{"id":644367,"date":"2026-10-29T02:00:37","date_gmt":"2026-10-29T02:00:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/644367\/"},"modified":"2026-10-29T02:00:37","modified_gmt":"2026-10-29T02:00:37","slug":"crying-most-nights-manu-feildels-hidden-heartbreak","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/644367\/","title":{"rendered":"‘Crying most nights’: Manu Feildel’s hidden heartbreak"},"content":{"rendered":"

After sixteen long years of judging<\/a> some of Australia\u2019s best home cooks on My Kitchen Rules (MKR), everyone\u2019s favourite French-Australian chef Manu Feildel might be getting ready to hang up his apron<\/a> for good.<\/p>\n

\u201cI want to be semi-retired, if not retiried completely to be honest with you,\u201d Manu revealed on The Dom Harvey Podcast of how he plans to spend his life in 10 years time.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve been working since I was 15, it\u2019s nearly 40 years of my life working. I\u2019ve loved every minute of it, but I\u2019m exhausted, and I would like to slow down. I\u2019d like to discover the world, I\u2019d like to travel with my wife and go eat food from everywhere, and that\u2019s my plan.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"ManuManu was 15 years old when he first stepped into a commerical kitchen. (Image: Instagram)<\/p>\n

Starting when he was young<\/p>\n

On the podcast, where he appeared alongside his enemy-turned-best bud and MKR co-host Colin Fassnidge, Manu revealed he first stepped into the kitchen professionally at just 15 years old when he began his pre-apprenticeship under his dad, Patrick.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy apprenticeship was horrible,\u201d Manu, 52, revealed. \u201cMy head chef was a complete alcoholic man, he was in his mid-50s and he was a great teacher and a great chef who taught me everything.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cBut at the same time he was physical and abusive on a daily basis which was tough, but then again it was the 80s, it was the way \u2013 and it was acceptable.\u201d<\/p>\n

When asked how his head chef was abusive when he was just 16 years old, Manu heartbreakingly revealed he would be kicked in the shins and have pots and pans thrown at him.<\/p>\n

\u201cI used to go home most nights crying,\u201d he shared.<\/p>\n

\"ManuHis son Jonti has flown the coup. (Image: Instagram)<\/p>\n

More heartbreak for Manu<\/p>\n

But this isn\u2019t the only heartbreak Manu has faced in his life, as recently his son Jonti has decided to leave the family home and move to the other side of the world.<\/p>\n

Jonti, 22, has relocated to France after joining the rugby team, Sporting Olympique Avignon Super XIII (SO Avignon) team based in the south of France \u2013 which has left Manu reportedly extremely proud but heartbroken.<\/p>\n

\u201cManu is absolutely thrilled for Jonti, but there\u2019s definitely a \u2018Wait\u2026 when will he be back? moment happening,\u201d a source told New Idea<\/a>. \u201cHe\u2019s gone from having his son around to suddenly havig to check the time difference before calling him!\u201d<\/p>\n

Before joining SO Avignon, Jonti played for the Sydney Roosters Jersey Flegg team and the South Sydney Rabbitohs Under 19s squad.<\/p>\n

\"\"Colin and Manu joked they\u2019ll be sticking around for quite a while longer on social media! (Image: Instagram)<\/p>\n

While Manu may want to hang up his apron for good and enjoy a life full of great food and grand adventures, Colin recently revealed his co-judge is the one keeping him on MKR \u2013 while both even joked on social media they\u2019d still be on the show in 20 years time.<\/p>\n

\u201cI probably wouldn\u2019t do [MKR] it if Manu wasn\u2019t doing it, to be perfectly honest,\u201d Colin told TV Week about his \u201cbromance\u201d with Manu.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re attached at the hip, we\u2019re like two brothers, really more than aything else.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tRelated<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"After sixteen long years of judging some of Australia\u2019s best home cooks on My Kitchen Rules (MKR), everyone\u2019s…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":644368,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[156,111,139,69],"class_list":["post-644367","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-entertainment","tag-entertainment","tag-new-zealand","tag-newzealand","tag-nz"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/644367","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=644367"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/644367\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/644368"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=644367"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=644367"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=644367"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}