In quite a lot of experiments in the microwave show the used microwave is really pushed to her limits! Sometimes the microwave even dies. However: it also happened a few times a microwave stopped microwaving, but didn't actually die (not including the cases in which the microwave door is forced). A safety mechanism is tripped which stops the microwaving. Here are the microwaves and experiments of Is It A Good Idea To Microwave This? where this happened.
Diane[]
- #43 - Axe Body Spray. The first time it happened. After a while the aerosol can of axe body spray exploded and the team thought Jory burned out his microwave. However: on further investigation it turned out the microwave was not dead. The explosion tripped Diane's wire, shutting her off.
Whoopi[]
- #123 – Thermite. The thermite made a few huge sparks inside of Whoopi. However: the intense heat of these sparks tripped over her safety feature and turned her off. It was very disappointing to call the experiment early because of this.
Note. In #133 Whoopi died. This probably was because of her safety feature which kept turning her off. But because the guys considered her dead and this list is only for the cases the microwave survived, it's not included.
Penny[]
- #177 – Siren Light. When the guys were going to put this experiment inside Penny, Riley already noticed Penny was very hot on her inside. The siren light smoked until the entire cavity was filled with (probably very hot) smoke, causing the circuit breaker to burst.
Saint Margaret II[]
- #238 – Nintendo Wii. After a while inside of the microwave the Wii bursted in combustion and shortly after Margaret II turned off completely. While in all previous cases there still was power to the microwaves, Margaret II was completely gone and the guys thought she died. They were ready to switch her out, but then she suddenly rebooted, ready for the next experiment. While the guys commented she died and rose again, Margaret II probably didn't really die at all. She likely overheated, causing her magnetron thermostat to open and cutting the power. After a while it was cooled again, closing the circuit and allows power through again. This probably made Margaret II "die and rise again".
- #239 – Electric Fan. Saint(!) Margaret II lasted the entire experiment, but while the guys where going over to her next experiment, it turned out the microwave turned off once again. However: she once again rebooted.
- #242 – Gold. Inside of Saint Margaret II there were gold teeth caps, bronze filings and copper ball bearings. It created a nice light show on her inside with sparks, but eventually the entire inside of the microwave caught fire and once again turned her off. Once again: Saint Margaret II rebooted.
Rapunzel[]
- #271 – Champagne Bottle (edited out). Rapunzel was christened by microwaving a bottle of champagne, which eventually exploded. But what was not seen in the YouTube-video (only on Ustream), is that the guys thought Rapunzel died from it. Eventually it turned out the champagne bottle had tripped her circuit.
Heather[]
- #298 – Microwave Detector. A microwave detector was microwaved by Heather. It bursted into flames a few times and with 40" left on her clock, she stopped. This probably was another safety feature causing Heather to freeze.
Ivanka[]
- #302 - Samsung Galaxy Phone. Ivanka was used in the second post-season 10 episode, where she microwaved a Samsung Galaxy Phone. When the phone bursted into flames the first time Ivanka stopped microwave with 45" left on the clock, much like Heather did only four experiments earlier. Ivanka was restarted, but that part was edited out.
- #305 - Santa Claus. When she microwave Santa Claus Ivanka once again shutted off. This time she didn't froze, she was completely gone and Jory presumed she died. However, in experiment #307 it became clear that Santa Claus did not kill Ivanka.