When judge Antonia Lofaso entered the Cutthroat Kitchen and tasted the chefs’ turkey dinner, French toast and lobster roll dishes, she wasn’t privy to the events that had unfolded and ultimately led to those particular plates of food. Simply critiquing and praising the offerings based solely on taste, she knew not of the thousands of dollars that had been spent to force a competitor to cook with a precooked, processed turkey instead of a fresh bird, to prepare a meal sans utensils, to feature red wine and blue cheese in French toast, and to make bread from scratch in only 30 minutes. On his first-ever Alton’s After-Show, Alton revealed these secrets and others to judge Antonia, who finally realized the making of the meals she had just tasted. “It’s all coming together now,” she told Alton. In perhaps the most telling reveal, she learned that all of these sabotages, seemingly insurmountable given the time constraints and demands of the challenge, had been inflicted on one competitor: Chef Frankie. It was up to him to adapt to these struggles — sometimes multiple ones in a single round — and attempt to turn out passable plates. Read more at: http://blog.foodnetwork.com/fn-dish/2013/08/cutthroat-kitchen-altons-after-show-episode-1/?oc=linkback

To succeed in the Cutthroat Kitchen, it’s not enough for a chef to come equipped with his lucky knife kit and years of experience at the stove. After all, a fellow competitor may prevent his use of that cutlery and make him question the extent of his skills, all with the help of $25,000 in spending money and the will to disrupt. Chefs must take assigned curve balls in stride and turn out quality dishes for a judge, who, without knowledge of the earlier mind games, will decide based on taste alone whose plate is the weakest. On Alton’s After-Show, host Alton Brown will reveal to the judge what’s gone down, and together they’ll dish on how the events unfolded and the food ultimately came to light. In the series premiere, judge Simon Majumdar joined Alton in the Cutthroat Kitchen, and even after learning of some chefs’ use of inferior pork products in Round 1, revealed, “They all produced dishes that were kind of passable with one or two errors, rather than bad dishes with one or two good things about them.” Even though Chef Gianchetti had the most sought-after meat — thick-cut bone-in chops — in that round, his pork was severely overcooked, so much so that Simon admitted that “is actually worse than getting a poor ingredient and making it tasty.” In what may prove true in each episode throughout the series, Simon explained: “Being a great chef is one thing. Being a strategic chef is another. If you can combine those, you can actually end up winning Cutthroat Kitchen without being technically the best chef.” It’s that kind of thinking that would lead chefs to risk wisely and cook intelligently in order to best their rivals and ultimately take home cash. Read more at: http://blog.foodnetwork.com/fn-dish/2013/08/cutthroat-kitchen-altons-after-show-episode-2/?oc=linkback

On last week’s After-Show, judge Simon Majumdar said: “Being a great chef is one thing. Being a strategic chef is another. If you can combine those, you can actually end up winning Cutthroat Kitchen without being technically the best chef.” And tonight Alton may have proved that theory to be true when he told Simon the lengths to which one competitor went to claim the win. The name of the game in Cutthroat Kitchen is indeed sabotage, but with that comes personal advantages for the competitor dealing those devastating blows to his or her rivals. With every big-ticket disruption one chef purchases and assigns to another contestant, he’s essentially buying himself safety from that challenge. Alton told Simon that, in this week’s final auction, one chef — who would ultimately go on to win the battle — spent almost all of his or her money ensuring his or her own smooth finish by assigning someone else the challenge of making crab cakes without a binder, like mayonnaise. This person “bought victory,” Simon said of the outcome, chalking up this reality to the fact that “anything is possible in Cutthroat Kitchen.” Read more at: http://blog.foodnetwork.com/fn-dish/2013/08/cutthroat-kitchen-altons-after-show-episode-3/?oc=linkback

On this week’s After-Show, judge Simon Majumdar and host Alton Brown noticed that in almost every round of cooking, chefs faced significant obstacles - some so damaging that they led to eliminations - on account of their own shortcomings. “He wasn’t sabotaged there,” Alton told Simon of Chef Scipione’s absence of bread in his Round 1 cheese steak sandwich. “He just didn’t make it out of the pantry with any bread.” This oversight ultimately cost Chef Scipione his place in the competition, as Simon noted that the chef’s finished dish “wasn’t a Philly cheese steak in any form that I would recognize.” For another competitor, the problem proved to be not mere forgetfulness but an inability to work well under pressure. “I think he got stuck,” Simon said of Chef Zadi in Round 3, in which he was forced to make a pizza using a pie. “I think he just didn’t know where to go to make a really good pizza.” While it’s no surprise that competitors are left with few ideas of how to proceed when faced with last-minute ingredient changes and diminishing time on the clock, Alton explained: “Sometimes the cooking wins and sometimes the game play wins. And today, the game play won.” In the end, he warns, “Confidence can kill, but then not having enough will kill too.”

No matter how prepared a chef may be when he walks into Cutthroat Kitchen, or how well-conceived his ideas are for one round’s challenge dish, he can’t say for certain whether he’ll be able to use those skills or his thought-out plan, as a sabotage may ultimately get the better of him. The key to success in this contest is a competitor’s ability to adapt to culinary interferences as he meets them — finding new ways to add flavor to food when salt isn’t an option and learning how to fashion utensils out of foil when traditional devices are prohibited, among them. But what happens when, whether because of strategic game play or simple good fortune, a chef has the opportunity — the time, ingredients and equipment — to make just what he had intended? In the latest installment of Alton’s After-Show, the host and this week’s judge, Antonia Lofaso, dished on the competitors’ seeming need to do more and cook more than they ought to have or needed to simply because they could. Antonia explained that Chef McNutt’s Round-2 tuna burger would have been far more successful had she served it without the bread, which she decided to purchase for $2,200 mid-challenge because she didn’t have any. “I’ve seen this in so many … chefs under the gun,” Antonia explained. “They have a plan and they start to doubt themselves, and all of a sudden, their plan just goes right out the window. And it’s so important for them to just stick with what is good in their gut … and do that first idea.” Similarly, Chef Brian should have realized the need for straightforwardness in his fried chicken dinner, instead of forcing additional components on it just because he had the time do so. “The technique of restraint is what chefs always need to work on,” Antonia noted. “These days, just keep it simple and do it well.” Alton may have said it best when he admitted, “Very often, less is more.” Read more at: http://blog.foodnetwork.com/fn-dish/20

Coming into Cutthroat Kitchen, the chefs know to expect sabotage, backstabbing and true competition. So the only things they can rely on are their skills and experience, but sometimes in the heat of battle those skills and experience go right out the window. After all, the chefs are racing to finish their plates while also maneuvering sabotages they’ve been dealt that often lead their dishes down a disastrous road. In the latest installment of Alton’s After-Show, the host and this week’s judge, Jet Tila, dished on the competitors’ seeming disregard for key basics in cooking, such as taste and texture, and their inability to have a dish live up to some sort of standard of expectation. Taste is No. 1, explained Jet, when talking about Round 1′s spaghetti and meatballs, where one of the sabotages took away the ability to taste from three of the chefs. “You have to have cooked for a phenomenal amount of years to just cook by feel,” says Jet. Alton added that it’s especially true when it comes to making sauce, which often needs many tastings before it’s ready to be served. These chefs were too brash in thinking they didn’t need to taste — and even Chef Davidi who won the auction didn’t manage to put out a flavorful dish. When it came to the wings in Round 2, stuffing them with ingredients that made no sense — like Chef Glick’s celery and carrot batons — just went to show there was no forethought. And the chef’s use of bottled sauce did nothing to show creativity. In Round 3, it all came down to a lack of experience when making the doughnuts. Each chef’s doughnuts turned out to be leaden balls of dough, far from the fluffy, airy confections that anyone would expect. Read more at: http://blog.foodnetwork.com/fn-dish/2013/09/cutthroat-kitchen-altons-after-show-episode-6/?oc=linkback

