“Where’s my money George?” Angry unpaid staff member hits out at MasterChef judge
<p>An underpaid former employee of George Calombaris’ has spoken out to the former<span> </span><em>MasterChef Australia</em><span> </span>star on national TV to ask, “Where’s the money George?”</p>
<p>Orlaith Belfrage is a former waitress at Calombaris’ Hellenic Republic restaurant in Melbourne and is still fighting for her money back and that of others.</p>
<p>“I’d ask him ‘where’s my money and my back pay,” Ms Belfrage said on <em>A Current Affair</em>.</p>
<p>“And also, ‘Where’s the back payment to all these other workers that still haven’t heard anything from him or his company?’”</p>
<p>The sudden departure of<span> </span><em>MasterChef Australia</em><span> </span>judges George, Matt Preston and Gary Mehigan on Tuesday has led to speculation about the reasons behind the mass exodus.</p>
<p>However, Network Ten says the end to the 11-year run is due to a contract disagreement and Mehigan publicly confirmed it was not about money.</p>
<p>Sally McManus from the Australian Council of Trade told <em>A Current Affair</em> she was satisfied with Calombaris no longer being a judge on <em>MasterChef</em>.</p>
<p>“Look, we think it's a really good decision by the network for him to no longer be a judge because why should he be a role model?” she said.</p>
<p>“He's someone who's been held up and given that position as a celebrity chef and they're not the type of people we should be looking up to.”</p>
<p>Network 10 chief executive Paul Anderson told Ten News the judges leaving the popular cooking competition was not linked to Calombaris’ issues.</p>
<p>“We've been in negotiation with the three guys for a number of months, so this is not about George,” he said.</p>
<p>“The reality is that we couldn't meet the demands of the three judges.”</p>
