MasterChef star Ross Burden dies aged 45
Ready Steady Cook star Ross Burden has died after losing his battle with cancer.
The MasterChef finalist, originally from New Zealand, died in hospital in Auckland on Thursday, following complications with treatment for leukaemia.
His sister Kirsten Hughes told the New Zealand Herald that Burden caught an infection during a bone marrow transplant operation.
Once declared one of TV’s ‘most eligble bachelors’, Burden came out as gay shortly after.
Hughes said: “He’s just a friendly, compassionate guy – nothing was too much trouble. He was my big, fantastic incredible, larger-than-life brother.
“Right up until probably a week-and-a-half ago, he was making his next lot of plans. He had the world map out.”
The self-trained chef had been one assignment away from finishing a Masters Degree in Maori Studies.
He rose to fame when reaching the MasterChef final in 1994, and appeared alongside Ainsley Harriot in Ready Steady Cook. He lived in London for two decades before returning to New Zealand as a judge on the first series of MasterChef there, back in 2010.
