TV personalities and stars are no strangers to receiving a barrage of criticism and hurtful messages from viewers online.
But now, MasterChef judge Jock Zonfrillo has snapped back by singling out one viewer’s hateful message online and making an example of him.
WATCH: Is this MasterChef’s strangest dish to date?
Jock along with fellow judges Melissa Leong and Andy Allen took the reins of the MasterChef kitchen this year with the departure of Gary Mehigan, Matt Preston and George Calombaris.
Following on from the decade-long stint, Jock and his fellow judges were never going to have it easy to win over the hearts of fans. And yet, that’s exactly what Andy, Melissa and Jock have done.
Still, some viewers feel the need to tear down the TV stars in hateful and racist messages online.
When Jock received the latest vile post via Instagram about his co-star Melissa, he decided enough was enough.
“Geez I will be glad when this dumb a**e MasterChef finishes I wouldn’t watch it but sick of while watching other 10 program,” the user, who Jock chose to name by leaving their details public, wrote.
“Having to watch trailers of you and that painful g**k criticise what is put in front of you because a pea is in the wrong place half the stuff no one would ever make geez you are so far up yourselves.”
The 43-year-old judge immediately responded to the disgraceful message by sharing it to his own Instagram complete with impassioned caption.
“Where to begin with this… Firstly I can only assume you are referring to @fooderati when you used the term ‘g**k’…” Jock wrote.
“She’s actually Melissa, she’s my work wife, my sister, my mate, she drinks espresso like I do, she is able to express and articulate a damn sight better than you can clearly and that is just the beginning.
“She’s a woman whose origin happens to be different than yours, but why does that make you so afraid?
“I feel sorry for you that you cannot see past the colour of someone’s skin or actually the fact they are just different than your white ass in any way.”
Jock went to ask the viewer to “educate” themselves and be “a better human” before warning other followers and fans that similar messages sent to him in future would be called out by name too.
Melissa, 38, who was at the centre of the attack, shared the message to her own social media with a spectacular tear down.
Instead of trying to formulate a long response, Melissa simply corrected the viewer’s poor grammar before adding a simple a witty swipe: “I couldn’t help myself, I had to mark this one up. Grammar is the difference between knowing your s**t, and knowing you’re s**t.”
Ouch.
Related stories
Native ad body.
Native ad body.
Native ad body.
