Ep 4. Heat One

In the fourth episode of season five of Cutthroat Kitchen, titled Heat One, four chefs are pitted against each other in a highly competitive cooking competition. These skilled chefs must showcase their culinary talents while dealing with the added challenge of sabotages, courtesy of the devious Alton Brown.

The chefs must start by preparing a dish that incorporates frozen peas, pre-cooked quinoa, and a jar of pickled pigs' feet. However, before they can get started, Alton Brown introduces the first sabotage: a special "pea shooter" that will make it difficult to reach the ingredients necessary for cooking. As the chefs try to pluck the peas from the air, they must also battle for the chance to use the equipment they need to prepare their dishes.

Then, the contestants must prepare a spaghetti dish with ingredients that include pork chops, tomato sauce, and canned peaches. But the next sabotage hits just before cooking begins: each chef is given the option to either switch their pork chop with an opponent's or swap out their pot of boiling water for a sabotaged pot with a much longer cooking time. With strategic gambits being thrown around left and right, the competition heats up as the chefs go all out to maintain control.

As if that weren't enough, the third challenge involves the creation of meatballs using ground beef, blue cheese and spinach. In addition to dealing with key sabotages like being forced to use a giant meatball mold or trading away your cooktop to someone else, the chefs must also keep their wits about them when Alton invokes a blindfolded taste test that can keep them out of the running or slide them to victory.

The final challenge sees the remaining chefs making one of Alton's favorite dishes – chicken fried rice – with an added twist of preparing a bananas foster dessert. But when the final sabotages are introduced, including the ability to swap out ingredients or equipment, few know which direction the competition will go. The finalists must outdo each other one last time, proving themselves to be the ultimate cooks and ultimate competitors.

Will the chaos and unpredictability of Cutthroat Kitchen continue to test these chefs, or will their culinary prowess reign supreme against the obstacles thrown their way? Watch Heat One of Cutthroat Kitchen's fifth season to find out.