Cutthroat Kitchen is my favorite Food Network series. I felt its loss when it wrapped up its four-year run in 2017. I often tell people the legend of Cutthroat Kitchen and all its mischievous glory. Therefore, the joy overflowed when I stumbled upon Cutthroat Kitchen: Knives Out streaming on HBO Max.
The series has the basic bones of the original but with a few updates. Brian Malarkey replacing Alton Brown as host is one of the most noticeable differences. I wanted to love Cutthroat Kitchen: Knives Out as much as I love Cutthroat Kitchen, but a few episodes into this new, evolved version, I have some concerns. Let’s talk about it.
I Think Cutthroat Kitchen: Knives Out Lacks Some Of The Chaos Of The Original Series
I look fondly upon Cutthroat Kitchen because it took the most chaotic approach to cooking. The sabotages were extreme and the work of diabolical minds. You could not predict what would be thrown at contestants, because sometimes they only vaguely followed the theme of the challenge. It was beautiful.
Cutthroat Kitchen: Knives Out almost plays it safe with the sabotages (at least in the first three episodes). They’re simple in comparison to the original show. A contestant may have no knives versus a sabotage of someone having to cook while being hung upside down. Cutthroat Kitchen wasn’t such an insane show because of the contestants sabotaging one another, it was because of how ridiculous or limiting these sabotages made things for the chef. It is truly an underrated Food Network show.
The original cooking show also just felt more frantic. Cutthroat Kitchen threw some of the craziest disadvantages possible at these people, and they sank or swam. It showed how creative a chef could become when limited. It also felt more exciting when a contestant overcame so many challenges and took home the prize.
There is just an aura of organized chaos that Cutthroat Kitchen brings that Cutthroat Kitchen: Knives Out hasn’t seemed to match yet.
Cutthroat Kitchen: Knives Out Has A Bigger Budget, And, To Me, That Takes Away From The Show’s Scrappy Feel
Food Network (and HBO Max as well) has plenty of popular and successful cooking shows. Cutthroat Kitchen always felt like a small show that only a few knew about and adored. It was a series for the Food Network fans who watched any and everything on that channel. It was clear that it was kind of a series that didn’t have a huge budget, but a really innovative and entertaining team. It looked like a low-budget cooking show. I mean this in the best way.
Cutthroat Kitchen: Knives Out has a huge budget increase. Well, maybe not a huge one, but you notice the updates to even small things like a title sequence that uses special effects and full name cards, a bigger set, and more props. These aren’t big fancy things, but enough of a change to not feel like it’s the scrappy cult favorite that makes it charming.
The changes make it almost feel like many of the other newer Food Network shows. I may be nitpicking here, but I just preferred Cutthroat Kitchen’s simplistic approach to this weird and wacky show.
I Don’t Mind Brian Malarkey As The Host, But I Miss Alton Brown
According to Variety, Alton Brown officially cut ties with the Food Network in 2022. He left to co-host the Iron Chef reboot on Netflix. He hasn’t hosted another TV cooking show since this Netflix series. The show also remains in limbo as Netflix hasn’t officially cancelled or renewed it. However, as of May 2025, there has been no news of a second season. Therefore, we can assume it’s not returning.
I can respect Brown taking a chance on another series and network. However, I wish he still hosted Cutthroat Kitchen. I often watch cooking TV shows, so I have seen Brian Malarkey on many things. I have no issue with him as a host or a contestant. He does a good job hosting Cutthroat Kitchen: Knives Out. However, there is just a devious energy that’s distinct to Brown.
He seems to care too little and too much simultaneously about the success and failure of the Cutthroat Kitchen chefs. Brown also seems to add a supervillain presence to all Food Network shows, but especially this one. No one seems to enjoy the pain and struggles of these contestants as much as him. Malarkey, currently, doesn’t go full cartoon villain the way Brown does on Cutthroat Kitchen, so I can’t fully enjoy him in the role of host as I do Brown.
I think Malarkey will eventually fit the Cutthroat Kitchen: Knives Out host role better, but he just hasn’t nailed the diabolical nature it needs.
I Have Some Issues With Cutthroat Kitchen: Knives Out’s Structure
One of the changes to Cutthroat Kitchen: Knives Out is that there are fewer chances to sabotage someone. The original series had three rounds, so more sabotage potential vs only two rounds in the new version. In Knives Out, the first round involves everyone being sabotaged, but with the possibility of buying advantages to make a contestant’s hindrances more manageable.
In Cutthroat Kitchen, all three rounds played out the same. The contestants would use their money to buy sabotages that would hurt the other contestants. This made it easy to create enemies and experience instant karma when someone sabotaged a contestant for sabotaging them.
It almost seems like the contestants are faking the animosity on Cutthroat Kitchen: Knives Out, because there isn’t much to beef over in the first round. The first round doesn’t seem ruthless enough. The second round, in Knives Out, involves purchasing sabotages, but by then, it’s the end, so the tension doesn’t build the way it does with three rounds of sabotaging in the original show.
I Enjoy The Judges Interacting With Contestants More Than I Enjoy Anonymous Taste Testing
An interesting format change in Cutthroat Kitchen: Knives Out is that the special guest judges eat the competing chefs' food anonymously. They still give feedback to Brian Malarkey instead of directly to the contestants. The contestants watch and listen in a closed-off area in the kitchen. The judges also learn about the sabotage after judging. Cutthroat Kitchen kept this a secret from the judges.
In Cutthroat Kitchen, I enjoyed seeing the judges criticize these dishes because it added more comedy to the show. The contestants had to get feedback and not be able to explain why their dish turned out the way it did. It made it so funny to see judges go on and on about something when that might have been the exact sabotage, like a judge talking about a pot pie needing meat, and that contestant couldn’t use meat because they were sabotaged to only use canned goods or something of that nature.
It was also just more interesting to watch the judges and contestants interact than just the host and judges. Alton Brown would instigate a little too, knowing fully what these people endured, and that was brilliant.
I don’t think Cutthroat Kitchen: Knives Out is necessarily a lesser version than Cutthroat Kitchen, but I am not feeling the same enthusiasm and admiration for it. Maybe it just needs to work out a few kinks, then it will become an even better version. Cutthroat Kitchen is still one of the best competitive cooking shows.
Cutthroat Kitchen is currently not available to stream on HBO Max, but is temporarily available on Hulu.
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