MasterChef star Ben Ungermann breaks silence over charges he sexually assaulted a girl, 16 and reveals how he’s lost friends in the ‘heartbreak’ of 2020
- Ben Ungermann was dumped from MasterChef: Back to Win just episodes in
- Daily Mail Australia revealed he had been charged with sexual assault
- Claims last year he witnessed the ‘ugly side’ of people and the media
- ‘I have… weathered the abuse of the sheep who follow the headlines’
- Ungermann is fighting the charges, which involve claims about a girl, 16
The MasterChef star dumped from the show after child sex charges has published a blistering post slamming abuse from ‘sheep who follow headlines’ and revealing he has lost friends.
Ben Ungermann, 33, was dumped from the 2020 ‘Back to Win’ season of the high-rating cooking show after just a handful of episodes.
The Queensland-raised chef, who is fighting the three charges of sexually assaulting a 16-year-old girl, broke his silence to lash out at trolls and reflect on last year as the ‘toughest’ of his life, when he was exposed to the ‘ugly side’ of society.
‘I have kept quiet for a long time and weathered the abuse of the sheep who follow the headlines and know nothing about me,’ he wrote recently.
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‘I’ve yet to have my chance to speak but my time will come’.
Ben Ungermann recently broke up a long series of workout selfies (above) and cooking tips posted in the past year to address his difficult 2020
The Dutch-Indonesian chef said the year had taught him he had a small circle, and he made cryptic references to the apparent end of friendships.
‘My circle is small. Actually the smallest it’s ever been and I’m OK with that. Not all friendships end with a bang.
‘Not all friendships end with a door being slammed in your face. Sometimes that door just imperceptibly swings shut, without so much a squeak or a creak.’
The chef said he’d learned that blood ‘is thicker than water’ and that he was lucky to have his family around him.
He described 2020 as involving ‘heartbreaks and hardship’.
When the show kicked off last year, vague reports surfaced that Ungermann had been arrested and wasn’t going to continue on MasterChef.
Celebrity chef Jock Zonfrillo addressed the matter briefly for viewers, saying simply that Ungermann had left the show due to a ‘personal matter’.
Last May, Daily Mail Australia revealed the nature of that matter: Ungermann had been charged with three sexual assault offences.
Another one of a long series of workout photos Ungermann has uploaded in the past year
The beginning of Ungermann’s blistering post, published on December 30
In court documents, Victoria Police accuse Ungermann of intentionally touching his alleged teenage victim without her consent at least three times.
One of the charges includes graphic detail of one of the alleged attacks against the young girl.
Police alleged that the girl claimed on Sunday, February 23, Ungermann ‘sexually touched her right breast skin-to-skin’ against her wishes.
Prosecutor Stephen Payne said police intended to call four child witnesses to give evidence against Ungermann – each of them from interstate – at a hearing.
Ungermann was the runner up in the 2017 competition, the show’s ninth season, and briefly appeared on last year’s ‘Back To Win’ reunion show
Ungermann hit Instagram in late March as police investigated the allegations
Magistrate Andrew Capell heard 13 witnesses would be called in total, including five other interstate witnesses, one from Melbourne, and three police officers.
At the time, Mr Payne told the court there was now no hope of the matter resolving and it would need to be contested at court.
‘That won’t change,’ he said.
The preliminary hearing, which will determine if Ungermann goes to a jury trial at the County Court of Victoria, is expected to take seven days.
The case returns to court on May 21.
