Joshua Marks: Master Chef Season 3 Finalist Loses Battle With Mental Illness, Commits Suicide

By Jobs & Hire Staff Reporter | Oct 14, 2013 10:36 AM EDT

TEXT SIZE    

Josh Marks, fondly called the "seven-foot-chef," in season 3 of the reality cooking show Master Chef, has tragically lost his long battle with mental illness Friday, after committing suicide.

He was found dead on Friday night in Chicago, of an apparent suicide.

Police say the responded to a call in the Chicago city of Longwood Manor fifteen minutes before seven in the evening that reported a body found dead in an alley. Joshua marks, 26, was found lifeless, face-up, unresponding and bleeding from a head wound.

According to the medical examiner's office, Joshua Marks committed suicide, pronounced dead on the scene due to a self-inflicted gunshot wound to the head. The revolver he had used to carry out his suicide was found near his body.

Josh Marks, who had suffered from bi-polar disorder, had been ordered to undergo a mental health assessment back in August after assaulting a police officer at the University of Chicago. He had reportedly wrestled the officer to the ground after he had approached Marks to inquire about the injuries on his face. Marks then struggled with responding officers and had attempted to take one of their weapons.

Known in "Master Chef" season three as 'the gentle giant,' Josh Marks has revealed, months prior to his August arrest, of his difficulties with his mental illness. He had once claimed that Gordon Ramsay, one of the chefs and judges of "Master Chef," had possessed him and had turned him into God.

"The Josh that you are hearing about in police reports this morning is not the spirited Gentle Giant that we know," Marks' attorney said following his arrest in August.

Josh Marks had come out with his problems regarding mental illness in the "Make a Sound Project," an organization that helps people struggling with suicidal thoughts, but sponsors and leaders of the organization had coldly dropped him from the project after his arrest. 

pre post  |  next post
More Sections