While all rounds of Cutthroat Kitchen are full of hilarious eviliciousness, tonight’s all-new episode took the funny to another level when Alton Brown, ever the sabotage ringleader, revealed that the entire show was dedicated to clowning around. From a ring-of-fire sabotage to themed eats like corn dogs and funnel cake to judge Simon Majumdar‘s over-the-top clown getup —complete with a round red nose, of course — the name of the game was fun at the circus, though perhaps some of the magic of the spectacle was lost on the four chefs who were dealt challenge upon challenge.

In Round 1’s corn dog assignment, Alton auctioned off a tray of concession-stand goodies that one chef had to use in order to make the dish. Corn dogs may seem simple, as they’re made of just two components — the corn-flavored batter and the hot dog — but with ingredients like candy, popcorn and cotton candy, this corn dog test would prove to be anything but ordinary. That’s where the Cutthroat Kitchen culinary crew comes in.

This team tests each sabotage before it’s auctioned off, to ensure that it is, after all, fair and doable within the allotted time. When it came to testing the corn dog-concession sabotage, food stylist Abel Gonzalez put one key product to work in his batter: lemon-lime soda. “The sugar is a plus. The carbonation is a plus,” Abel explained after pouring in the drink, “so the soda’s going to get to some air in there, so it’s going to be a lighter, fluffier batter.” After frying the corn dog and taking a few tastes, Abel approved this sabotage with a thumbs-up, saying, “I would buy this at any fair.”

Tune in to Cutthroat Kitchen every Sunday at 10|9c.

When it comes to new ways to make chefs suffer at the hands of the everyday chicken, Alton Brown is somewhat of a master saboteur (Chicken in a can: Need we say more?). He proved that theory once again on tonight’s brand-new episode of Cutthroat Kitchen, putting a chicken in a bottle and forcing one chef to extract it before executing a dish of jerk chicken.

As is the case with every evilicious sabotage, this one was attempted by the Cutthroat culinary crew before it reached Alton’s auction table, and just like Chef Guy did on the show, food stylist Hugo Sanchez struggled before finally pulling out the bird piece by piece. “Time to go fishing for chicken,” he said, attempting to use a makeshift skewer hook to pry out the meat. Unfortunately for Hugo, though, the bird proved too slippery to stay on the hook, and it sunk back into the bottle, leading Hugo to try the manual approach with “brute force.” After losing his grip repeatedly, though, it was time to try a sharper tool: a knife. “I’m just going to start hacking this bad boy away,” Hugo confessed. “Maybe shredded jerk chicken it is.” He admitted, “There is nothing pretty about this sabotage.” But it was nevertheless possible to complete the sabotage within the allotted time — and with favorable results.Click the play button on the video above to watch Hugo’s test unfold, and see how he ultimately managed to pry the bird out of the glass bottle.

Tune in Sunday at 10|9c for a brand-new episode of Cutthroat Kitchen.

For mobile eateries like food trucks as well as brick-and-mortar hot spots, social media is the name of the game in terms of guaranteeing success. When Alton Brown auctioned off a savvy @-shaped pan in Round 1’s breakfast sandwich battle, however, success seemed impossible for the chef competitors. But believe it or not, cooking up the classic morning meal on this metal contraption was indeed possible. Codii Lopez, a member of the Cutthroat Kitchen culinary crew, showed off her approach to this doozy of a challenge on tonight’s latest installment of Testing the Sabotages.

For Codii, perhaps the trickiest aspect of the pan proved to be its signature shape, as she explained, “My main concerns here is that it’s all just going to fall off, because I only have these little pieces of metal and the rest is fire.” That fire indeed caused a few flare-ups when Codii took to frying the bacon: “The flame is licking the fattiest part of this bacon,” she said. “It’s hissing at me. It’s an angry pan,” she noted, attempting to move the bacon just a smidge away from the open heat. No matter a few bright-red flames, though, she managed to turn out well-done bacon before facing her next hurdle: cooking a sunny-side-up egg using just the narrow edges of the pan. No sooner did she crack an egg onto the pan did the yolk flop into the burner, forcing her to resort to squeezing out a scrambled mixture instead.

Click the play button on the video above to watch Codii’s technique, and see how she managed to toast the bread without serving burned pieces.

Tune in to Cutthroat Kitchen on Sundays at 10|9c, and don’t miss Camp Cutthroat every Wednesday at 9|8c.

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A risotto’s success greatly depends on frequent stirring. So when Alton Brown auctioned off a fixed spoon — one suspended several inches in the air — on tonight’s brand-new episode of Cutthroat Kitchen, the eviliciousness was in full effect for the chef forced to stir his risotto using only that spoon.