It’s no surprise that to be successful on Cutthroat Kitchen competitors ought to come equipped with a strategy for how they’ll approach the contest, as Alton’s culinary mind game requires more of contestants than basic kitchen chops and the ability to work under pressure. For a chef to be victorious, he or she will need a strategy, and this week’s champion ultimately claimed the win thanks in part to a method of restrained bidding. After three rounds and only two wins at the auction, the top chef left with $11,800, a grand sum compared to the small wages some rivals have taken home. Alton and judge Jet Tila dished on such an approach to the contest during the latest installment of the host’s After-Show. “You want to walk out of here with your dough,” Alton explained. Jet added, “You’re not here just to spend, spend, spend to sabotage people.” On several past episodes, chefs have gotten caught up in back-and-forth bidding wars only to “spend their way to victory,” as Alton noted. This week’s victor, however, claimed just two wins at the auction, guaranteeing a take-home sum of $11,800, a large figure compared to the small wages some rivals earn after three rounds of seemingly careless spending. What did you think of the spend-less-to-win-more strategy? Is it a riskier maneuver, given that a contestant may find himself saddled with sabotages if he isn’t the one doling them out? Click the play button on the video above to hear more from Alton and Jet, and learn which chef claimed victory, plus more about how he or she managed to secure the win. Then start the conversation with fellow fans in the comments section below. Read more at: http://blog.foodnetwork.com/fn-dish/2013/09/cutthroat-kitchen-altons-after-show-episode-7/?oc=linkback

No matter the competition, judges aren’t shy about their desire to receive thoughtfully plated dishes. After all, the saying goes that we eat with our eyes before our mouths, and it’s important for food to look as appetizing as it tastes. But oftentimes contestants take the notion of inspired plates too far, opting to include edible — or not — garnishes atop their offerings. In a supposed effort to showcase their commitment to elegance and simple visual appeal, they end up self-sabotaging what would have been a fine meal with unnecessary toppings. A frequent judge on Cutthroat Kitchen and Iron Chef America, Simon Majumdar knows what he likes to see on a plate, and superfluous finishes is not on his list of must-haves. In this week’s battle, several chefs learned the hard way that too much of a garnish — or the inclusion of something inedible — could be disastrous, as he explained on Alton’s After-Show. “Putting … what was for all intents and purposes a Christmas tree atop your steak is not a good idea,” Simon said of the oversize sprig of rosemary on one contestant’s steak. “Chefs really need to learn how to garnish when they’re doing a competition like this.” Another competitor failed to remove a piece of plastic from a product and it ultimately landed on Simon’s plate, an unforgiveable offense in the judge’s eye. Such a mistake was enough to eliminate that chef, as Simon explained: “It’s the unforgiveable sin. Never give your customers something that might kill them.” Alton added, “It was a last-minute, careless error made because [the chef] was trying to cover up … [the] food that shouldn’t have been there.” Read more at: http://blog.foodnetwork.com/fn-dish/2013/09/cutthroat-kitchen-altons-after-show-episode-8/?oc=linkback

Some weeks on Alton’s After-Show the focus of Alton’s chat with the judge revolves primarily around the finalists’ abilities — or inabilities — to cook within the confines of Cutthroat Kitchen, particularly the sabotages. But other times it’s the sabotages themselves that dominate the conversation, almost too shocking or simply laughable for the judges to believe. That was the case this week as Alton revealed to returning judge Jet Tila the roster of culinary interferences to befall the chefs. Perhaps most appalling to Jet was the ingredient swap-out in Round 2, when the competitors were tasked with preparing a dish of sausage and peppers. Instead of being able to cook with everyday salt, pepper, spices and herbs, the contestant to receive this sabotage would be forced to use jelly beans flavored with tastes like habanero, wasabi, buttered popcorn and bacon. “That’s genius,” Jet admitted after a hearty laugh, before wincing at the thought of incorporating such oddball flavors into a dish. “I would have bid the farm and torpedoed somebody.” He soon realized how the unlucky chef to receive this sabotage ultimately offered a too-sweet plate of sausage and peppers. “The sweet … sticky sweet — it worked,” Jet said, reflecting on the contest. “I almost felt bad offering it. Almost,” Alton told him later. Read more at: http://blog.foodnetwork.com/fn-dish/2013/10/cutthroat-kitchen-altons-after-show-episode-9/?oc=linkback

Although the stipulations of almost every Cutthroat Kitchen sabotage force competitors to reimagine the classic versions of challenge dishes, chefs still should be able to serve plates that are at least reminiscent of the original concept. They may not be able to cook with every seemingly crucial ingredient or prepare plates in the most traditional style, but the final offerings ought to be valid interpretations of assigned dishes; for this week’s competitors, that meant burritos, pie and teriyaki bowls. “It has to come down to what the challenge is,” judge Jet Tila told Alton Brown on the latest installment of Alton’s After-Show. The competitor ousted in the Round 1 burrito challenge presented a deconstructed Vietnamese-style burrito that was, in fact, hardly a burrito at all, according to Jet. “I’m sorry, but it was a ridiculous play on a burrito,” Jet explained of the summer roll-inspired dish. He added, “If she took a few pieces of lettuce and actually made a tight, concise roll, at least I know you’re thinking burrito,” noting how the contestant could have improved. The same proved true in Round 3, when the eventual runner-up was forced to say goodbye, given that the sauce used in the offering strayed too far from the tried-and-true taste of teriyaki. “It was Sriracha, sweet chili sauce and a little bit of soy. That’s my guess because I know these flavors,” Jet told Alton. “That’s not teriyaki. When you think teriyaki, you want this kind of silky, sweet and salty, soy sauce-driven sauce.” Ultimately, what Jet called “fusion confusion” was enough to send home the final competitor. Read more at: http://blog.foodnetwork.com/fn-dish/2013/10/cutthroat-kitchen-altons-after-show-episode-10/?oc=linkback

While the sabotages dealt to chefs on Cutthroat Kitchen may be downright devious and may cause the competitors to rethink their culinary approaches, the dishes they’re tasked to cook are, in fact, straightforward. Common plates like tacos, cupcakes, fried chicken and burritos have made appearances in the past, and all Alton asks of the contestants is that they create these meals for the judge. It sounds easy enough — until he reveals unknown curve balls, like mandatory ingredients and inferior cooking utensils, of course. It’s these challenging sabotages that cause — or, perhaps, force — the chefs to abandon all aspects of simplicity and ultimately reinvent the dishes as next-level versions. Although this week’s battle indeed featured its share of sabotages, judge Antonia Lofaso told Alton Brown on the host’s After-Showthat the chefs’ culinary offerings could have been stronger, if only they had not tried to make the dishes complicated and too unlike the originals. In Round 2, one chef was given leftover fried rice to feature in jambalaya, and rather than merely steam it to outfit it with the proper texture, he or she turned it into rice patties, but the rice wasn’t apparent. “You would have been starting with a product that you can have control over,” Antonia told Alton. “[The chef] could have just resuscitated it, but instead [the competitor] ground it into a paste,” Alton added. “I would have simply just used it.” Similarly, in Round 3′s meatloaf and mashed potatoes challenge, one competitor’s overzealous approach to the comfort food turned disastrous with a too-fancy and too-petite offering. “It’s meatloaf and mashed potatoes,” Antonia told Alton. “At the end of the day, I start pulling points because people are getting … too serious.” Read more at: http://blog.foodnetwork.com/fn-dish/2013/10/cutthroat-kitchen-altons-after-show-episode-11/?oc=linkback

