It should have been a happy time but MasterChef Joanne Zalm’s return home after being evicted from the show was bittersweet, thanks to a frightening hate campaign.
For the six long months she lived in the MasterChef house, Joanne Zalm dreamed of the moment she would return home to the welcoming arms of her beloved daughters.
But when the 37-year-old was eliminated from MasterChef last week, the happy family reunion she was hoping for was blighted by ugly threats made by anonymous online bullies, the most extreme calling for Joanne to be killed.
Now in her Sydney home with her adorable three-year-old daughter, Archella, clambering around her shoulders and eldest daughter Faith, 7, showing off her homemade MasterChef apron, Joanne and her devoted husband Richard are proving love can conquer all.
As the frightening episode unfolded, Richard, 43, never faltered in his loyalty to Joanne and their marriage of eight years, and is now calling on the cowards to stand by what they said.
“We don’t know who these people are and obviously they don’t want to be contacted or tell us their identities,” says Richard, who runs a hairdressing business.
“My message to them is: ‘Come forward and tell us who you are.’
“Put your number and your name next to what you write instead of hiding.”
With Richard’s support, Joanne has staunchly faced the vicious smear campaign, which sprang up on the social networking site Facebook, to which she does not belong.
But her abrupt introduction to the world of cyberbullying has left her with a lingering concern for her daughters’ welfare. “I am a mother and a wife first and foremost, and that means my first priority is protecting my family,” Joanne says.
To read the full story see this week’s Woman’s Day, on sale June 28, 2010.
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