The Cutthroat culinary crew attempted this challenge in the latest installment of Testing the Sabotages, and while the team indeed found the sabotage to be doable, attaining that result was nothing short of surprising — or risky. Filling in for a prop to hold the stationary spoon, food stylist Abel Gonzalez was on hand to assist Jamie Peterson, another food stylist, who tried his hand at making shrimp-studded risotto with the spoon that Abel held. “It’s going to be really difficult, because as soon as I lift [the pan] up, I’m getting it off the heat,” Jamie said, explaining the drop in temperature every time he moved the pan to meet the spoon. As the rice continued to cook, Jamie managed to remedy that problem by increasing the heat, but in doing so, he nearly singed a few arm hairs off of Abel when a cloud of hot steam shot up from the pan. “I’m actually human, and you actually burned me,” Abel told Jamie, reminding his fellow food stylist that he’s indeed not a table prop without feelings.

Click the play button on the video above to hear more from Jamie and Abel, and see how they managed to complete the test safely.

Tune in to Cutthroat Kitchen on Sundays at 10|9c, and don’t miss Camp Cutthroat every Wednesday at 9|8c.

While some judges demand inventive, next-level variations on a classic dish, Cutthroat Kitchen judges are indeed pleased to see chefs’ traditional takes, as one-third of the panel’s judging criteria is whether an offering is indicative of the original recipe. So then what’s so difficult about cooking in this evilicious arena? The sabotages, of course. On tonight’s brand-new episode, host Alton Brown auctioned off a trio of oddball pans that would make prepping a seemingly simple dish — a toad-in-the-hole — anything but straightforward. But before the contest, the Cutthroat culinary crew attempted to turn out this egg-in-bread breakfast treat using all three pans to make sure it was indeed doable within the allotted time.

As food stylist Jamie Peterson introduced the three pans up for testing today — the bumpy pan, the mushroom-shaped pan and the holey pan — he noted that they were collectively “horrendous pans.” And just after plopping an egg into the bread hole on the bumpy pan, he admitted, “Oh, that’s a problem.” The whites managed to ooze out from under the slice of bread and run along the valleys of the pan. The mushroom-shaped pan had no trouble heating up quickly, and once Jamie steadied the bread along its domed top, the egg was nearly fully contained to the hole. Given the multiple holes in the third pan, Jamie was sure to heat it, then turn off the flames before cooking the bread and egg to avoid torching them directly — and aside from some slippage, his technique was successful.

Click the play button on the video above to watch Jamie work with all three pans, and find out what he called “a big-boy moment” while trying to execute a particularly important step in the test.

Tune in to Cutthroat Kitchen every Sunday at 10|9c.

It’s no secret that Cutthroat Kitchen loves a solid swap-out; from inferior ingredients taking the place of quality pantry picks to professional-grade utensils being traded for oddball replacements, chefs have been forced to work and cook with all manner of second-rate products. And on tonight’s brand-new episode of Cutthroat Kitchen, host Alton Brown proved his eviliciousness once again when he auctioned off a sabotage that forced one chef to do all of the mixing and cooking needed for stuffed shells in what else but seashells.

Before competitors could start bidding, though, the Cutthroat culinary crew had to make sure that such a feat was even possible; after all, it’s not every day that you boil noodles in a shell, right? In the latest installment of Testing the Sabotages, food stylist Abel Gonzalez attempted the sabotage, with surprising results. “I’m going to go [with] low heat,” Abel said as he gingerly placed a water-filled conch shell atop the stove. “I’m worried about them cracking.” As he began making his tomato-garlic sauce in a smaller shell, he noted the sound of cracking shells, but that didn’t stop him from proceeding. “They’re holding up,” he said. After a bit of careful mixing and a light-handed assembly, Abel baked the filled pasta shells inside the sauce shell, and what resulted was just what he was looking for. “It smells great. The cheese is oozing. Mmm. Pretty tasty,” he said after just one bite.

Click the videos play button on the video above to watch Abel’s test unfold, then catch up on past Testing the Sabotage videos to see how other attempts worked out.

Tune in to Cutthroat Kitchen every Sunday at 10|9c.

The garlic crusher, lemon squeezer, apple corer — each seems to serve only one purpose in the kitchen. But on tonight’s all-new episode of Cutthroat Kitchen, one chef proved that another such item, the popcorn popper, isn’t just for popping kernels. The name of the game was jalapeno poppers, and a sabotage forced a competitor to make that dish using only a traditional tabletop popcorn machine for a sole source of heat. Before host Alton Brown auctioned off this downright diabolical challenge, the Cutthroat culinary crew got to work in the latest installment of Testing the Sabotages to make sure it was in fact feasible.

“Let’s get this party popping,” food stylist Abel Gonzalez joked as he prepared to drop his stuffed and breaded jalapeno into the pot of hot oil within the machine. Though it may seem easy enough to let the popper cook in the oil, he noted that there’s “a spinning, agitating device” inside the small container, and it would “mess with my poppers,” he said. “I don’t know if it’s going to, like, knock most of the breading off,” he added. While the breading stayed mostly attached to the pepper, removing the popper from the oil proved to be trickiest moment of the test. “This isn’t as easy as it looks,” Abel said as he tried to maneuver his tongs into the machine and grab the popper. He managed to grab it once and for all, and what emerged from the oil was indeed a jalapeno popper that he deemed “pretty decent.”

