Cutthroat Kitchen: Knives Out to Bring Back the Sabotage Game
Culinary skills will not be enough to rise to the top in Cutthroat Kitchen: Knives Out, in which chefs must be willing to sabotage their opponents while being cunning in how they surmount the sabotages thrown their way.
Host Brian Malarkey dishes out the unpredictable and diabolical culinary challenges that will test four chefs on their cooking prowess, strategic thinking, and ability to innovate under pressure.
With a starting bank of $25,000 each, the chefs will have opportunities to spend that money on advantages for themselves or on sabotages for their competition. The last chef standing walks away with the money they have left in their bank.
The nine-episode series premieres on Food Network on Tuesday, May 13, at 9 p.m. ET/PT and streams the next day on Max. Cutthroat Kitchen: Knives Out is produced by Big Fish Entertainment for Food Network.
“Cutthroat Kitchen: Knives Out will keep the competitors on their toes and the audience at the edge of their seats as menu plans are upended when the unforgiving sabotages get dished out,” said Betsy Ayala, Head of Content, Food, Warner Bros. Discovery.
Ayala added: “Cooking skills will only take you so far in the kitchen where chaos and mayhem reign; the competitors must be both cutthroat and creative to survive to the end.”
In the first round of each episode, host Brian Malarkey sets up the challenge and dishes out the sabotages while auctioning off advantages as competitors fight to survive and see round two. With only one minute to gather ingredients before tackling the challenges, chefs must be quick to get what they need before the doors swing closed or risk getting stuck in the pantry.
One chef goes home at the end of round one, and the winner gets an additional thousand dollars added to their bank. In the second round, the three remaining chefs will bid on sabotages to bestow on their competition, playing a simultaneous game of offense and defense to try and make it to the end.
From foraging ingredients from a plane’s bar and snack carts to cooking a posh meal using only a hot dog roller and popcorn maker, the chefs must be strategic and crafty to navigate obstacles and outdo the competition. Each episode will feature one judge who will determine the winner of each round, tasting and evaluating the dishes before they know what challenges and sabotages were endured.
Judges joining the fray across the season include Maneet Chauhan, Scott Conant, Alex Guarnaschelli, Aarti Sequeira, and Jet Tila. The competitor with the best dish in the final round wins the game and the remaining money in their bank.
Fans can check out Food Network’s social channels all season to go behind the scenes of this diabolical competition. Plus, they can watch host Brian Malarkey test out some of the outrageous sabotages from the show to see if he can succeed where the contestants struggled.
Brian Malarkey is one of the country’s most successful and sought-after chef-restaurateurs, having created over 15 successful restaurant concepts throughout his career. His first restaurant group, which was sold to the Hakkasan Group, expanded to more than 10 locations in the U.S. and internationally under his leadership.
Following that, Malarkey established a second restaurant group, the Puffer Malarkey Collective, with his longtime business partner, Christopher Puffer, which includes four diverse concepts in San Diego, including Herb & Wood, Herb & Sea, Animae, Steakhouse Le Coq, and, in partnership with the Irvine Company, Herb & Ranch.
His most recent venture, Hawkeye & Huckleberry Lounge, is a modern cowboy restaurant and bar located in his hometown of Bend, Oregon, under The Brothers Malarkey Portfolio.
Malarkey has been a judge on Food Network’s Guy’s Grocery Games, Chopped, and an upcoming episode of 24 in 24: Last Chef Standing, as well as a competitor on Tournament of Champions and Wildcard Kitchen. He was also a contestant on Top Chef (Season 3) and Top Chef All-Stars (Season 17) and a winning mentor on The Taste.