Given the unexpected sabotages, limited time on the clock and looming judgment with which they’re forced to adapt, it’s likely that when chefs compete on Cutthroat Kitchen, they’re cooking under a crushing amount of stress and pressure. For some, that anxiety may serve only to better their game, forcing them to work smartly and efficiently, but for others, such a burden may get the better of them. In this week’s competition, a chef’s inability to cope with the competition’s demands ultimately led to his or her exit. Judge Antonia Lofaso told Alton on his After-Show that the contestant’s Round 1 lasagna offering featured such grievous errors that she had no choice but to eliminate him or her on account of these seemingly elementary errors. Although inexperienced with making fresh pasta, this chef was forced to make pasta dough from scratch, but the end result proved “dense,” according to Antonia, and was only one part of an overall unsuccessful plate. “It was just poorly executed, everything on the dish,” she said, “from the cuts of the bell peppers to them not being cooked to pasta that was just completely inadequate.” “I think [the competitor] was so flipped out that [he or she] simply got derailed and never got back,” Alton mused. Antonia agreed, noting, “I have so much sympathy for these guys doing this, because no doubt when that time clock is on you and things are being thrown at you … nerves get to you.” Antonia’s advice to future contestants, however, is simple: “Just make something that’s cooked well, seasoned well.” Read more at: http://blog.foodnetwork.com/fn-dish/2013/10/cutthroat-kitchen-altons-after-show-episode-12/?oc=linkback

Cutthroat Kitchen fans knows that when competitors are gifted a sabotage, no matter how treacherous or simple it may seem, it could ultimately mean disaster for them if they don’t know how or do not have the time to remedy it. But what happens when a challenge must incorporate not just one sabotage, but multiple? Will they use the double dose of damage to further fuel their creative energy, or will they succumb to the pressure of the contest and crumble? On this week’s installment of Alton’s After-Show, the host revealed to judge Jet Tila two competitors’ attempts to adapt to multiple challenges after finding themselves victim to an onslaught of sabotages. The first set occurred in the initial round’s sandwich-and-side battle, when a chef was forced to harvest bread from prepared convenience-store sandwiches before learning that he or she would also have to make the dish on a TV-dinner-size tray instead of an oversized workspace. “And I think from there [the contestant] went insane,” Alton joked of the competitor. This chef was ultimately overwhelmed by the tasks at hand, as he or she didn’t make it past the first round of competition. Jet and Alton also chat about another chef who’s left to build a fire in a miniature grill after being forced to scour the contents of a piñata to find the chocolate that would eventually be featured in s’mores. While the piñata sabotage wasn’t seen on television, fans can watch it here to find out what happened. (Because of time, it was cut from the episode, as it ultimately did not impact the results of the round.) Read more at: http://blog.foodnetwork.com/fn-dish/2013/11/cutthroat-kitchen-altons-after-show-episode-13/?oc=linkback

Having been a judge on the premiere season of Cutthroat Kitchen, Simon Majumdar is no stranger to the tricks and challenges that befall competitors in each round of cooking, but after eating set cheese and soupy ice cream on tonight’s all-new Season 2 premiere, he needed a few clarifications on how the dishes came to be. Host Alton Brown — who’s not only privy to the sabotages, but in charge of auctioning them off as well — filled in Simon during the latest installment of his After-Show. It turns out that the patty melt-inspired dish that Chef Stratton gave Simon was mushroom-heavy on account of the Freeze Dried Meat product he was forced to work with after Chef Wiginton assigned it to him. “There was no patty in the dish, really,” Simon told Alton. “It was mushroom-heavy, and I guess that’s what he did to try and compensate, but it kind of overcompensated a bit.” This ingredient was so unlike fresh meat that it prevented Chef Stratton from turning it into a traditional patty. Simon finally understood why Chef Doruil’s cheese was so oddly clumped together: First he was gifted a plate of nachos from which he had to source the cheese for his patty melt, then he was forced to cook the rest of this dish with an iron. This household item ultimately prevented him from thoroughly melting the cheese. He “was holding the iron over the cheese trying to get the radiant heat from the iron to melt the cheese,” Alton explained. Come Round 3, the eventual winning chef received a hands-on lesson in ice cream making when a sabotage forced her to shake an ice-filled ball with cream until the mixture became frozen. “That probably explains why that ice cream was just a little bit loose,” Simon said, after learning of the mandatory product. Read more at: http://blog.foodnetwork.com/fn-dish/2013/12/cutthroat-kitchen-altons-after-show-201/?oc=linkback

For the first time this season, Antonia Lofaso took her turn judging four competitors in the latest round of evilicious contest on Cutthroat Kitchen, and because no judge is privy to the bidding for sabotages and cooking, she joined Alton Brown on his After-Show to learn what had gone down. The chefs had to create gnocchi during Round 1 of the competition; though a hand masher may have been an appropriate tool for the job, it became an obstacle for Chef Gentile when he was forced to have it duct taped to his arm for the duration of the round. “He was looking for garnish that was going to build a dish,” Antonia told Alton, realizing that this impediment is what prevented Chef Gentile from breaking down ingredients and cooking with more precision. Having been gifted a campfire stove in Round 2′s duck a l’orange challenge, Chef Tzorin was tasked with cooking all components of his dish in a miniature skillet over a small open flame. Although this sabotage likely didn’t help Chef Tzorin avoid eventual elimination in that round, it may not have been what ultimately did him in, according to Antonia. “Choosing papaya and bell peppers and potatoes — these are just not the vision I have when you see duck a l’orange. So I’m going to say he may not have realized what the dish looks like or, like, classically what it’s about,” Antonia noted of Chef Tzorin. “That was also just the worst duck,” Alton told her, further justifying her decision to send home Chef Tzorin in Round 2. Read more at: http://blog.foodnetwork.com/fn-dish/2013/12/cutthroat-kitchen-altons-after-show-203/?oc=linkback

While Cutthroat Kitchen judges are quick to taste the food before them in each round of evilicious competition on the show, they don’t know exactly how that dish came to be, what ingredients were used to prepare it and which methods were undertaken to produce it. For help in clarifying the unknown, host Alton Brown sits down with the judges in his Web-exclusive After-Show to break down the ins and outs of the challenges; this week, he and Antonia Lofaso chatted about the latest contest to unfold. Traditional wonton wrappers may seem like a must-have ingredient for chefs tasked with preparing pot stickers, but in Round 1, three of the four competitors were forced to work with wontons in other forms, like honey-soaked wontons, frozen wontons and wonton soup. Thinking about the offerings she had just tasted, Antonia correctly guessed that Chef Velez was the one fortunate enough to work with the fresh product. Although she was initially hesitant about Chef Miranda’s dish, which was crafted out of frozen wontons and featured cabbage-wrapped bites, Antonia ultimately told the finalist, “I’m not mad at it.” Later she explained to Alton: “When someone says ‘pot sticker,’ you have this idea in your head of exactly what you want. So when I walk over and there’s cabbage, and I’m like, am I going to get that texture on the outside? Am I going to get that little bit of, like, char? And then I really enjoyed it.” Read more at: http://blog.foodnetwork.com/fn-dish/2013/12/cutthroat-kitchen-altons-after-show-204/?oc=linkback

