Heartbreaking moment MasterChef star Abi’s sister suddenly died ‘without warning’
MasterChef star Abi Kempley’s sister Ellie suddenly died in September 2022 “without warning or reason”. Now, Abi is a finalist competing against three other hopeful chefs on the BBC. As finals week plays out on MasterChef, Abi Kempley is bringing the talent she discovered during the lockdown to one of the UK’s biggest cooking competitions, […]
MasterChef star Abi Kempley’s sister Ellie suddenly died in September 2022 “without warning or reason”. Now, Abi is a finalist competing against three other hopeful chefs on the BBC.
As finals week plays out on MasterChef, Abi Kempley is bringing the talent she discovered during the lockdown to one of the UK’s biggest cooking competitions, but life hasn’t been easy for her.
MasterChef star Abi on finals week
MasterChef 2024 star, Abi Kempley, is competing on the BBC One show’s competition for finals week. She’s against Brin, Chris, and Louise, and is the youngest contestant at just 22 years old.
The young chef has wowed the judges with her Asian cuisine after she began to cook at her Harrogate home during lockdown. Her mum then persuaded her to sign up for the show.
Abi, who works in sales for her family’s food business in Leeds, has been left heartbroken by the death of her older sister less than two years ago.
Heartbreaking moment sister died
Abi’s sister, Ellie, 23, suddenly died on September 16, 2022, “without warning or reason”. Her brother launched a fundraiser in her memory and shared the family’s heartbreak over Ellie’s death.
She died from Sudden Arrhythmic Death Syndrome (SADS), a condition when someone dies suddenly and unexpectedly from a cardiac arrest, as reported by Daily Mail.
The fundraiser says, “Shock, sadness, disbelief, regret, and anger have defined the time since. Grief is all the love you want to give, but now can’t. Mum, Dad, James, Abi and I loved Ellie beyond imagination.”
When Ellie passed away, she was mid-way through an AMI Montessori 3-6 Diploma. She graduated from Manchester Metropolitan University in Childhood Studies, and worked part-time at a nursery.
Each year from 2024, the Ellie Kempley Scholarship will cover the full tuition of a student through the course that Ellie was unable to finish. It was “her dream to educate, inspire, and care for young people.”
The course sponsors teachers in Ellie’s memory. In 2023, a team of 33 took on the Yorkshire Marathon and raised over ÂŁ30,000, and the family continue to raise funds on their GoFundMe page.
WATCH MASTERCHEF FINALS WEEK ON BBC ONE FROM MONDAY MAY 20