Jock Zonfrillo explains why he carries around beads on MasterChef

Fans were left puzzled after they noticed that Jock Zonfrillo was holding beads while on MasterChef Australia.

And the Scottish-born judge has revealed why he carries them around on set, after getting ‘a billion’ questions from viewers.

In a video shared to Instagram on Monday, the 43-year-old chef explained they were worry beads to help him cope with ‘anxiety’ and ‘stress’.

‘These are worry beads; I’ve got lots of different types of worry beads,’ he said. 

‘When I am feeling anxious or a little bit stressed, I flick through them… the more anxious, the more worried I get, the faster I do it.’ 

Jock then showed his followers a set of worry beads featuring tan and black beads, and demonstrated how to use them.

He went on to explain that this particular set of beads had belonged to the late A. A. Gill, the celebrated British restaurant critic who died in December 2016. 

‘These are very special to me. They were given to me by Nicola [Formby], who is the wife of the late Adrian Gill,’ he says.

‘I love them. You’ll often see they are always in my pocket.’  

It’s possible A. A. Gill’s widow gave the beads to Jock because both men suffered from addiction early in life.

Gill was an alcoholic before he found success as a journalist, and Jock was a teenage heroin addict before he began his restaurant career.

This isn’t the first time the MasterChef host has revealed that he suffers from anxiety. 

Shortly after the season premiere, Jock told The Sunday Telegraph that he’d felt ‘wound up’ with anxiety before the ratings for episode one came in.

‘It was a tough lead-up and the pressure was on, but we were all super relieved,’ he said of the overwhelming support from viewers. 

MasterChef: Back to Win continues Tuesday at 7:30pm on Channel 10