From prohibited cooking utensils to forced ingredient swaps and mandatory products, Cutthroat Kitchen sabotages are the ultimate in culinary challenges. While these sabotages may send contestants into fits of panic during the competition, most rivals manage to turn out acceptable dishes for the judge of the day. No matter if chefs unapologetically show off or brilliantly hide the obstacles that befell them, it’s up to the judges to taste the plates before them and unknowingly eat sometimes hilariously inferior ingredients. That’s what happened on today’s brand-new episode of Cutthroat Kitchen when special guest Giada De Laurentiis stopped by to judge. In Round 2, Chef La Salle presented her with a dish of chicken and waffles, but instead of using fresh chicken, Chef La Salle featured canned chicken. This chicken, which was packed in liquid, was first ground through a food processor and ultimately turned into chicken pate. When Giada finally saw — and smelled — the canned chicken firsthand during Alton’s After-Show, she couldn’t help but look away and hold her nose to avoid the stench. “The whole thing really reeks,” she admitted of the meat before Alton told her, “You put that in your mouth.” Looking back on Chef La Salle’s dish, Giada explained: “When she pureed that whole thing, the texture was very strange. It was so gritty on my tongue.” She added, “I think the seasoning in the end is what would have helped her.” Chef La Salle’s dish, however, was beyond saving, and it cost her the competition. Read more at: http://blog.foodnetwork.com/fn-dish/2014/01/cutthroat-kitchen-altons-after-show-205/?oc=linkback

From competition and available prize money to chefs’ hopes and judges’ expectations, Cutthroat Kitchen isn’t short on anything, least of all sabotage. But tonight the contest took a turn for the pintsize in Round 3, when Chef Midgley found himself cooking strawberry shortcake in a tiny kids’ kitchen, equipped with a miniscule sink, toaster oven and induction range, as well as petite utensils. “If you can only imagine in your mind’s eye big ol’ mitts on that guy using these little-bitty tools,” Alton said to Simon after he revealed the play-size setup to the judge on his After-Show. “I probably would have cried and run off into the corner,” Simon joked of how he may have approached this challenge, as he and Alton crouched down next to it. It turns out, however, that Chef Midgley found success with this sabotage, as he completed the round on time and presented Simon with a dish superior to his rival’s balsamic-soaked plate. Read more at: http://blog.foodnetwork.com/fn-dish/2014/01/cutthroat-kitchen-altons-after-show-202/?oc=linkback

While competitors may not know the dishes they’ll be tasked with cooking on Cutthroat Kitchen, or the specifics of the challenges that will befall them in battle, a few things are certain about the contest: Chefs will sabotage each other and be sabotaged in return. It’s how contestants cope that will ultimately determine the success of their food, and while much of their adaptation involves recipe tweaks and ingredient swap-outs, it also requires strategy in bidding and the assigning of a particular sabotage once it’s been earned. On this week’s episode of Cutthroat Kitchen, Chef Leah wasted no time in gifting a doozy of a challenge to all three of her rivals during Round 1′s quesadilla test. She paid a whopping $6,900 to force the other competitors to use a high-powered work lamp, a kitchen torch and a hair-straightening flat iron as their sole heat sources. “So, at this point, Chef Leah is hated by almost everyone universally. When the mid-challenge item came up, it was almost a fait accompli that somebody would make sure she got it,” Alton revealed to judge Simon Majumdar on the host’s After-Show. Sure enough, as a form of evilicious retribution, she was tasked with making two pitchers of margaritas using a human-powered blender attached to a bicycle, so she ultimately learned the sting of sabotage as she peddled to make the motor run. “But in the end, I don’t know how bad it hurt her,” Alton explained to Simon. Not only did Chef Leah survive the round, but she went on to win the entire competition after outcooking her rivals in rounds of chicken noodle soup and fish fries. Read more at: http://blog.foodnetwork.com/fn-dish/2014/01/cutthroat-kitchen-altons-after-show-206/?oc=linkback

Alton Brown recently told FN Dish his top pieces of advice for Cutthroat Kitchen competitors, and among them was to “always leave the pantry with something that has salt in it.” This strategy for success would have proved especially useful during tonight’s brand-new episode, as three out of the four chefs were prohibited from using any salt in Round 1 after Chef Emily won the exclusive right to it. But while those rivals may have suffered bland food on account of sabotage, Emily, too, offered an improperly seasoned dish to judge Antonia Lofaso, and it ultimately cost her the competition. It turns out that what ultimately did in Chef Emily wasn’t a high prevalence of salt but, ironically enough, the drastic underuse of her high-priced ingredient. “There’s something about when you got it, you’re afraid to use it, I guess,” Alton told Antonia as the two dished on the challenges during the host’s After-Show. According to Antonia, Chef Emily’s sweet potato fries were far too sweet, served with maple syrup and bacon. “There was just no balance of anything ’cause it was like a sweet fry, then a sweet sauce,” Antonia explained. “I think maybe, like, rendering the bacon fat and using that — the fat — and the maple and the crushed bacon would have just given it more balance.”

Surviving a round of Cutthroat Kitchen is no small feat, and for most chefs, each of the 30 minutes on the clock is precious. On this week’s all-new episode, however, one competitor learned what it’s like to attempt a round in half that time — in only 15 quick minutes. In what judge Jet Tila deemed “the worst sabotage I think I’ve heard of,” Alton announced halfway through Round 2′s huevos rancheros challenge that the mid-round sabotage was to begin the entire challenge over again, from scratch. Chef David was gifted this task, and he was ultimately forced to not just start over in cooking, but to also grocery shop and prep his ingredients for a second time. “It totally makes sense why his dish didn’t come together,” Jet noted to Alton during the host’s After-Show. “You can’t hit the reset button,” Alton added. While Chef David was no match for this sabotage and faced elimination because of it, Jet said to Alton, “I think Alton Brown or Jet Tila could have pulled that one off in 15 minutes.” His thoughts on how to succeed? “Build it on the skillet,” he said, explaining that nearly every element could have been made in fry pans.

While some Cutthroat Kitchen sabotages, like mandatory utensils and the exclusive use of salt, are frequently used on the show, some are used far less often. On tonight’s all-new episode, Alton unveiled a never-before-seen sabotage that was enough to turn the kitchen into a party of sorts. In Round 3′s birthday cake challenge, Chef Jessica was gifted what every birthday girl surely wants on her special day: a tower of beautifully wrapped presents. Some boxes were filled with silly toys and games, but Chef Jessica was after the select few containing critical ingredients needed to execute her cake, including flour, eggs and sugar. “Make them unwrap presents until they found [what they needed],” Alton explained to judge Jet Tila of the objective of this particular sabotage. “It was one of my proudest moments,” he joked with a smile during his After-Show. “If you picked incorrectly, this would take 20, 30 minutes,” Jet mused. Despite the novelty of this challenge and the extra work Chef Jessica had to endure in order to find her baking supplies, she ultimately rose to the occasion and turned out a cake plate worthy of her talents as a pastry chef.

