Skip to Main ContentAccessibility HelpMenuWhen search suggestions are available use up and down arrows to review and enter to select.SearchSearchSign InQuick LinksNewsSportsRadioMusicTVnewsTop StoriesLocalClimateWorldCanadaPoliticsIndigenousBusinessThe NationalHealthEntertainmentScienceCBC News InvestigatesGo PublicAbout CBC NewsBeing Black in CanadaMore Anne Burrell, TV chef and coach on Worst Cooks in America, dead at 55 | CBC News LoadedEntertainmentAnne Burrell, TV chef and coach on Worst Cooks in America, dead at 55TV chef Anne Burrell, who coached culinary fumblers through hundreds of episodes of Worst Cooks in America, died Tuesday at her New York home. She was 55.The chef, author and TV personality died Tuesday at her New York homeJennifer Peltz · The Associated Press · Posted: Jun 18, 2025 9:36 AM EDT | Last Updated: June 18Chef Anne Burrell, shown here in April 2025, has died at her home at the age of 55. (Andy Kropa/Invision/The Associated Press)Social SharingTV chef Anne Burrell, who coached culinary fumblers through hundreds of episodes of Worst Cooks in America, died Tuesday at her New York home. She was 55.The Food Network, where Burrell began her two-decade television career on Iron Chef America and went on to other shows, confirmed her death. The cause was not immediately clear, and medical examiners were set to conduct an autopsy.Police were called to her address before 8 a.m. Tuesday and found an unresponsive woman who was soon pronounced dead. The police department did not release the woman's name, but records show it was Burrell's address.Burrell was on TV screens as recently as April, making chicken Milanese cutlets topped with escarole salad in one of her many appearances on NBC's Today show. She faced off against other top chefs on the Food Network's House of Knives earlier in the spring."Anne was a remarkable person and culinary talent — teaching, competing and always sharing the importance of food in her life and the joy that a delicious meal can bring," the network said in a statement.Known for her bold and flavorful but not overly fancy dishes, and for her spiky platinum-blonde hairdo, Burrell and various co-hosts on Worst Cooks in America led teams of kitchen-challenged people through a crash course in savoury self-improvement.Anne Burrell rides a float in a parade procession on Mulberry Street in the Little Italy neighbourhood of Manhattan in 2024 for the annual Feast of San Gennaro festival. (Ted Shaffrey/The Associated Press)On the first show in 2010, contestants presented such unlikely personal specialities as cayenne pepper and peanut butter on cod, and penne pasta with sauce, cheese, olives and pineapple. The accomplished chefs had to taste the dishes to evaluate them, and it was torturous, Burrell confessed in an interview with The Tampa Tribune at the time.Still, Burrell persisted through 27 seasons, making her last appearance in 2024."If people want to learn, I absolutely love to teach them," she said on ABC's Good Morning America in 2020. "It's just them breaking bad habits and getting out of their own way."'Cooking is fun'Burrell was born Sept. 21, 1969, in the central New York town of Cazenovia, where her parents ran a flower store. She earned an English and communications degree from Canisius University and went on to a job as a headhunter but hated it, she said in a 2008 interview with The Post-Standard of Syracuse. Having always loved cooking, she soon enrolled in the Culinary Institute of America, where she later taught. She graduated in 1996, spent a year at an Italian culinary school and then worked in upscale New York City restaurants for a time. "Anytime Anne Burrell gets near hot oil, I want to be around," Frank Bruni, then-food critic at the New York Times, enthused in a 2007 review.Anne Burrell poses during Chefs Making Waves on March 28, 2024. (Amy Harris/Invision/The Associated Press)By the next year, Burrell was hosting her own Food Network show, Secrets of a Restaurant Chef, and her TV work became a focus. Over the years she also wrote two cookbooks, Cook Like a Rock Star and Own Your Kitchen: Recipes to Inspire and Empower, and was involved with food pantries, juvenile diabetes awareness campaigns and other charities.Burrell's own tastes, she said, ran simple. She told The Post-Standard her favourite food was bacon and her favourite meal was her mother's tuna sandwich."Cooking is fun," she said. "It doesn't have to be scary. It's creating something nurturing."Survivors include her husband, Stuart Claxton, whom she married in 2021, and his son, her mother and her two siblings."Anne's light radiated far beyond those she knew, touching millions across the world," the family said in a statement released by the Food Network.·Corrections and clarifications·Submit a news tip·Report errorRelated Stories Juliette Powell, a former MuchMusic host and first Black Miss Canada, dead at 54 Duck Dynasty patriarch Phil Robertson dead at 79 Beach Boys visionary Brian Wilson dead at 82 St. Thomas woman killed during Irish vacation remembered fondly by family, friends Australian woman accused of killing 3 with toxic mushroom lunch breaks down in courtFooter LinksMy AccountProfileAbout CBC AccountsConnect with CBCPodcastsContact CBCAudience Relations, CBC P.O. Box 500 Station A Toronto, ON Canada, M5W 1E6 Toll-free (Canada only): 1-866-306-4636About CBCSitemapPrivacy PreferencesServicesAccessibilityIt is a priority for CBC to create products that are accessible to all in Canada including people with visual, hearing, motor and cognitive challenges.Closed Captioning and Described Video is available for many CBC shows offered on .About CBC AccessibilityAccessibility Feedback©2025 CBC/Radio-Canada. All rights reserved. now, Anne W. Burrell (September 21, 1969 – June 17, 2025) was an American chef, television personality, and instructor at the Institute of Culinary Education. She was the host of the Food Network show Secrets of a Restaurant Chef and co-host of Worst Cooks in America., "Anytime Anne Burrell gets near hot oil, I want to be around," Frank Bruni, then-food critic at the New York Times, enthused in a 2007 review. Anne Burrell poses during Chefs Making Waves on March .