‘Dirty, filthy industry’: Celebrity chef Colin Fassnidge cops dressing-down for driving with cocaine in system

Celebrity chef Colin Fassnidge has copped a blistering reality check from a Sydney magistrate and told that he was supporting a “dirty, filthy industry” after he was caught driving with cocaine in his system. The My Kitchen Rules star stood in front of magistrate Jacqueline Milledge inside the NSW Local Court on Wednesday and was told that he needed to think about the consequences of his actions and the violence on Sydney streets that were a product of the drug industry. “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,” Ms Milledge told the court. “That’s the dirty, filthy reality of the drug industry.” Sitting alongside his wife in court in the John Maddison Tower on Wednesday, Fassnidge pleaded guilty to driving with an illicit drug present in his blood after his grey Nissan ute was pulled over at Maroubra in Sydney’s east on November 8 last year. He accepted that he had cocaine in his system, but his solicitor Bryan Wrench emphasised that Fassnidge was not affected by the drug at the time and had not put other road users in danger. The court was told that it was his second offence for driving with cocaine in his system, having previously been fined for the same matter in 2022. In court on Wednesday, Fassnidge referred to the last four months as “hell”. “He’s lost sponsors as a consequence of this, he’s put everything on the line, he will never do this again,” Mr Wrench said. Mr Wrench also said his client wanted to “redeem himself”. “Why didn’t he redeem himself in 2022?” Ms Milledge asked. The court was told that one of Fassnidge’s TV shows had been put on hold during the court process. Everyone attached to the New Zealand production of one of his shows would lose their jobs, Fassnidge told the court. Ms Milledge noted that Fassnidge supported several charities and described his extensive community work as “magnificent”. But she then questioned why someone with a social conscience, such as Fassnidge, would fuel the illicit drug trade by buying cocaine. She further told him that he could not use drugs as his “release valve.” “I loathe them (drugs), I think they’re horrible. Why should you be given another chance?” Ms Milledge said as she asked why he shouldn’t have a conviction recorded against him. “These past four months, it has been pretty dark,” Fassnidge said as he addressed the court directly. He also told the court that he had never sought professional help before and been forced to face his problems head on. Ms Milledge did not record a conviction and ordered that Fassnidge serve a two-year good behaviour bond. And she warned him that if he offended again, he would come back before her. “You won’t want that to happen,” she said. “I thank you for this and sorry for wasting everyone’s time,” Fassnidge told the court.