Food Network star Anne Burrell’s final season of Worst Cooks in America will debut in July, only weeks after her sudden death at age 55.
Burrell, who also appeared on Chef Wanted, Chopped, and Food Network Star in addition to hosting the network’s Worst Cooks series, was found dead June 17 in her Brooklyn, New York, home.
The new season, titled Worst Cooks in America: Talented and Terrible, will air Monday, July 28 at 9 p.m. EST. As noted in a press release from Warner Bros. Discovery, which owns Food Network, this season will mark Burrell’s final appearance as mentor. Burrell was joined by another mentor, Chef Gabe Bertaccini, to work with new chefs for the season.
In Worst Cooks in America, chefs and mentors step in to help transform amateur cooks into cooking experts. Burrell hosted the show for 27 seasons, from 2010 to 2024. However, she was absent from season 28, which aired its season finale in February.
In honor of the late chef, Food Network is planning a special Anne Burrell programming block, scheduled for June 25. The first special, which airs at 10 p.m., is a re-run episode of Guy’s Grocery Games: All-Stars and A-Lister Dinners, where host Guy Fieri has Burrell, Eric Greenspan, Jet Tila, and Marcel Vigneron collect some crazy ingredients to make a healthy lunch.
At 11 p.m., the network will show Worst Cooks in America: Worst of the Worst, which is about the top 15 worst dishes ever on the show. At 11:30 p.m., the tribute continues with Worst Cooks in America: Boot Camp Diaries, which shows the insides of the reality show’s intensive training program for new chefs.
In a statement, Betsy Ayala, Head of Content, Food, Warner Bros. Discovery, said: “Anne Burrell was a one-of-a-kind talent whose loss is being deeply felt by family, friends, and fans. With these special programming events, we hope to honor Anne and celebrate her impact on Food Network and beyond, and to offer fans a way to remember her passion and culinary prowess that ran through everything she did.”
Burrell’s death is being investigated as a possible drug overdose by the New York City Police Department, according to an internal document seen by The New York Times.
The document said Burrell was “discovered in the shower unconscious and unresponsive, surrounded by approximately (100) assorted pills.” First responder medical personnel, who arrived at the property in response to a 911 call, pronounced her dead at the scene.
The Times was told by a spokesperson for the city medical examiner’s office that an autopsy had been completed, but any findings on the cause and manner of death were still pending.
Without naming Burrell but confirming details of the incident, including time, location, age, and sex of the deceased, a spokesperson for the NYPD told The Independent that the chief medical examiner will determine the cause of death, and the investigation remains ongoing at this time.
