When Jock’s wife called him, Andy didn’t hesitate to jump into action.

Andy Allen and Jock Zonfrillo became fast friends when they began co-judging Masterchef Australia in 2020.

Now, Andy has revealed the secret plan he made with Jock’s wife when he first heard of his passing in May 2023.

Speaking to the A Life of Greatness with Sarah Grynberg podcast this week, Andy recalled the moment he found out about his friend’s death.

“I just learned tonnes, and so, for him to pass away, it was shocking – A) that’s my birthday, the 30th of April,” he said on the podcast. “B) I was with him the day before, I was the last person to see him, I had lunch [with him]. And then C) for it to play out in the public eye, it was crazy. The first 24 hours was something that I would never want to relive in my life.”

The MasterChef judge said Jock’s wife Lauren Zonfrillo called him in the early hours of the morning to tell him the news.

“I remember Loz calling me from Rome, because the last bit of publicity that Jock had to do was on the launch day… and then Jock was on a plane to go and live in Rome for six months with the kids, and this was their dream to set up six [months] in Australia, six [months] in Rome… They’d been working on that for such a long time,” he continued.
(Credit: Channel 10)
“And I get a call at about 4:30 in the morning from Lauren in hysterics, and telling me what had happened. That Jock had passed away,” Andy recalled. “I was then like, and I suppose this is my coping mechanism, but I was like, ‘OK, what do you need?’ And she was like, ‘I just don’t know what to do, because he’s got a lot of press to do this morning, and I had a bit of press to do as well, and I was like, ‘OK, I’ll go do his press.’ Because she didn’t want to go to [Channel] Ten and [say] this has happened, like, she needed to kind of get a plan together and deal with it.”

Andy told the podcast he put on a brave face and did the interviews, all the while knowing his friend had just passed away.

“I was trying so hard to get in the zone and get done what I needed to do, and somehow did this press until nine o’clock and obviously hadn’t told anyone, and that was like step one, get that done, then start the grieving process,” he explained.

The 37-year-old chef then made sure he was there for Jock’s family for whatever they needed and also played an important role in his friend’s funeral.
(Credit: Channel 10)
“Jock’s funeral was another tough one, but I’m proud of the part that I could play – for Loz to go, ‘Stand next to Ava, if she needs you to take over, take over,’ and the absolute legend crushed it, she didn’t need me.”

It wasn’t until months later, when Andy and his wife were holidaying in Europe, that the grief fully hit him.

“I just broke down,” he said. “And I think from then on, I wasn’t okay, I realised I wasn’t a great husband, I wasn’t good to the people that are around me. And I just think it was because of that first period of just, like, looking out for everyone else, making sure that they’re okay, I realised that I hadn’t really grieved myself. And then it was like, yeah, I needed to work on myself, because I wasn’t an amazing person.”

In an interview with 7NEWS Spotlight in May, Andy said he still thinks about his friend every day.

“I always think of him. And I miss him, I miss him so much. It’s crazy that that never goes,” he said. “That being reminded of him wherever I go and no matter what I do, it is still as strong as the day that he passed two years ago.”