"It is.....they have to submit menu's for 3 different ingredients" So they have a darn good idea of what they're going to do. They just have a lot of prep work to do before hand 'cause they have to essentially prepare 15 dishes: 5 or so for each possible ingredient. Either way it's not anywhere near as impromptu as the show wuold have people believe. Fine with me, I'll still tune in every once in a while, I just wish they made Alton Brown say "Ah, kukisan!" before he interjected anything.