Cutthroat Kitchen: Knives Out concluded on July 8, 2025. The finale saw Adam Pawlak, a Milwaukee chef, emerging as the winner. After his victory, Adam appeared for an interview with WISN 12 News, released on July 4, 2025. He discussed the experiences and the challenges he faced during the filming of the show.Referring to the unpredictable nature of the competition, Adam said that the biggest challenge was that the contestants didn't know what was coming."The biggest challenge with this show specifically is like, the unknown. You don't know what's coming," he said.During the interview, Adam discussed several things, such as how he felt after winning the show, and whether he always aspired to be on such cooking reality shows. He also mentioned that he was rejected from being on a cooking show 10 years ago.What Cutthroat Kitchen: Knives Out winner Adam shared about the challenges he faced during the show?News anchor Diana Gutiérrez asked Adam to describe the biggest challenge that a show like Cutthroat Kitchen: Knives Out brought with itself. Adam responded that cooking in a microwave was a bit challenging for him, but that didn't happen very often. Otherwise, the nature of the show in general was demanding because contestants didn't know what was going to happen next, he stated. View this post on Instagram Instagram PostCiting an example of the type of curveballs the show threw at them, Adam said that contestants could sabotage each other, have their knives taken away, or could be asked not to use a heat source."At least with some of these other cooking shows, you know what the premise is and how to cook and everything, but this one's a little bit more entertaining," the Cutthroat Kitchen: Knives Out winner said.Anchor Diana agreed and stated that her anxiety went up just listening to what Adam had described. She then asked him how he prepared for something so unpredictable. He replied that having an experience with the other shows came in handy, and knowing the surroundings of such competitions also helped. He further stated that they needed to cook what they knew and be confident about it.He advised the future contestants to stick to the basics, and prepare food that tasted and looked good. He asked them to opt for the things that they had done before, and believed that such a method would eventually pay off.Sharing how he felt when his name was announced as the Cutthroat Kitchen: Knives Out winner, Adam said he was speechless. He believed any one of the three finalists could have won, so it was "nerve-wracking" to wait for the judges to say his name. View this post on Instagram Instagram PostThe interviewer then asked him if he ever thought he would be on a Food Network show. Adam answered that he grew up watching cooking shows for entertainment and learnt something from them. He added that while he thought it would be "awesome" to be on one of these shows, he never imagined that he'd have to do everything to be on TV.He mentioned that he had been cooking for 20 years and had done four shows, out of which one was a multi-episode stint. Adam added that it was "crazy" to look back because he wasn't accepted on one of these shows 10 years ago, and now he was the winner of one.He admitted that he kept trying and pushing himself and got better at cooking in the past decade, but it was funny to see the rejection email he received back then.For more updates on Cutthroat Kitchen: Knives Out winner Adam Pawlak, fans can follow his Instagram, @adam_pawlak23.