, Andy exclaimed: ‘That hit me in the temple!’ as his friends flocked to check if he was OK.
Sharing a birthday message alongside the video, Lauren captioned the post: ‘Happy birthday @andyallencooks! Strong language warning. No one was (permanently) injured. Don’t try this at home.’
Jock tragically died exactly one year ago on April 30, which hit Andy particularly hard as it was also his 35th birthday.
Responding to Lauren’s video, Andy told how it will always be an ’emotional birthday’ for him, but looked back on his treasured memories with Jock.
Jock (left) was tragically found dead in a hotel in Carlton, near Melbourne’s CBD exactly one year ago on April 30, which hit Andy (right) particularly hard as it was also his 35th birthday
He said: ‘It’ll forever be an emotional birthday, but I’ll always find the happiness from the many memories like this.’
Jock is survived by his wife Lauren, their two children Alfie, seven, and Isla, three, as well as his two adult daughters Ava and Sophia from his first two marriages.
Last week, Lauren took to social media to share an emotional video where she discussed her grief and her plans to share Jock’s legacy.
Just days ahead of the first anniversary of his death, Lauren spoke about ‘finding her feet’ as a ‘solo parent’ and how her two kids have adjusted after their tragic loss.
He is survived by his wife Lauren, their two children Alfie, seven, and Isla, three, (all pictured) as well as his two adult daughters Ava and Sophia from his first two marriage
She shared: ‘Next week will be a year since we lost Jock. I have no idea where that time went.
‘I really did have plans to get more of his projects out but somewhere between trying to find my feet as a solo parent – and just going through long periods of time where I found it really hard to look at videos and photos of Jock – the plan didn’t go to plan.
‘Jock’s legacy sits in his children and his work, and both have given me a lot of purpose in the last year.
‘I’ve been focusing on the kids and they’re going really well, they’re thriving actually and found their new normal. I think we created two extraordinary little people there.’
Lauren went on to explain how she plans to share Jock’s legacy with his fans, saying she wants to focus on posting previously unseen content of the chef.
Last week, Lauren took to social media to share an emotional video where she discussed her grief and her plans to share Jock’s legacy
She went on: ‘So now I just want to focus on the work.
‘I’ve got hundreds and hundreds of hours of Jock cooking his favourite recipes explaining what vinegar or oil he used in different things, things he discovered on our travels, fun behind-the-scenes stuff, interviews, and it’s a part of my life I want to start sharing with everyone again.
‘I’ll start posting again as soon as I can. Please try and treat them as normal, if you have any questions about the recipe or method, please just ask, pop it in the comments, and if I can’t answer it, I’ll get one of his chef mates to.
‘The purpose of putting it up is for us to enjoy it, to enjoy Jock, so I hope you do.’
Jock was found dead at the Zagame’s House hotel in Carlton, near Melbourne’s CBD, at about 2am on April 30 last year.
Just days ahead of the first anniversary of his death, Lauren spoke about ‘finding her feet’ as a ‘solo parent’ and how her two kids have adjusted after their tragic loss in a video
At the time, Lauren was in Italy with their two children and had phoned Victoria Police to request a welfare check because he stopped answering her calls.
His sudden death was still being investigated in March almost a year after his tragic passing, the Coroner’s Court of Victoria confirmed at the time.
Jock’s death came just one day before the 2023 season of MasterChef was due to premiere, and it was delayed in arriving on air for a week ‘out of respect’.
Network 10 dedicated the fifteenth season to Jock and his family as they aired his scenes posthumously, acknowledging his ‘sudden and tragic passing’.
