Was the check pilot ex military?
Certainly this sort of thing (pulling cb's to create a malfunction) was a military philosophy and unfortunately I have seen over the years that a few people carried such attitudes and behaviour over to civil flying.
Also, (in my experience) this sort of action probably contributed (if not caused) a number of (some fatal) military training accidents that I can recall - yet as far as i am aware the practice continues unabated...
Not with civilian pax onboard - but similar arguments apply - should crews be subjected to potentially life threatening malfunctions outside of the sim? Answer NO!