TV chef Anne Burrell, the platinum blonde star 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 8am Tuesday and found an unresponsive woman who was soon pronounced dead. Officers did not release the woman’s name but records show it was Burrell’s address.

She was on TV as recently as April, making chicken Milanese cutlets topped with escarole salad in one of her many appearances on NBC’s Today show. Burrell also 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 flavourful 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 self-improvement.

On the first show in 2010, contestants presented such unlikely personal specialties 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.