The Most-Evilicious Sabotages Seen in the Cutthroat Kitchen: Superstar Sabotage Tournament

Even all-star chefs must endure the wrath of Alton Brown's eviliciousness. Relive the best, most-diabolical challenges.

Week 5: A Storm of Sabotage

In true finale fashion, Alton saved some of his most-evilicious sabotages for the finale, and the weather station was no exception. Chef Justin managed to cook at this windy, wet prep station, but because he was also forced to make his fish sticks with canned clams, he couldn't outcook his Round 1 competitors and was ultimately sent home.

Let's Take a Selfie

This camera angle is all the range these days; Chef Sherry was forced to video-selfie herself for the duration of Round 1 after Chef Richard saddled her with this doozy of a sabotage, which rendered her one-handed. "I'm ambidextrous, so I could move it from one hand to the other and still continue cooking," Sherry explained.

Robot and Lizard Against the World

Inspired by Japanese cinema, Alton auctioned off a fiery cityscape on which a robot and lizard — chefs Sherry and Fabio, respectively — would ultimately find themselves prepping and cooking their Round 2 ramen. "Fabio is setting up with metal skewers a base board that we can put all the pots on," Sherry said of her fellow character's idea to work with the sabotage. "I'm like the MacGyver of Italy. Seriously," Fabio noted simply.

A Record-Setting Auction

Chef Sherry spent a whopping $32,000 (yes, you read that correctly) so that she didn't have to forfeit her ramen ingredients for five likely oddball plates on a Japanese menu. "It is in fact the highest amount for a single sabotage in the history of Cutthroat Kitchen," Alton noted. Chef Richard was ultimately left with that challenge, and he was saddled with dishes like lasagna and jalapeno poppers.

4 Hands Are (Maybe) Better Than 2

When a sabotage left him tied up, Chef Richard had to leave his Round 3 dessert prep work in a Bob's hands — literally. "There's nothing as fun as cryogenic fluids in tandem," Alton said as the Bob attempted to pour liquid nitrogen while stationed behind Chef Richard.

Ready, Set, Prep

It was up to chefs Fabio and Richard to decide how they wanted to approach their desserts, but Fabio had no choice in when he'd prepare his dish. Thanks to an evilicious sabotage, he was forced to prep and (with any luck) complete elements in quick 10-minute increments before he had to start over from the beginning after time ran out and another session began. But no matter the challenge, he indeed managed to present a winning cheesecake and ultimately claim the Grand Champion title.

Heat 4: Circling the Omelets

"It is slippery in there," Chef Bobby Deen admitted after tripping as he climbed out of the oversize hamster wheel. In Round 1 he was forced to prep his Denver Omelet in this contraption, but once he finished his prep, he was able to look past it once and for all and moved on to cooktops.

Watch: The Best Superstar Sabotage Bloopers

Making a Wet Burrito Wetter

Chef Alex Guarnaschelli was concerned about what a "wet" dish in Round 2's wet burrito test might mean for the sabotages, and her hunch was right. Ultimately it was up to her to fashion a prep table out of nothing more than paper towels — all while facing a slow but constant drip-drop of rainfall. While struggling to develop a "network of fibers" with the paper towels and facing the ever-present water, Alex couldn't help but say, "This is so annoying."

Putting the New York in Cheesecake

The name of the game in Round 3 was New York cheesecake, and Alton made sure that one chef would put a lot of the Big Apple in her dessert when he unveiled a tray of classic New York eats, like hot dogs, black-and-white cookies, and hamantaschen. Chef Sherry Yard won this sabotage and gifted it to Chef Alex, who forfeited her entire basket and had to make due with only the New York plates. "I've never not known what to do. But I, like, I don't know what to do," Alex admitted.

Cheesecake with the Bobettes

Chef Sherry could have let two extra (faux) bodies — members of the Cutthroat Kitchen Bobettes company — hold her back during the third and final round, but instead she employed Sylvia and Margie as her helpers when prepping a New York-style cheesecake. "We can do this," she said confidently, and indeed they did, as Sherry's offering to judge Jet beat out Alex's, and the former chef earned a place in next week's tournament finale.

Watch: Superstar Sabotage Highlights

Heat 3: Life-Size Pupu

Alton brought the Round 1 dish — a pupu platter — to life when he unveiled an oversize replica of the classic Polynesian serving platter. Because Chef Duff Goldman paid a whopping $12,000 for it, he was able to sabotage his rivals with a mandate to grab equipment, cook and prep within designated areas. The trick? Only one person could be in a single location at a time. "I am now stuck in a pupu platter with two Italians, no protein and I can't even get to my cook station," Chef Claire Robinson explained of her situation.

Watch: The Best Superstar Sabotage Bloopers

Sabottagio, an Acquired Taste

It seems that Alton took sabotage to store shelves when he sold a bag of his not-so-premium tortellini filled with everything that one chef, ultimately Duff, would have to use in a dish (with the exception of the pasta itself). "Once I got past, like, the jelly beans and the chocolate and the coconut flakes," Duff said of Round 2, "I started finding some pretty cool stuff in there."

