Former MasterChef Australia star Ben Ungermann has confirmed that he’s single and out of the dating scene.
The 36-year-old, who was dumped from the cooking show amid child sex charges, confirmed his single status in an Instagram Q&A with fans on Wednesday.
The chef said he was ‘not interested’ in dating any longer, before adding: ‘I want to live for myself for a while.’
Over it: Former MasterChef Australia star Ben Ungermann has confirmed that he’s single and out of the dating scene after being charged with sexual assault
He was last romantically linked to South African radio host Leigh-Anne Williams, and the pair were even rumoured to be engaged.
The former couple had met in 2017, the year Ungermann placed second on MasterChef Australia’s ninth season.
He had travelled to Cape Town to give cooking demonstrations and was interviewed on Williams’ radio show, where the pair hit it off.
At the time, Williams apparently described Ungermann as ‘very easy on the eyes’.
The chef told fans on Instagram that he was ‘not interested’ in dating any longer, before adding: ‘I want to live for myself for a while’
Back in January, Ben published a blistering post slamming abuse from ‘sheep who follow headlines’ and revealing he had lost friends after being dumped from the 2020 ‘Back to Win’ season of the high-rating cooking show.
The Queensland-raised chef, who is fighting 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.
‘I’ve yet to have my chance to speak but my time will come’.
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.
Better days: He was last romantically linked to South African radio host Leigh-Anne Williams (pictured), and the pair were even rumoured to be engaged
‘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.
Fallout: Back in January, Ben published a blistering post slamming abuse from ‘sheep who follow headlines’ and revealing he had lost friends
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.
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.
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 series
