Colin Fassnidge is the Irish-born celebrity chef who has truly stolen everyone’s hearts on My Kitchen Rules and now, Better Homes and Gardens.
But who has captured his heart? The mother of his two daughters, Jane Hyland.
The couple met in 2000 in a famous Sydney restaurant where Colin was working and Jane was the venue’s assistant manager at the time.
“We were both here on a working holiday at the time. It was just prior to the Olympics, so it was a good time to be in Sydney,” Jane exclusively told New Idea in 2020.
“I don’t know what Colin’s first impressions of me were, but I thought he talked a lot!”
As for Colin’s first impression of his now-wife, he thought “she was tough.”
“Not a good thing when you’re trying to chat her up, but I was born on knockbacks,” he admitted to our sister site, the Australian Women’s Weekly in 2019.
While Colin believes Jane was instantly in-love with his “good looks and charm,” it was actually their boss who set them up on a date.
Does Colin Fassnidge have a wife?
After the first date, their relationship moved quickly. Colin told New Idea it “became serious within about six months.”
On January 6, 2006, they exchanged vows in a stunning ceremony overlooking Watson’s Bay.
How old are Colin Fassnidge’s kids?
Roughly three years after their marriage in 2009, Colin and Jane welcomed their first daughter, Lily, who is now 15 years old.
Their youngest daughter, Maeve, 14, was born just two years later.
In a 2015 interview with the Daily Telegraph, Colin revealed what Valentine’s Day looks like for him and Jane.
“One Valentine’s Day, we were travelling. We were in the middle of the desert and there were no shops, so I bought her a Bounty Bar and she made me freshly squeezed orange juice, so every year it’s now the same, a Bounty Bar and orange juice,” he revealed.
Colin was similarly candid when he gave an exclusive interview to our sister site TV WEEK, sharing his thoughts on fatherhood.
“I love being a dad,” he says. “I think it calmed me down. When I had kids, I was like, ‘You know what? It’s not all about you.’ Especially in my house. Nothing is about me.”
“The ad [for MKR] comes on the other night, and I’m like, ‘That’s me!’ My kids just walk by it, going, ‘Pffft! Whatever.’
“And then it was the ad where I cried, and my daughter’s like, ‘Oh, cringe.’ They keep you in check.”
Where does Colin Fassnidge live now?
In 2015, Colin purchased a $1.8 million five-bedroom home in the Sydney suburb of Malabar.
The property was a step up from the family’s previous residence in Matraville, and naturally boasts a big kitchen, but Colin has revealed that life in the Fassnidge household is much like any other family home.
In an interview with magazine editor Nicole Fuge, Colin shared an insight into daily life, explaining: “My wife gets up first, she’s usually up at 5.30am for the gym or yoga; then the kids get up, they get themselves dressed and breakfast, then Jane comes home and I get in trouble cause I’m still in bed and the kids are arguing over milk or cereal or something and I get the blame!
“We usually walk the kids to school as we are close, and then head for a coffee and catch up on what’s happening that day (a morning meeting some would say) or we sit, read the newspaper, and say, ‘Great catch up!’
“I usually take the dogs out and have a swim, answer emails, do recipes, and follow up with suppliers on things that are in, coming in, or heading out of the market.”
“Jane heads into the restaurant and does the office things, one of us will do school pick up and sports drop off, I’ll make dinner, and then head into the restaurant for dinner service. “
“If I’m filming this, all goes out the window and life revolves around crazy filming schedules – which can see me start at 4am some days!”
The star also revealed his kids like to help with the cooking at home, but they don’t want to follow in his footsteps career-wise.
“They’re interested and they come into work and make gnocchi for dinner,” the star explained. “They know where all of the ingredients are from; they grow stuff in the ground to eat, but they don’t want to be chefs.
“They like to be in kitchens, it’s second nature to them, they’ve grown up with it, they don’t know any different,” Colin said.
“My eldest daughter eats everything, and she’s a legend, sushi, everything, raw fish, and the other one will only eat pasta with very little sauce, so we have one that eats nothing and one that eats everything.”
In a 2024 interview with Woman’s Day, Colin was even more candid about family life with two teen daughters.
“I’m in a world of pain right now,” the star joked. “Fourteen is actually great. Lily and I get on like a house on fire. She works in a café on the weekends. She does her sports and then she goes to school. She’s a good kid. And then my other one is The Omen. The Devil. I’m going to shave her head and look for three sixes because I tell you, she is next level. She’s a little bit of me, I think.”
Colin’s health scare
In the same interview, Colin opened up about how a health scare he went through while filming MKR in New Zealand made him think about family life.
“I wasn’t well,” he said. “Every time I ate, I didn’t feel good. My stomach would churn. After a while, I called my doctor, who is as subtle as a brick. He said, ‘Oh, I reckon it could be bowel cancer.’”
The doctor advised Colin to undergo more tests.
“For two weeks, I sat with my own thoughts, and Dr Google doesn’t help you either, does it? So I went in and I was on the trolley, just about to get knocked out, and this medical team is telling me how much they love the show. I said, ‘It’s the wrong time, man. Wrong time!
It turned out Colin was suffering from a parasite, but the cancer scare had a lasting impact on him.
“When my doctor told me it could be cancer, I was just trying to work it out in my own head,” the star said.
“If it is the worst-case scenario, I was thinking, ‘How do I set my kids up? What do I do?’ Because it’s not about me anymore. How do I make sure ithat f I’m not around next year that my kids and my wife will be sorted?”