Click the play button on the video above to watch Abel’s test unfold and to see his finished popper up close.

Tune in to Cutthroat Kitchen on Sundays at 10|9c.

Where there’s a kitchen mixer there’s often a mixing bowl, right? Wrong, in fact. At least insofar as Cutthroat Kitchen is concerned. On tonight’s brand-new chocolate-themed episode, chefs were forced to prep chocolate cookies with a trio of diabolical mixing devices, including a stand mixer that forbid the use of an accompanying bowl, which meant one competitor was left using his hands to keep the batter fixings together. If such a challenge seems too evilicious to overcome, the Cutthroat culinary crew is here to dispel those worries: Jamie Peterson tested this very sabotage and the results were downright surprising.

“I’ve set up a baking sheet underneath my stand mixer because I’m going to need to catch all of the product that’s going to come running out of it and going everywhere,” Jamie explained of his first steps of prep. After that, the name of the game was keeping the speed on slow and using his hands to form the ingredients. “Time is definitely going to be an issue with this sabotage,” he explained as he attempted to combine the butter and sugar. “This is a very time-consuming process.” Despite the minor chaos of the flour mixture being incorporated — “It’s going everywhere,” Jamie revealed — he managed to combine the dry ingredients with the wet ones, and he was able to form the dough into balls for baking. “No bowl, no dignity — I still came out with chocolate cookies,” he said after tasting the results. While perhaps a bit tricky to manage, this sabotage was indeed ready for auction, thanks to the golden finished product.

Click the play button on the video above to watch Jamie’s test unfold, then catch up on past tests to see challenges that didn’t make the cut.

Tune in to Cutthroat Kitchen on Sundays at 10|9c.

Where there are cocktails and hors d’oeuvres, there’s also likely a wingman, and that principle of barhopping held true on tonight’s all-new episode of Cutthroat Kitchen. Host Alton Brown turned one chef into a literal winged man during a cocktail-and-hors d’oeuvres challenge, strapping Chef Joshua’s arms into a feathered harness that outstretched both of his arms for the duration of Round 1. But before this feathered sabotage could make an appearance at auction, the Cutthroat culinary crew had to bring it to life in a test — not with a set of wings yet, but with perhaps the next-best thing, a broom handle.

Once his pals secured him to the stick, food stylist Jamie Peterson got to work on the cocktail portion of the challenge, “because that’s going to be definitely the hardest part of this,” he explained. As he couldn’t reach his hands down to the prep table, Jamie was forced to bend over to meet the ingredients and twist his body to pour and cut each product. After two missed knife hacks, he finally managed to slice open a lime with one hand, but then a far trickier challenge presented itself: tearing off leaves of mint to add to the cocktail shaker. “I don’t know how to pick these,” he said, seemingly stumped by how to proceed. “They’re going in with the stem. If I’m straining the cocktail, it’s not that big of a deal anyway.”

As Jamie worked on the last elements of his cocktail, he explained that the sabotage was mostly doable — though it wasn’t without its physical challenges. “So far, so good. I mean, aside from the fact that I have lost all feeling in my extremities,” he joked. “I don’t feel like this sabotage is that hard.” After a quick shake, he indeed poured three chilled glasses, each complete with a camera-ready garnish.

Click the play button on the video above to watch the test unfold, then catch up on past attempts to see which sabotages weren’t approved.

Tune in to Cutthroat Kitchen on Sundays at 10|9c.

On tonight’s new episode of Cutthroat Kitchen, the name of the game in Round 3 was concrete, both literally and figuratively. Not only were chefs tasked with prepping this frozen concoction, but a doozy of a sabotage mandated that one chef had to make the dessert in — what else? — a cement mixer. Such a challenge was new for competitors and the Cutthroat culinary crew alike, so the team behind the scenes attempted the sabotage before host Alton Brown could sell it at auction.

Cutthroat Kitchen food stylist Abel Gonzalez took control of this latest test, pouring the essentials for classic custard — eggs, sugar and cream — into the deep, wide-mouthed mixing machine. “So I have to say, this is looking great,” Abel admitted after using the machine and his own whisk to thoroughly blend the ingredients. “I have a custard base here.”

Once that was set, it all came down to freezing the mixture, and Abel explained that he had two options for proceeding: a combo of ice and rock salt, or liquid nitrogen. Sure enough he picked the more extreme route and carefully poured just a splash of liquid nitrogen into the machine. “The reason I don’t want to pour so much at a time is I don’t want it to become hard as a rock and [then] I can’t mix it into a custard,” noted Abel. Ultimately he managed to work the cream mixture into the texture he wanted and turned out a rich, frozen treat that he deemed acceptable.

Click the play button on the video above to watch Abel’s test unfold, and check out other recent tests to see the culinary crew at work.

Tune in to Cutthroat Kitchen on Sundays at 10|9c.