Sure, it’s national television. Sure, winning means a cash prize. Still, it took convincing to get local chefs Reno Henriques and Adam Tabura onto separate madcap cooking competitions that air Sunday on the Food Network.

Henriques appears in the championship round of “Guy’s Grocery Games” at 8 p.m., having won a semifinal bout two weeks ago. Contestants were chosen from among those profiled in host Guy Fieri’s wildly popular “Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives.”

Henriques, who describes himself as “just a backyard kinda guy,” totally unsuited to the wackiness of such game shows, declared, “This is the first and last time I ever do this.” The draw was Fieri: When Henriques’ restaurant, Fresh Catch, was featured on “Diners,” he said, business tripled. Besides, Fieri told him, “If you don’t come, I not going be your friend anymore.”

Tabura, of Aloha Plate food truck fame, has been out of competition since his team won the Food Network’s popular reality show “The Great Food Truck Race” in 2013. Travel and business obligations filled his schedule, Tabura said.

But he returns Sunday, this time to “Cutthroat Kitchen,” at 10 p.m.

The show, which involves contestants sabotaging each others’ attempts to meet cooking challenges, is “madness,” Tabura said. “It makes no sense, but it makes great TV for the viewer.”

So, what happens? From the program notes …

In “Grocery Games”: “Chefs must compose a daring dish using a food item they selected while blindfolded.”

In “Cutthroat”: “One chef has to wear a giant cherry on their head as they make a cherry cobbler.”

Henriques said it was impossible to prepare for the competition. “Whatever I do, nothing’s going to be what I thought it was going to be.”

He was motivated, though. “I thought, ‘If I lose the first round, that’s going to be terrible for business.’ ”

Tabura has not ruled out future competition, although he’d prefer something more centered on cooking than gamesmanship. “But to represent Hawaii on national TV is a good thing.”