A TV host and celebrity chef entered a guilty plea on Wednesday in a messy drug case.
The Advertiser reported that officials pulled over Colin Fassnidge, 52, on Nov. 8 and administered a roadside drug test in South Maroubra, Australia. The My Kitchen Rules and Kitchen Nightmares Australia star’s test “returned a positive result for cocaine,” as did a second test.
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Officials charged Fassnidge, who is also known for Food Diary and Off The Grid with Colin & Manu, for allegedly driving a vehicle with an illicit drug present in blood.
On Wednesday, the culinary television personality entered a guilty plea, per TV Tonight. Ahead of sentencing, his legal rep, Bryan Wrench, tried to lobby that, while cocaine was in Fassnidge’s system, it was not actively inhibiting his driving abilities at the time.
Magistrate Jacqueline Milledge did not seem to care about this point, shaming the My Kitchen Rules judge for contributing to the drug-related problems in Australia. This is notably Fassnidge’s second time facing cocaine-related charges following a similar 2022 incident.
“You’ve only got to turn on the TV to see that people are being killed in our streets, homes are being firebombed, cars are being firebombed, homes are being shot up,” Magistrate Milledge said during the hearing. “That’s the dirty, filthy reality of the drug industry.”
Fassnidge, who gained gains outside the food world on Network 10’s I’m A Celebrity… Get Me Out of Here! Season 7, won’t go to jail as a result of his guilty plea. Instead, he will instead serve a two-year good behaviour bond, the Australian equivalent to the U.S. justice system’s use of probation.
One of Fassnidge’s TV shows has allegedly been placed on hold due to this scandal, the host claimed in court. However, it is unclear which show he was referring to.