Anne Burrell Fans Upset With Food Network’s ‘Insulting’ Tribute to Late Chef

Food Network’s planned tribute to Anne Burrell this week is facing some backlash from fans.

The famed chef and 20-year Food Network veteran passed away on Tuesday, June 17 at the age of 55, with Food Network announcing Monday that it will honor Burrell with “a special selection of episodes that will highlight her extraordinary talent as a chef, competitor, and teacher.”

Although the tribute is meant to “honor Anne and celebrate her impact on Food Network and beyond,” according to Betsy Ayala, Head of Content, Food, Warner Bros. Discovery, it is being blasted as “insulting” by fans, many of whom declared that Burrell “deserves a full week, not just a day.”

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Food Network’s tribute programming block is set to kick off at 10 p.m. with an episode of Guy Fieri’s Guy’s Grocery Games and run through the remainder of the night. However, Food Network’s decision to place the tribute programming so late into the evening and into such a short amount of time isn’t sitting well with fans.

“10 PM? That’s no good. We can do without watching Guy for a day. Please give Chef Anne the celebration she deserves,” one person wrote.

Many others agreed, somebody else commenting, “I’m surprised you guys haven’t been playing reruns since this happened. She definitely deserves a better timeslot than 10 PM.” Another person said, “the time slot is pretty terrible,” as somebody else commented, “10pm is wild… she couldn’t get a better Start time where people are actually awake to watch it?”

“I agree with many others-show Chef Anne more love and respect,” another Food Network viewer wrote. “How about ALL day Wednesday the 25th? Or a marathon of Chef Anne’s Worst Cooks episodes until the premiere of the new season?”

Somebody else said Burrell “deserves soooo much more than that!!!!!! A full week of throwing her episodes in there throughout the day.” Another person noted that Burrell had “been a mainstay on your network for years. She was a loved, fierce chef and deserves more.”

Burrell was a 20-year Food Network veteran at the time of her death. She first joined the TV station in 2005 when she appeared as a sous chef on Iron Chef America. She went on to land her own show on Food Network with Secrets of a Restaurant Chef, which was nominated for an Emmy Award in 2011 for Outstanding Culinary Program and ran for nine seasons from 2008 to 2012. She also appeared on Chef Wanted, Chopped, Food Network Star, and House of Knives, and was perhaps most recognized for co-hosting Worst Cooks in America. She joined the show in 2010, and appeared on every season through Season 26. She is set to make her final appearance on the show’s upcoming 28th season, Talented and Terrible, which premieres on Food Network on Monday, July 28 at 9 p.m. ET.