“Let nobody ever say that I am not a risk taker,” Simon proclaimed on Alton’s After-Show following this week’s brand-new episode of Cutthroat Kitchen. He and Alton were catching up after the latest rounds of sabotage had unfolded, and they reflected on Simon’s no-holds-barred maneuver of testing the viscosity of Chef Billy New England clam chowder in Round 2. During what Alton deemed “one of the finest moments,” Simon picked up Chef Billy’s bowl of soup and held it upside down directly on top of his head. “Chef, there’s thick,” Simon told the rival of his soup during tasting, “and there’s you-can-hold-it-over-your-head-without-danger-of-it-splashing-on-my-bald-bonce thick.” According to Alton, Chef Billy “had some starch manipulation issues,” which ultimate turned his chowder into a nearly solid soup. “It was just kind of wobbling there rather threateningly for a while,” Simon explained.

Even if a competitor manages to secure a win on Cutthroat Kitchen, it is likely only earned after some of the most-painstakingly fierce cooking in his or her career. From mandatory ingredients to forbidden appliances and inferior tools, Cutthroat sabotages are notoriously grueling, and most chefs will only endure this kind of face-off once. But on tonight’s all-new episode, four previously eliminated competitors returned to the kitchen for a second chance to overcome sabotage. These chefs had fallen in battle before, but with experience on their side, they took their places in front of Alton, ready to attempt to prove themselves once again. “All of these people learned the first time they were on the show that at the end of the day, you got to secure the win, or you don’t win anything at all,” Alton told judge Jet Tila on the host’s After-Show. ”I would rather walk out of here with a grand than walk out of here with nothing.” He didn’t make the chefs’ return to the contest any easier this time around, auctioning off waterlogged buns during a hot dog challenge and the forced use of strainers as mixing bowls during a brownie challenge. Jet deemed the mixing bowl sabotage “amazingly diabolical,” and indeed it ultimately contributed to Chef Zadi’s elimination.

While some challenge dishes on Cutthroat Kitchen are straightforward, like apple pie, a burrito and grilled cheese, the Round 1 plate on tonight’s brand-new episode left some room for interpretation. The task was to create an all-American breakfast in 30 minutes — Alton gave no other instructions and simply let the chefs prepare their own definitions of that morning meal. “Usually it would feature eggs, bread, perhaps a smoked pork product — bacon, ham,” judge Jet Tila said on the latest installment of Alton’s After-Show of his idea of an all-American breakfast. It turns out that nearly all of the competitors held similar beliefs, as three attempted to turn out egg-focused dishes and another offered two takes on toast. Within these plates, however, there existed strong disparities, and each highlighted unique inspirations, including California flair, Southern ingredients and a love of hash.

It’s no secret that success on Cutthroat Kitchen often entails strategy; it’s not enough to show up and cook on this evilicious competition, as at its heart the contest is a game that requires careful manipulation in order to win. While catching up with judge Antonia Lofaso on tonight’s all-new installment of Alton’s After-Show, the host explained that in Round 2′s quiche challenge, two of the remaining chefs could have potentially bettered their own outlooks had they joined forces to sabotage and outcook one rival in particular. “If I’d been playing the game,” Alton said, “and I was Chef Gregory, I would [have] wanted to preserve Chef Bryan, so then I could have killed him in the end.” He mused of Chef Emmanuel, who likely had vast experience in cooking quiche on account of heritage: “Who wants a French guy to be able to fight a quiche battle?” Antonia agreed and suggested later, “They should have all actually ganged up on [Chef Emmanuel].” She added that it was “lights out” once Chef Emmanuel presented a quiche with Gruyere and bacon on account of these naturally rich, flavorful ingredients. ”Everything else could be bad because I put Gruyere and bacon together,” Antonia imagined as Chef Gregory. Read more at: http://blog.foodnetwork.com/fn-dish/2014/03/cutthroat-kitchen-altons-after-show-213/?oc=linkback

While many Cutthroat Kitchen sabotages may be downright evilicious, most are, at least in some way, related to the challenge dish in any given round, and they are often inspired by common ingredients, tools and processes used to make that plate. On tonight’s all-new episode, Alton took that idea one step further during the Round 3 souffle battle when he auctioned off what he deemed “a souffle suit,” an oversize, puffed-up outfit that would force a contestant to match the general qualities of a souffle: rounded and inflated. Chef Millie ultimately found herself victim of the getup, and when judge Simon Majumdar learned of her unfortunate apparel, he told Alton on the host’s After-Show, “The fact that she was able to deliver anything is really remarkable.” Although he was impressed by her ability to cook while dressed up, he couldn’t excuse her dish, which was a sorry attempt at a souffle, as it was wholly without egg whites. “Chef Milly’s was so far away from being a souffle that I just couldn’t make the call any other way,” he explained to Alton of his decision to eliminate Chef Millie. Alton admitted, however, that no matter the outcome, “Chef Millie was an incredible sport” in the face of the sabotage. Read more at: http://blog.foodnetwork.com/fn-dish/2014/03/dressed-to-souffle-altons-after-show/?oc=linkback

For the first time in Cutthroat Kitchen history, Alton Brown welcomed four of the “wickedest winners” back to the contest to see who among them could uphold their victorious records and outcook their competition yet again. After claiming wins in Season 1, Chefs Brian, Charles, Frankie and Gwen took their places at their workstations, confident that they would be able to keep up with their newest culinary rivals — but ultimately only one proved his or her staying power. After three hard-fought rounds that found him making impromptu drinks for Alton, cooking in bed and deep-frying bread pudding, Chef Brian claimed a second Cutthroat win. Jet told Alton on the host’s After-Show that Chef Brian’s cocktail-concoction sabotage was “a giant time killer,” but it was surely not as wow-worthy as his Round 2 challenge, which forced him to prepare a breakfast burrito in bed atop a small cook station. “Are you kidding me?” Jet asked Alton with a smile when he saw the bed rolled in the kitchen. In true Cutthroat fashion, however, Chef Brian recovered from this doozy of a sabotage and survived to offer a deep-fried bread pudding in Round 3 that Jet said “totally worked.” He told Alton, “I questioned [Chef Brian] on ingredients, and he says, ‘Look, everything that’s in a bread pudding is in there.’ … Even if he fried it, [his dish] still was a bread pudding,” Jet added.

Alton reveals sabotages of pesto pasta and muffins to judge Lofaso

Muffin tins as a mixing bowl? Check out if this sabotage passes the test.

Alton reveals sabotages of pea soup, lamb chop dinner and chocolate mousse.

Will the chefs be able to use moose antlers to make chocolate mousse?

Alton reveals sabotages of cobb salad, enchiladas and layer cake.

Can you build a grill out of a shopping cart to cook an enchilada?

Chicken has a storied past on Cutthroat Kitchen: Just last season when Giada De Laurentiis stopped by for a special episode, one rival was gifted a whole chicken in a can, which she was forced to turn into chicken and waffles for the guest judge. And on tonight’s all-new episode, subpar chicken — or something like it — once again appeared on the auction table, this time during a General Tso’s Chicken challenge. After being gifted a sabotage of MREs, which Alton deemed “meals ready to eat,” one chef was forced to pick through the innards of such prepared and packaged dishes as “a chicken stew [and] a chicken fajita,” according to Alton. For Antonia, these products were “mushy,” and on the host’s After-Show, Alton told her with a smile, “It’s the best kind of sick that you could possibly imagine.” It turns out, however, that for the competitor who worked with this sabotage, the inferior meat wasn’t a hindrance at all. “She really didn’t have any choice but to make a fritter,” Alton explained to Antonia. “And it looked just like General Tso’s chicken.”

