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For the past five seasons, Top Chef has gained a steady following of viewers mesmerized by talented folks flittering around the kitchen before coming up with something amazing or vomit-inducing all in the name of reality show glory. It was only time before such a successful show whirled off a celebrity version all in the name of charity (and probably beefed-up restaurant sales, too).

Last night debuted Top Chef Masters, a multi-week spinoff featuring some of the best chefs in the United States, many of whom have appeared as judges to the no-names on the regular Top Chef.

As with any spinoff, there’s an air of familiarity and the bizarre — like looking through a fun house mirror. The host of Masters is not the silk-voiced cookbook author Padma Lakshmi, but rather the waifish Kelly Choi (an “acclaimed food journalist” according to her bio). Though Choi, like Lakshmi, is a former model, she is so thin it’s difficult to believe she could actually write about food, let alone EAT IT.

The judges for this show are also different than the normal panel — usually Lakshmi, Tom Colicchio, Gail Simmons/Toby Young and a guest — yet are also like bizzaro versions of the Top Chef set. Like Colicchio, there’s a balding guy (James Oseland). Like Young, there’s a sharp-tongued British critic (Jay Rayner, needing a haircut or an invite to play “The Beast” on Broadway). And Like Simmons, there’s a Gail, though it’s spelled “Gael” Greene, and she’s a famed food critic with a thing for ugly hats and a talent for looking like the love child of Joan Collins, Joan Rivers and Carol Channing.

The gist of the show is this: Each week four celebrity chefs will compete against each other to be that show’s winner. After six weeks, the winners wil meet for four final episodes before crowning a Top Chef Masters winner, who will donate $100,000 to the charity of his or her choice. Of course, what they don’t say is these chefs will probably make some money of their own, as their names and their restaurants will get some major publicity from the show. And though that’s not part of the prize, I’m sure that’s not lost on any of them.

Though, for some chefs, the publicity might be a bad thing. Take Michael Schlow, one of last night’s contestants. I disliked him from the start and after watching him sweat bullets over a dessert for Girl Scouts, I’m not sure I’d ever want to eat somewhere he just might be cooking. Sweat in food is not something I’m paying for in my dining experience. Yuck.

So anyway, the first challenge was as I mentioned above, a chance to make dessert for a group of Girl Scouts in just 60 minutes. Then, the contestants got to watch the little food critics in training rip apart their fare on a closed-circuit TV. The girls would give each chef a total of up to 5 stars. Those stars will be added to a possible 20 from the elimination challenge and the show’s winner will be the chef with the most stars.

Winning the dessert quickfire challenge was the adorable hippie/DJ/French dude Hubert Keller of Fleur de Lys who earned 5 stars. He was the only truly name chef on the show for anyone who is not a die-hard foodie, but despite his relative fame, he was also arguably the most likable, creative and talented. (Can you tell I like the guy?)

Next were the cooking cowboy Tim Love and Christopher Lee, who both got 3.5 stars and had lovely personal stories to go with the charities for which they were representing (Love is going for the March of Dimes and has twins who were premeeies, while Lee has an autistic nephew and was competing for Autism Speaks).

And last was Schlow, who had 2.5 stars, but who I’m sure would have had none if those Girl Scouts could have watched him making their dish while raining sweat all over the place. Ewwwwwwwww.

The elimination challenge was fantastic: Make a three-course meal in a DORM ROOM using only a microwave, hotplate and toaster oven. Fantastic. The idea of these award-winning chefs working among smelly socks and stacks of homework was just hilarious. And it proved to be just as entertaining as it could be, with Schlow and Keller not knowing how to use a microwave and the kids from the dorm stopping in to see how it was going. Keller made up for his lack of skills with the microwave by figuring out that the communal shower down the hall would be a perfect place to cool his pasta. Again: Fan. Tas. Tic.

For his innovation and talent (and probably name, too) Keller came away with the episode win and $10,000 for the Make-A-Wish Foundation.

Can’t wait for next week!