Sounding the Whoopie Cushions

In Round 3's whoopie pie test, Chef Fabio brought a bit of, um, sound to the battle when he was forced to don a whoopee cushion under each of his shoes; if he stepped on them and deflated them, he'd face a fine. Chef Fabio explained of what this sabotage required of him, "I did underestimate, though, that I have to balance on my tiptoes, and I ain't no ballerina." Nevertheless, he managed to outbake his challenges and earn the Round 3 win.

Watch: Superstar Sabotage Highlights

Heat 2: Culinary Vikings

Three of the four Round 1 chefs had no choice but to work as a team when Chef Justin Warner saddled them with a sabotage that forced them into an oversize Viking boat as they prepped Swedish pancakes. "We are all working together or this ain't going to work out for anybody," Chef Eric Greenspan proclaimed.

Watch: The Best Superstar Sabotage Bloopers

On-Point Sabotage

No sooner did Chef Justin dole out a sabotage than he was ultimately gifted one in return. Chef Kelsey Nixon won the auction of a flaming arrow and gave it to him, forcing him to use it as his sole heat source. But in true Rebel fashion, he created what he called "a tiny flattop" with an upside-down pot over the flame and some aluminum foil.

Putting the Shell in Shellfish

What's a traditional bouillabaisse if not filled with succulent shellfish, right? That was the thinking in Round 2, when Alton auctioned off empty mussel and clam shells in which one chef, ultimately Eric, had to mix and cook his fish stew. He approached the shells with a ceviche-focused mindset, serving components in multiple shells, which he deemed "a little bit avant-garde," and indeed it paid off. Judge Antonia called the offering "absolutely brilliant," and Eric was automatically promoted to Round 3.

DJ Nixon at the Ready

While some sabotages force chefs to work in a stationary environment (remember the giant highchair?), Chef Kelsey's spinning turntable prep station wasn't one of them. "I might be motion sick," she admitted. This contraption proved to be the end of her, as she said, "Not only is it challenging to cut up a fish on a rotating cooking surface, it's nearly impossible to clean that fish." And sure enough, she served judge Antonia fish with a bone in it.

Sundae Is Game Day

"It's going to be a pain in the butt, but it ain't worth giving away money to charity," Chef Eric said after being saddled with what would be his first of two sabotages in Round 3's brownie sundae battle. Because the numbers on a die corresponded to areas on the kitchen-turned-game-board, he was at the mercy of each die he rolled. Three rolled sixes forced him to take a few laps around the kitchen. "Now I get to watch Eric run around the kitchen like a little kid. It's good, right?" Justin said with a smile.

Watch: Superstar Sabotage Highlights

Scooping for the Goods

Not only was Eric forced to roll the die with each move he made, but he also had to relinquish his basket ingredients and instead dig them out of cartons of ice cream. "I have to use my teeth to rip the paper to open the [carton]," Eric said of his approach to dismembering the ice cream tubs to better find the buried ingredients. Ultimately, his brownie offering couldn't best Justin's, and the latter chef advanced to the finale.

Heat 1: Teatime Meets Mischief

In true Alton fashion, an ordinarily elegant practice — teatime — turned evilicious when a sabotage forced Chefs Richard and Melissa to forfeit their baskets and use only the ingredients on the tea table to prepare their English breakfasts. "There's nothing worse than losing a basket on Cutthroat Kitchen," Melissa admitted.

Watch: The Best Superstar Sabotage Bloopers

Knight Blais Reporting for Duty

Chef Melissa won a sabotage to "knight" Chef Richard, which landed him in a full suit of body armor, much to his amusement. "I can't even stop smiling. I'm so happy that I'm dressed like a knight. Do I get a horse?" he joked. But soon the fun stopped when he found out how cumbersome the suit is. "It's really hard to use these gloves, really," he said while trying to sift through foods from the tea table.

Cooking Chops

"This brings a whole new meaning to knife skills, huh?" Chef Cat asked Chef Richard, who was saddled with a sabotage that forced him prep and cook with, and in, nothing but a few knives. "The cleaver is the key," Chef Richard said of the challenge, "because a cleaver sideways is sort of like a plancha, which is just an incredibly fancy way to say griddle." He indeed put the knives to work in making his Mapo Tofu in Round 2's tofu test.

Putting the Toe in Tofu

Not one to pass up a pun, Alton auctioned off a "toe-to-toe" sabotage that would keep two chefs locked together in a toe-to-toe configuration throughout the challenge. Chefs Cat and Aarti were saddled with this doozy of a challenge, though they made the best of the situation by learning how to work well together. "What have I done? I've created the next Food Network Star Iron Chef: two brains, four arms," joked Chef Richard, who won the auction for this sabotage.

An Angel's Halo

Alton made sure that Round 3's angel food cake test would be made by at least one (almost) real angel when he auctioned off a halo, on top of which one chef would be forced to prep his or her entire dish. Chef Richard landed this challenge on top of his head, and he shocked Alton by finding a way to avoid "sloshing everything around while they try to whip their egg whites into a foam" by opting for a siphon, which infused air into the eggs for him.

Fishing for Ingredients

Chef Cat was gifted an angel food cake in a Round 3 sabotage, but it was far from a treat; she had to sift through its layers for all of the ingredients needed to make her dish. "There is some weird stuff in here," she said while combing through the cake. "It's like salmon or crab. Yuck!" But despite her troubles, she managed to turn out a cake within the allotted 30 minutes, though it wasn't as stellar an offering as Chef Richard's winning dish.