Chefs Will Cook Armadillos, Bats, And Gibnuts On 'No Kitchen Required'

Last month, BBC America announced its newest venture in to the food TV world, and the resulting Top Chef meets Survivor meets No Reservations cooking competition is premiering next Tuesday, April 3.

The show drops three chefs "into the wilderness with just a knife. They will have to forage, fish, and fight to win the ultimate challenge: The respect of the locals," the press release said, but since then we've learned a thing or two about what to expect.

Not only do the chefs forage and hunt for their food, they also compete in "native challenges" where they shoot spears at targets and learn to use a bow and arrow. Fortunately (or unfortunately for show producers?) cheftestant Kayne Raymond assured us that none of it was life threatening. The hunting part, however, was difficult.

"Some of the looks on their faces, like with Madison Cowen, when we had to go out and hunt these animals, these rodents, he would sort of generally get quite freaked out of it and it was pretty funny," Raymond told us.

Of course, Cowan didn't bring this up when he dropped by our video studio. In our interview above, he simply admits that before the show, he'd "never actually cooked an armadillo." He also says you should "hold a bat back by both wings. That way they won't bite you."

As for the craziest thing Raymond learned to cook through the show? He says the rodent gibnut was the strangest creature to cook. "It's like a huge guinea pig-looking rat, but it has no tail," he said. "It's just really, really crazy, but the flavor of the meat was absolutely incredible. The underside of the belly that was like fat, like pork belly." Gibnut belly baos, anyone?

The first episode premieres April 3 at 10/9 CT, and takes place in Dominica. Other sites include New Zealand, Thailand, Louisiana, New Mexico, Belize, and Fiji. And to hype up the show, BBC has sponsored free food truck events in Los Angeles, Atlanta, and New York.