Since Cutthroat Kitchen judges are sequestered from the kitchen while the chefs are cooking, they’re not privy to the evilicious sabotages that unfold during each round. This means that when they first lay eyes on the dish before them, they have no information other than how it’s presented; then once they’ve tasted it, of course, they can take its flavor and texture into consideration. Tonight’s judge, Simon Majumdar, explained what that feeling is like as he approaches the kitchen and sees contestants’ plates for the first time. “Sometimes as you come down the stairs,” he told Alton Brown on the host’s After-Show, “and you look at the dishes as they’re laid, and you go, ‘Uh, I think I know the way this is going to go.’ And often I’m wrong because they taste great.” It turns out, however, that Simon’s worst suspicions were confirmed when it came to tonight’s Round-2 Reuben sandwich challenge. For this round, one chef was forced to harvest matzo balls out of matzo ball soup to use in place of the bread in the Reuben. Alton revealed that “Chef Sammy gave it to Michael, who ended up serving you a sandwich on sliced matzo balls.” Simon replied, “The moment I saw two good-looking sandwiches and that, I knew.” He added, “It would have [had] to taste like Christmas laced with diamonds for him to have won, and it didn’t.“ Read more at: http://blog.foodnetwork.com/fn-dish/2014/04/cutthroat-kitchen-altons-after-show-304/?oc=linkback

From ingredient swaps and time-sucks to inferior utensils and makeshift workstations, Cutthroat Kitchen sabotages are notoriously evilicious and designed to keep the competitors guessing at all times. On tonight’s all-new episode, the chefs were wowed when host Alton Brown introduced a never-before-seen challenge, what he deemed the Wheel of Heat. Labeled with multiple heat sources like oven, microwave, stove and broiler, this sabotage would forced the rival who was gifted this challenge to spin the wheel while cooking and switch his or her cooking method to whichever heat source was landed upon. It turns out that the wheel offered no beginner’s luck, as Chef Renae found out when she was forced to work with it during the Round 2 blackened-fish test. “Every time she spun it, it came up ‘microwave,’” Alton explained to judge Simon Majumdar during the After-Show. “This, I think, was the end for Chef Renae because she had to do her entire blackened dish with a microwave,” he added. Simon admitted, “The fish was dry. It lacked that crust, which you expect from blackened fish.” But he noted that had other elements of her dish been executed better, he may have been more likely to excuse her microwave seafood. “There were too many things wrong,” Simon said, “whereas I could have forgiven her if she’d served that fish that wasn’t perfect with a really good accompaniment.” Read more at: http://blog.foodnetwork.com/fn-dish/2014/05/cutthroat-kitchen-altons-after-show-305/?oc=linkback

Cutthroat Kitchen competitors know that when they begin their time in the contest, they’re agreeing to as many as three rounds of unforeseeable problems; chances are high that no matter what dish host Alton Brown asks for, the chefs won’t be able to execute their dream versions of it, be that on account of sabotage, poor planning or simply bad luck. Adapting to challenges is the name of the game on Cutthroat Kitchen, and a contestant’s inability to do that may ultimately do him or her in. That’s precisely what happened on tonight’s all-new episode when Chef Kristina was gifted a can of spiced ham to use in place of fresh meat in her sloppy joes dish. “I think she wasn’t willing to embrace an ingredient,” Alton told judge Jet Tila on the After-Show. “She saw something that she knew came out of a can, and it was, like, checkout,” he added. Instead of sticking with a traditional approach of ground protein in sloppy joes, Chef Kristina simply sliced the canned product, and Jet wasn’t willing to pardon her for that. “It was slop on a plate,” Jet admitted, and Alton reminded fans, “You’ve got to embrace the ingredient, regardless of its origin.”

“This is awesome. I say that all the time, but I really mean it,” judge Jet Tila told Cutthroat Kitchen host Alton Brown on tonight’s brand-new After-Show. “I know I keep saying that. This really is awesome,” he added. Jet has judged multiple episodes of Cutthroat Kitchen and is no stranger to the kind of evilicious Alton is capable of bestowing upon the competitors. So when Jet showed such a wowed reaction to one particular sabotage featured on tonight’s episode, fans knew this challenge must have been especially diabolical. The sabotage in question was none other than the paper cutter auctioned off during Round 3′s steak Diane test, which allowed Chef Frances to slice or dice Chef Jaron’s piece of meat for a whopping 30 seconds. Because a singular round of meat — usually a fillet — is a signature element of steak Diane, shredded meat could mean disaster, and it ultimately did for Chef Jaron, who failed to take advantage of his newly cut-up beef. Alton told Jet of how he would have approached the obstacle, explaining: “I’m going to chop it down to even smaller pieces, and I’m going to either do it like it started to be a tartare, or I’m going to make a fricken burger kind of thing out of it.” He added of Chef Jaron’s obvious demise, “The second that he didn’t do that, I thought, ‘This is over.’” And sure enough, Chef Jaron walked away empty-handed.

Alton reveals sabotages of sliders, clam bake and BBQ chicken sandwich.

No matter what recipe you’re cooking, when it comes to being prepared in the kitchen, few things are more important than a quality heat source. From live flames from a gas stove to the warmth of an oven or the power from a microwave, heat is needed to make critical things happen, and without it, or with an inferior heat supply, cooking anything well can be nearly impossible. On tonight’s all-new episode of Cutthroat Kitchen, host Alton Brown auctioned off a sabotage that would seem to spell doom for one competitor: Instead of being able to prepare a clambake on a conventional stove, one chef would have to use tiny flame cubes set within a miniature prop. Was this too much to ask of a contestant in a 30-minute round? No, the sabotage was indeed fair, as the culinary team had tested the obstacle beforehand.

This week’s was a Cutthroat Kitchen episode like none other as host Alton Brown welcomed four of Cutthroat’s frequent judges into the kitchen — not to evaluate competitors’ dishes, but to be the battling chefs for the day. In true evilicious fashion, the sabotages didn’t stop just because the contestants were superstars Antonia Lofaso, Geoffrey Zakarian, Jet Tila and Simon Majumdar; in fact, this episode saw some of the trickiest tests yet, and what resulted were three rounds of brutal mind games. While Alton’s After-Shows are known for revealing all to the once-sequestered judges, this week’s catch-up found Alton with the judges-turned-competitors, and together they shared plenty of laughs as they looked back at the good-natured challenges that had just taken place. The infamous mini kitchen made an appearance in Round 1, and much of the group agreed with Simon when he deemed it the “Best. Challenge. Ever.” After being gifted that challenge, Jet admitted, “I was deathly afraid of it. I didn’t even know how to, like, navigate that thing.” Geoffrey ultimately found himself tasked with adapting to this tiny workspace, but, according to him, “It’s not as bad as it appears.” And it’s a good thing that Geoffrey didn’t seem to mind the sabotage, as Simon — jokingly — noted later: “The reason it only went for $1,500 is I think some of us agreed that we should give it to Geoffrey for no other reason than we wanted to see Geoffrey Zakarian — the Iron Chef — kneeling down, cooking in the kitchen.”

Alton reveals sabotages of chicken pot pie, panini and cheesecake.

