The Chase star addresses poorly timed poisoning joke after mushroom deaths

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The Chase star Mara Lejins has addressed a poorly timed joke she made about food poisoning.

In an episode which aired in Australia on Monday night, Lejins, 27, joked that she put her boyfriend in hospital with her terrible cooking.

Of course, that particular game had been filmed long ago but aired so soon after a woman hosted a family lunch, serving a beef wellington and three of her relatives died from suspected mushroom poisoning while a fourth remains in a coma.

Up against a contestant who boasted that they love to cook, Lejins, who goes by the name the ‘smiling assassin’ on the game show, quipped: ‘I’m also an amazing chef and when my boyfriend gets out of hospital he’ll definitely back me up.

‘I didn’t do it!’

Lejins was quick to stress the timing of the joke was purely coincidental.

Sharing a screen grab of an article about the ‘untimely’ joke, she told her followers: ‘I promise this episode was filmed before the Death Cap debacle.’ 

Erin Patterson, 48, is currently under investigation by police after it was suspected the mushrooms in her beef wellington killed three family members and put another in hospital.

Her estranged husband Simon accused his ex of killing his parents Gail and Don Patterson, as well as Gail’s sister, Heather Wilkinson.

Heather’s husband Ian remains critical in hospital.

It’s feared they may have consumed death cap mushrooms, which are among the deadliest in the world.

Erin told police that the mushrooms were a mixture of button mushrooms bought from a supermarket and dried mushrooms bought from an Asian supermarket in Melbourne months earlier. 

In a leaked police statement, Erin spoke at length about the tragedy. 

Erin said invited her guests to choose their own plates when serving the meal before she took the final plate and helped herself to a serving.

Her two children ate the same meal the following day but with the mushroom scraped off first because they don’t like them.

‘I now very much regret not answering some questions, given the nightmare that this process has become,’ she said. 

‘I am now wanting to clear up the record because I have become extremely stressed and overwhelmed by the deaths of my loved ones.

‘I am hoping this statement might help in some way. I believe if people understood the background more, they would not be so quick to rush to judgement.’

The Chase airs on Channel 7 in Australia.

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