MasterChef Australia fans have been left baffled by Melissa Leong’s unlikely career move following her exit from the cooking competition.
The food critic, 42, was dropped from the Channel Ten show last year, leaving fans devastated, and she has since moved on to a string of other presenting jobs.
As well as appearing as a judge on Dessert Masters, Melissa has also taken up a very unexpected hosting gig with Fox Sports and Kayo.
In a huge reach from her cookery background, Melissa surprised fans when she appeared on screens hosting a UFC 305 interview on Tuesday.
She showed off her MMA knowledge as she sat down with iconic New Zealand fighter Israel Adesanya ahead of his August 18 face-off against Dricus Du Plessis.
Melissa shared footage from the interview to Instagram, and MasterChef fans were quick to take to the comments to share their surprise over her career shake-up.
One wrote: ‘Masterchef to MMA,’ while another said: ‘Bit different from MasterChef?’
One fan agreed the move was ‘so weird’.
MasterChef Australia fans have been left baffled by Melissa Leong ‘s unlikely career move following her exit from the cooking competition
As well as judging on Dessert Masters, Melissa has also taken up a very unexpected hosting gig with Fox Sports and Kayo as she interviewed Israel Adesanya (pictured) this week
Others admitted they were fans of the shift, however, writing ‘I love this!!!,’ and calling the pair a ‘couple of GOATs.’
It is not the first time Melissa has ventured into sports presenting as she recently also guest hosted an episode of Fight Week for Fox Sports and Kayo.
Speaking about the genre change, Melissa – who has long been a secret UFC fan – admitted she likes to ‘surprise’ her fans and do things that people don’t expect.
‘I like to surprise people,’ she told the Daily Telegraph earlier this year.
‘I don’t do things deliberately for that reason, but I do get a little bit of joy out of people realising I’m not quite what they were expecting me to be.’
‘I was trained in food and food journalism specifically but I have an opportunity right now to get to learn about people’s lives through opportunities like this,’ she added.
In another unexpected change, Melissa also recently returned to screens fronting a three-part documentary series about Australia’s health system.
The TV star appeared on the SBS docuseries The Hospital: In The Deep End on Thursday June 6 alongside Samuel Johnson and Costa Georgiadis.
Melissa revealed she wanted to take part in the project so she could get an insight into her mother’s career as a nurse.
The food critic, 42, was dropped from MasterChef Australia last year, leaving fans devastated (she is pictured on the show with Andy Allen and the late Jock Zonfrillo)
‘Spending time in the emergency department certainly gave me a brief glimpse into what she did,’ she told TV Week.
‘I think [my mother is] such a tremendously empathetic person. A lot of my inspiration for how I want to be in my life, I take from her.’
But Melissa has not ditched her work as a food critic all together, as she is also a judge on MasterChef Australia’s new spin-off series Dessert Masters.
Melissa recently described her new role as a ‘dream come true’ when speaking to Daily Mail Australia.
After her axing from MasterChef, Melissa insisted she had nothing but love for her former co-stars amid the hosting shake-up.
‘I have nothing but love and respect for not only Andy but everybody I’ve worked with,’ she insisted. ‘We’re a team, we’re a family, and that’s all you need to know really.’
She had hosted the series alongside Andy Allen and the late Jock Zonfrillo, who was tragically found dead in a Melbourne hotel room on April 30, 2023.
Andy returned to the cooking competition this year alongside new judges Sofia Levin, Poh Ling Yeow and Jean-Christophe Novelli.
