I just watched the final and wonder what the hell happened this series!
There was noone atall that was worthwhile investing/working with.
I bet the 2 other judges were kicking themselves into saying they'd invest too this year, the other years that might have worked!
There is no way I'd go to somewhere where the 'winners' ran a restaurant. I'm not saying Nathan and thingy were amazing, they weren't they were just run of the mill really, but they were better than the picnic boys.
Everything went wrong for them in the end episode and they won? HOW?
I think it's about time to change the way the show works. From episode one you could see that is was messed up. That mother/daughter team? That deprived someone of a place and that couple that basically gave cheap salmon with a little salad? How did they last?
I really liked them running a high street restaurant, it was much much more realistic. In fact it made me go and visit Yo Sushi!
Choose x number of groups. Give them all a resturant and let them run it for say 4-5 months. You can still give them the seasonal produce tests, the have a Spanish night, lovers night (although those are stupid) but have them actually running a business. How can they possible know they are capable if they are only open for 2-3 days a week for a few weeks? Make them actually run a restaurant, see how much money they make or lose, don't make them do the stupid tasks like doing banquets and things like cookery classes and presentations. They would NOT be doing those things if they were running a restaurant so stop testing them on it. Get them actually running a restaurant and seeing what that actually entails. That would be much more realistic and harder on them whilst also testing them in many ways and over many services.
Very poor series this year.