The Cutthroat Kitchen competitors are no strangers to host Alton Brown‘s diabolical sabotages – from ingredient swaps to alternate sources of heat, there’s no limit to the amount of tricks up his sleeve. Still, no one could have prepared for Sally, a mechanical cow that had udders underneath that one chef had to milk in order to get the dairy needed to create a Tres Leches cake, which involves three types of milk. “Here’s the terrible thing. We didn’t label them either,” said Alton to Judge Jet Tila. “So they really had to know their dairies.” Chef Shane was given this sabotage and made an ice-cream, which turned out to be a very smart move. “The cool thing about ice-cream is that it makes your mouth cold and once your mouth is cold you don’t notice certain things in the rest of the food,” said Alton on this week’s After-Show. ‘If I didn’t trust the rest of my food, say my cake, I would so make you an ice-cream!” Ultimately, Chef Shane won the show and Chef Candace was eliminated, on account of her ‘cake’ being more like a crepe. “It just doesn’t work, man,” said Judge Tila. Read more at: http://blog.foodnetwork.com/fn-dish/2014/06/cutthroat-kitchen-altons-after-show-401/?oc=linkback

On this week’s episode of Cutthroat Kitchen, competitors had to cook the perfect breakfast sandwich — a standard dish that involves toast, eggs and meat. It may seem easy enough, but not on this show, where the competitors are sabotaged in every way, from ingredient swaps to the removal of cooking utensils. While some of these sabotages may seem completely outlandish, they are indeed possible; Food Network’s culinary team tests each ingredient, heat source and kitchen appliance to make sure that the contestants will be able to create a dish with the sabotage within 30 minutes. In this round, one competitor had to give up all of his or her heat sources and use a paint-dryer to cook all of the ingredients.

Will the chefs be able to use an espresso machine to cook pasta Bolognese?

Alton Brown gives a tour of the Cutthroat Kitchen set.

Alton reveals sabotages to Judge Antonia Lofaso after the chefs have prepared Soup & Salad, Pizza and Key Lime Pie.

Many times on Cutthroat Kitchen, host Alton Brown demonstrates his truly evilicious side by taking away the contestants’ ingredients, their heating appliances and even all their knives. In this week’s episode, Alton takes evil to a whole new level — he takes away all pots, pans and mixing bowls, and replaces them with a bread bowl for one of the contestants and a soup ladle for the other. The two contestants have to make both a soup and a salad without all their mixing equipment. This challenge didn’t come without its share of difficulty — the soup ladle was extremely small and could heat up only a small amount at a time, and the bread bowl kept soaking up all the liquid for both the dressing and the soup. While sabotages on Cutthroat Kitchen have to slow the contestants down and make things difficult for them, they can’t make it impossible for them to make a dish.

Alton reveals sabotages to Judge Simon Majumdar after the chefs have prepared Steak Dinner, Biscuits and Gravy and Ice Cream Cake.

Can cones serve as mixing bowls and baking vessels to make ice cream cake?

On Cutthroat Kitchen, there is nothing worse than an ingredient swap. Ingredients can make or break a dish, and switching out quality ones for those that are inferior can completely ruin the elevated flavors the competitors are trying to accomplish. In this week’s episode, the contestants have to make biscuits with gravy, so the culinary team was experimenting with an ingredient swap where the butter was replaced by cooking spray. While the team realized that the cooking spray could be gathered and solidified to develop a butter-like consistency, the real test was whether the cooking spray could provide the same taste and texture that butter could in a buttermilk biscuit. The taste of the biscuit alone would determine whether the cooking spray swap would work for the episode.

Gravy boats to mix and bake biscuits? Find out if this sabotage passes.

Alton reveals sabotages to Judge Antonia Lofaso after the chefs have prepared Chinese Chicken Salad, Club Sandwich and Doughnuts.

While Cutthroat Kitchen often involves sabotages that take away a contestant’s desired cooking utensils like knives or spatulas, most chefs would agree that the most valuable tool in the kitchen is one’s hands. That’s why this sabotage is especially diabolical: It makes sure that the contestants aren’t allowed to touch their food without using some kind of tool to pick it up. The chef is given a pair of white gloves and isn’t allowed to get them dirty under any cost, which causes major difficulty when trying to assemble a club sandwich, as it involves a plethora of ingredients: Chicken, salt, mayonnaise, lettuce, bacon and more. A lot of foods need to be handled, but is it possible to do so without using your hands?

China caps as bowls and pans? Find out if this sabotage passes the test.

Alton Brown presents five favorite Cutthroat Kitchen culinary sabotages.

Have you ever wondered what it would be like to be Alton Brown for a day? It’s not easy. I mean, sure, there are numerous perks and fun moments. But to tape a TV show, in this case Cutthroat Kitchen, takes a lot of work. FN Dish had the opportunity to shadow the host of this evilicious show and capture the ins and outs of a full day of taping (one day equals one episode). He opened up the door to his trailer, and showed us where he gets his coffee and how he enters each show and interacts with the culinary production team. Have you ever asked yourself whether the money in that briefcase is real? Alton dishes on that too.

Alton reveals sabotages to Judge Jet Tila after the chefs have prepared Satay with Peanut Sauce, Beef Stroganoff and Fondue. Read more at: http://www.foodnetwork.com/shows/cutthroat-kitchen/altons-after-show.html?oc=linkback

Cutthroat Kitchen is in full swing (now in its fourth season), and with time also come lessons learned — many lessons learned. Frequent judge Simon Majumdar recently revealed the mind of a Cutthroat judge to FN Dish, and now host Alton Brown is sharing survival techniques. From the pantry to the kitchen, Alton breaks down the most-common mistakes that can easily be rectified, as well as how a chef should best prep himself or herself for sabotages.

Alton reveals the sabotages to Judge Antonia Lofaso after the chefs have prepared cuban sandwiches, stuffed peppers and tiramisu.

Creating tiramisu can be time-consuming, as it involves soaking lady fingers in an espresso mixture and topping them with a sweet mascarpone cheese-based cream. This specifically requires the use of superior utensils, like whisks and mixing bowls, in order to make sure each layer has the perfect flavor profile. Host Alton Brown decided that the contestants on Cutthroat Kitchen needed to forgo these tools – one of the contestants had to replace all of his cooking tools with coffee strainers and stirrers. This made the dish especially difficult, because the coffee filter didn’t allow the mascarpone creation to be mixed properly, and it also starting soaking up all the espresso meant for the lady fingers. How could the Food Network team deem it an appropriate sabotage for the show?

Alton reveals the sabotages to Judge Simon Majumdar after the chefs prepared corn chowder, gyros and gingersnap cookies.

Alton reveals the sabotages to Judge Antonia Lofaso after the chefs have prepared minestrone soup, falafel and milkshakes.

Alton reveals the sabotages to Judge Jet Tila after the chefs prepared hero sandwiches, TV dinners and banana splits.

Alton reveals the sabotages to Judge Simon Majumdar after the chefs prepared lobster rolls and chocolate cake.

A kid's stand mixer to make chocolate cake? Find out if the sabotage works.

Alton reveals the sabotages to Judge Simon Majumdar after the chefs prepared bruschetta, casseroles and red velvet cake.

Alton reveals the sabotages to Judge Simon Majumdar as the chefs prepared chili cheese dogs, fettuccine alfredo and crepes suzette.

Alton reveals the sabotages to Judge Antonia Lofaso as the chefs prepared Thai coconut soup and marshmallow crispy treats.

Can a Thai krok pot replace a traditional pot for making soup?

Can the chefs make crispy marshmallow treats with milk-soaked cereal?

