Alton Brown hosts “Camp Cutthroat”

That Alton Brown sure is a diabolical mastermind. "Cutthroat Kitchen," the Food Network cooking competition he hosts, really is a love-it-or-hate-it kind of affair, with a group of chefs cooking "Chopped" style while Brown pulls out one game-changing twist after another.

Well, the show that's all about bizarre twists being thrown at its competitors now has a twist of its own. "Camp Cutthroat" premiered last week, and the five-episode series is continuing Wednesday evenings.

Brown's traded in his metaphorical host's hat for a camp counselor's, and he's taken 12 chefs with as much cunning as they have cooking skills to a top-secret location deep in the wilderness. There, while braving biting mosquitoes, unpredictable weather and rustic facilities, these culinary challengers are quickly discovering that their biggest challenge isn't the location -- it's each other.

In last week's premiere, while three chefs struggled to enjoy the great outdoors, Brown unleashed his diabolism onto them. Two chefs were blindfolded and given a challenge with pork and beans -- a classic camping meal. Another found the answer to the age-old mystery of just what bears get up to in the woods, while later a remarkably persistent rain cloud decided to hover over the proceedings.

It's incredibly over the top, but that's what's made "Cutthroat Kitchen" such a hit. At the end of the day, these chefs have to put out great food no matter what weirdness is thrown at them, and it's truly remarkable to see the skill that they employ in the kitchen -- or in this case, in the wilderness.

Future episodes will see the chefs cooking while hanging from a rock wall, and cooking up breakfast atop a lookout tower and trying to hold things together while braving high winds.

Of course, there's a big reason why the chefs subject themselves to this, and that reason is as green as the wilderness in which they find themselves. "Camp Cutthroat's" ultimate winner will take home a cool $75,000 in cold, hard cash. A much better souvenir than mosquito bites, I'd say.