The Making of a Culinary Wingman — Testing the Cutthroat Kitchen Sabotages

Watch Food Network's Cutthroat Kitchen culinary team test potential sabotages before they appear on the show.
Testing the Cutthroat Kitchen Sabotages

©2015, Television Food Network, G.P. All Rights Reserved

2015, Television Food Network, G.P. All Rights Reserved

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.

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