Alton reveals sabotages to Judge Jet Tila after the chefs have prepared bento boxes, crab cakes and pineapple upside-down cake.

Alton reveals the sabotages to Judge Jet Tila after the chefs have prepared chicken fingers, tostadas and corn muffins.

Alton reveals the sabotages for deviled eggs, stew and devil's food cake.

Alton reveals the sabotages to Judge Antonia Lofaso after the superstar chefs have prepared salmon dinners, kung pao chicken and French toast.

Alton reveals the sabotages to Judge Simon Majumdar after the chefs have prepared macaroni and cheese, fried calamari and coffee cake.

Alton Brown has even more sabotage favorites. Check out the top evilicious sabotages from Cutthroat Kitchen.

Alton reveals the sabotages to Judge Jet Tila after the superstar chefs have prepared pancake breakfasts, popcorn shrimp and oatmeal cookies.

Can the chefs make pancakes using a colander and a bundt pan?

Alton reveals the sabotages to Judge Jet Tila after the chefs have prepared wraps, chips and dip and baklava.

Alton reveals the sabotages to Judge Simon Majumdar after the superstar chefs have prepared surf and turf, croque monsieur and lemon bars.

Alton reveals the sabotages to Judge Antonia Lofaso after the chefs have prepared loaded baked potatoes, Korean barbecue dinner and turnovers.

Alton reveals the sabotages to Judge Antonia Lofaso after the superstar chefs have prepared seven-layer dip, eggplant parmesan and banana bread.

Alton reveals the sabotages to Judge Simon Majumdar after the chefs have prepared shrimp and grits and ice cream sandwiches.

Alton reveals the sabotages to Judge Simon Majumdar after the superstar chefs have prepared meatballs, fish and chips and candy.

Alton reveals the sabotages to Judge Antonia Lofaso after the chefs have prepared waffle breakfasts, empanadas and lemon meringue pie.

Can a stationary whisk transform egg whites into a fluffy meringue?

What makes a better waffle: a meat tenderizer or an ice cube tray?

Alton reveals the sabotages to Judge Simon Majumdar after the chefs have prepared turkey dinners, butternut squash soup and pecan pie.

Alton reveals the sabotages to Judge Antonia Lofaso after the twin chefs have prepared calzones, caribbean dinners and birthday cake.

Alton reveals sabotages to Judge Jet Tila after the chefs have prepared chili and cornbread, dim sum and s'mores.

Alton reveals the holiday sabotages to Judge Simon Majumdar after the chefs have prepared ham dinners, cocktail parties and holiday cookies.

Alton reveals sabotages to Judge Jet Tila after the chefs have prepared pigs in a blanket, curry and blueberry muffins. Special Guest is Challenge Producer Brian Fowler.

Is it possible to mix and bake muffins using blueberry cartons?

Alton reveals the sabotages to Judge Jet Tila after the chefs have prepared breakfast quesadillas, meatloaf and cupcakes.

Can the chefs mix and bake meatloaf in a loaf of bread? Watch and find out.

Is it possible to mix cupcake batter in your hand? Find out if the sabotage passes.

Alton reveals the sabotages to Judge Jet Tila after the chefs have prepared pork chops and applesauce and ice cream cones.

Alton reveals the sabotages to Judge Simon Majumdar after the chefs have prepared breakfast hash and strawberry shortcake.

Alton reveals the sabotages to Judge Antonia Lofaso after the chefs have prepared fish tacos, pasta salad and apple pie.

Alton reveals the sabotages to judge Simon Majumdar after the chefs have prepared grilled cheese and tomato soup, orange chicken and granola bars.

Alton reveals the game day sabotages to Judge Antonia Lofaso after the chefs have prepared sliders, chicken wings and brownies.

Can the chefs mix and bake brownies in brown paper bags? Find out.

Alton reveals the sabotages to Special Guest Judge Valerie Bertinelli after the chefs have prepared steamed clams, turkey burgers and fruit tarts.

Can the chefs transform deli turkey into a juicy turkey burger? Find out.

Alton reveals the sabotages to Judge Simon Majumdar after the chefs have prepared molten chocolate cake, savory chocolate dishes and boxes of chocolate.

Find out if mixing molten chocolate cake in a chocolate box is approved.

Alton reveals the sabotages to Special Guest Anne Burrell after the chefs have prepared deli sandwiches, tacos and ice cream sundaes.

Find out if crispy potato chips can be turned into airy gnocchi.

Alton reveals the sabotages to Judge Antonia Lofaso after the chefs have prepared bacon-wrapped dishes, lasagna and black and white cookies.

Alton reveals the sabotages to Judge Antonia Lofaso after the chefs have prepared omelets and cream puffs.

Ever wonder if you could make it in Cutthroat Kitchen? This special episode reveals the secrets to surviving even the most wicked sabotages. Discover tips and tricks to outmaneuver the competition, impress the judges, and become the last chef standing.

Alton and Superstar Sabotage heat one winner Richard Blais reveal the sabotages to Judge Simon Majumdar after the chefs have prepared English breakfasts, tofu dishes and angel food cake.

Alton and Superstar Sabotage heat two winner Justin Warner reveal the sabotages to Judge Antonia Lofaso after the chefs have prepared Swedish pancakes and bouillabaisse.

Alton reveals the sabotages to Judge Antonia Lofaso after the chefs have endured Thanksgiving-themed sabotages.

Alton reveals the Hush Puppet Theater sabotage to Judge Antonia Lofaso as she attempts to make the perfect hush puppy.

Alton and Superstar Sabotage heat four winner Sherry Yard reveal the sabotages to judge Jet Tila after the chefs have prepared Denver omelettes and New York cheesecake.

Alton reveals the sabotages to judge Antonia Lofaso after the chefs have prepared green papaya salad and barbecue bacon cheeseburgers.

Alton reveals the sabotages to Judge Simon Majumdar with the help of the Superstar Sabotage finalists.

In the first heat of Camp Cutthroat 2: Alton's Revenge, three chefs have to cook a scramble with either an ax, a knife or an arrowhead. Then, two chefs have to make meat and potatoes while wearing a giant life jacket. Finally, one chef has to make dessert pancakes on an enormous compass. (Episode: KTSP08H)

In the second heat of Camp Cutthroat 2: Alton's Revenge, three chefs have to make hunter's stew while dressed as forest animals. Then, two chefs have to make their trail lunch while wearing a giant big foot and one chef has to balance on a log in the lake as they make a skillet cookie.

In the third heat of Camp Cutthroat 2: Alton's Revenge, two chefs have to make waffle breakfasts with their arms stuck in rocks. Then, one chef has to have Bob the Bear cook their grilled fish dish for them. Finally, one chef has to prep their crumble in quicksand.

In the fourth heat of Camp Cutthroat 2: Alton's Revenge, two chefs have to make a breakfast burrito while hanging a net. Then, one chef has to light a hiking snack on fire to cook their burger. Finally, one chef has to be pulled behind a jet ski to get new ingredients for their trail mix dessert.

In the finale of Camp Cutthroat 2: Alton's Revenge, two chefs must make their chili dogs in a leaky boat. Then, two chefs have to make their game dishes while helping each other balance on a log, and finally, two chefs have to go to war to make their s'mores desserts.

Three family teams compete in a special Thanksgiving episode.

The chefs face sabotages while making holiday meals and fish dishes.

Chefs face sabotages while making breakfast, salad, and dessert.