MasterChef‘s Ben Ungermann mysteriously left the show due to a “personal matter” last week and now, new details have emerged.
According to an exclusive report by the Daily Mail, the 33-year old was charged on March 6 with two counts of sexual assault following an alleged incident on February 23 whilst MasterChef was being filmed in Melbourne.
The MasterChef contestant was arrested in Melbourne in February, according to the report.
Ben is listed to appear before the Melbourne Magistrates’ Court on June 25 and Victoria Police confirmed the news of the arrest via a statement.
“The arrest follows an investigation into an alleged sexual assault in Docklands on 23 February. A 33-year-old Queensland man has been charged with two counts sexual assault,” it reads.
Though Ben has kept quiet over the past few months on social media, the chef announced that he is now working at Queensland restaurant, Woodlands Of Marburg.
The chef has created an Indonesian menu for the Brisbane country retreat and both Ben and the staff at Woodlands Of Marburg shared the news on their respective accounts.
“Woodlands of Marburg is proud to introduce new Gourmet Chef Ben Ungermann to the Woodlands family. Many new exciting adventures ahead…” the company captioned an image of Ben standing outside the establishment.
MasterChef contestants were informed of Ben’s departure at the beginning of the elimination task on Sunday night, but eliminated chef Hayden Quinn told Now To Love that there was no chance to say goodbye.
“It’s much different this season because we don’t all live in the one big house like past contestants, we’ve got our own apartments, we share with one other person. It’s private. So there could be times where you don’t see anyone for a number of days, you might only see someone in the kitchen,” he explained.
“Basically we turned up and Ben wasn’t there and Jock said what he said, that was it,” Hayden added. “I haven’t seen or heard from Ben since, so I know as much as you.”
WHO has reached out to Ben and Channel Ten, the latter of whom responded with the following statement from Endemol Shine Australia issued in March: “We can confirm Ben Ungermann has left the MasterChef Australia competition. As this is a police matter, we will not be making further comment”.
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