I was more dumbstruck at the sheer scale and danger of the undertaking.

To get the fryer to do what they did, you basically have to read the instructions that came with the unit very very carefully. Then, take everything those instructions told you to do and do the complete opposite. You actually have to work at screwing it up as much as they did. Frying turkey is no more dangerous than cooking other kinds of food (except for maybe rattlesnake - catching them is the tricky part ).