Occasional Dallas chef John Tesar is back on TV, this time in a shlocky cooking show called House of Knives, which premiered on Food Network on March 18, and will air every Tuesday at 8 pm. (It can also be streamed on HBO Max, and the first episode is now on YouTube.)

The series, which boasts an insufferable theme that draws from HBO series Game of Thrones, has eight episodes, and the finale will air on Tuesday, May 6 when one chef wins a $100,000 grand prize.

The show is hosted by chef and Chopped judge Scott Conant, garbed in a highly questionable maroon suit; he's one of three judges with chefs Marcus Samuelson and Judy Joo. They form a "council" because Game of Thrones theme.

It's been at least a decade since Game of Thrones mattered, but both Food Network and HBO are owned by Warner Brothers, so they're just exploiting their collateral.

But the result is really groaning metaphors like "who is going to be exiled" and visual effects such as a row of burning flames.

Here's a sampling of some cringey Game of Thrones-themed lines:

• "The last chef sitting on that throne will claim the culinary crown."
• "You tried to protect your throne valiantly."
• "You are now the new esteemed ruler in this House of Knives."
• "Sleep with both eyes open, chefs."

House of Knives chefs with host Scott Conant in his unsettling maroon suit.Warner Bros.

Each competing chef has a big banner with their name on it hanging behind their station — to represent their "house." When a chef gets kicked off the show, their banner drops with a flourish, like a curtain falling. So dramatic.

And when they knock someone out, they say "Your house has fallen." Curtain whoosh.

Tesar, who can barely still be called a Dallas chef since he seems to spend as much time in California and Florida (if you go by his Instagram account), is a cooking show ham, reflexively reciting quotable quotes that get his mug on screen such as:

• "I'm the one chef with a Michelin star so I'm not going to be the first one banished."
• "The scariest thing about this game is who's gonna come in next because it could be anybody in the entire culinary world."
• "Everybody thinks I'm a meat guy but I really grew up on the bay and the ocean. My dad took me fishing every Saturday and Sunday, I was on a boat catching flounders."

The shocker is the actual throne, an angular vinyl lounge chair that looks more like a crew seat on the Starship Enterprise than the original Iron Throne. Why on earth did the props department ignore the opportunity to create a throne out of knives?

In addition to Tesar, other chefs appearing on the House of Knives over the season include Anne Burrell, Shirley Chung, Kelsey Bernard Clark, Poppy O’Toole, Viet Pham, Jonathon Sawyer, Martel Stone, and Claudette Zepeda.