One Chef's Bumpy Ride to the Winner's Circle — Alton's After-Show

Relive the winning chef's evilicious road to Cutthroat Kitchen glory.

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Alton's After-Show

The road to Cutthroat Kitchen glory is hardly ever a straightforward one, since the name of the game, of course, is eviliciousness. But some competitors, whether because of their rivals' determination, their own bidding strategy or perhaps just sheer bad (good?) luck, end up saddled with a particularly diabolical lot of challenges each and every round. Chef Michael was one such contestant; on tonight's brand-new episode, he endured several especially trying sabotages that challenged not only his mental prowess in the face of culinary disruptions but also his physical competency.

In Round 1, Chef Michael no sooner started the fish sandwich battle than he found himself seated in a three-person rowboat — and a tipsy one at that. With every movement, the boat rocked from side to side, throwing his prep work off balance. "I like that," Susan Feniger, the guest judge of the day, told host Alton Brown with a smile during the  After-Show. Unfortunately for Chef Michael, the challenges only worsened as the day went on, as Round 2's chili test again saddled him with an inferior situation: this time seated atop a bucking horse ride. It "really didn't have anything to do with food," Alton told Susan. "It was just painful and horrible to watch." But not matter the bumpy ride, Chef Michael kept his cowboy hat held high and proclaimed from the horse, "Yee-haw!"

Perhaps the most-daunting and most-diabolical sabotage of the day came in Round 3's Mississippi mud pie cook-off, when Alton auctioned off a self-propelled raft, on which Chef Michael had to push himself around the kitchen. "That was a big challenge for him," Susan said after watching a Bob attempt — and nearly fail — to do just what Chef Michael had done. "In the end, flavor and presentation won out," Alton told Susan, who agreed with the host about what it took to claim victory this week.

Click the play button on the video above to hear more from Alton and Susan, and watch the Bobs try their hands at some of today's most-evilicious challenges.

Don't miss Cutthroat Kitchen every Sunday at 10|9c.

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