The preliminary battle is a matchup of Spaghetti. Half of the challengers seem to be non-chefs this time. And the eventual winner is an Italian chef. This episode features the debut of Iron Chef Chinese Chen Kenichi. The theme will be Fugu. Given the specialized skill needed to properly prepare Fugu, Kitchen Stadium provides trained Fugu experts to cut the fish apart for the chefs. (It should be noted that the Chairman Kaga character will eventually be "killed" by improperly prepared fugu.)