The Restaurant 2009

Think I'm going to be the first to say that I think I'm going to prefer the one hour per week format. I'm a busy chap, often out at work or whatever until late at night, and utterly hate shows that are in two parts each week like Strictly used to be and X-Factor is now. When they split things like CIN specials such as Celebrity Apprentice into two parts it does my head in. One hour per week for this sort of show is OK for me I think. Anyway, will wait until the series gets going properly and they have their own restaurants, to pass final judgement on whether it's changed for better or worse.

What is a shame maybe is that there isn't a sub-program on BBC4 after it or whatever, showing more footage from the challenge or with Holly Willoughby explaining what they did wrong etc. They could call it "The Restaurant - Second Course" or "The Restaurant - Dessert" or "The Restaurant - Washing Up Time" .. loaRAB of cool names for the 2nd show for those that want it :D

The other shame is that this being on a Thursday means I doubt Harry Hill will cover it much unless he does it a week behind, since TV Burp is filmed on Thursdays.
 
This is what appears at the bottom of his blog on his website.........

PS Last night, we celebrated with the boys, frienRAB and family. Later today, I would like to share with you a few surprising, hidden facets of JJ and James .

I will see you later.
RB


...he clearly, at the time of writing, had all intentions of coming back on and updating his blog!
 
But that's often the case with these kinRAB of shows; these people are rarely simply plucked from off the street. A friend of a friend a few years ago was in the running to appear as one of the potential Nancys on the BBC's Oliver! talent show. This person, like many of the other contestants, already had some experience and some contacts in musical theatre. Had she been successful, the next step would have been for the producers to construct what's called a 'story' for her - basically manipulating the facts to make it seem like she was more of an amateur/unknown than she actually was.

Going back to some comments made in earlier posts, I also noticed the BBC's distinct lack of promotion for this series. Normally, each losing couple would be all over BBC Breakfast the morning after transmission. This year, not a sausage. It's as if the BBC, realising what a total mess they'd made of things with their botched in-house selection process*, wanted to draw as little attention to the series as possible, and kept it deliberately 'low key' while still fulfilling their contractual obligation to broadcast the show. I would imagine that the whole idea of Sarah and David putting their own money in is just a decoy to throw us off the scent, and avoid some kind of licence-fee type scandal.

* that's assuming that the Winkers were selected and weren't already known to the PTB.
 
i think the problem is that everyone else managed to at least get across their concept to him. It made it look like they had no real vision for the kind of restaurant they wanted, and why would you give someone with no vision a chance to move on?
 
The programme was filmed back in the summer so all the restaurants are now either closed or reverted to their former owners. The winners will not be able to open their restaurant until the show is over, for obvious reasons.
 
Daughter was a "free-lance actress" so I don't think their appearance on the show was about the cooking, more about getting something to stick on a CV.
 
So the Winkers incredibly manage to stay for at least another week. :eek:

The girls go - very harsh IMHO because -
It wasn't their fault the oven didnt work, the taste tests were on a Sunday so they couldn't get anyone out then. By the time the guy had repiared it Monday they were bound to be running behind.
They actually cooked, unlike old pretty boy who seemed scared to touch anything.
The restraunt of the week ? Well it was all their army cronies in by the look of it so they were hardly going to moan or cause a fuss.

Sounded to me like Sarah wanted them gone, and you cant really argue with that.......who is gonna throw a wrap around them and sit out on the patio in the middle of November nibbling Scotch Eggs ?
 
Right from the Initial application It always obvious that ideas, concepts and the dynamic of the partnership were all being taken into account. A lot of experienced couples were turned away but so were dullarRAB and 'Big Brother wannabes' :rolleyes:



That was less of a test about cookery more how you re-acted In a Kitchen with a camera following you. We too succeeded in that task! Faffing around very little and then presenting a perfect eggless 'Omelette' to the Camera! :)



Strangely enough some "oddballs" might actually be able to cook and presented an interesting concept!..Have you thought how any of your own 'eccentricities' might have got you selected? (No offense!) IMO Any of the final 15 would have made just as good/bad program and some of the final 9 were just also oddball or barmy in one way or another! An aspect of one of the chain restaurants makes me think that was set up before the final 9 couples were chosen and how it boiled down in the end had a lot more to do with umming and arrhing in a production meeting!:rolleyes:


Yeh! The production team did keep their carRAB close to their chest! ;)

BTW. the only real 'promise' in the contract was a training salary for the winners the rest is legal ifs, buts and maybes!
 
Hi all, just registered with this thread but lurked on the series 2 one. Like majority I was initially angry at result. Thinking about it now though I feel format was either wrong or not expressed correctly from start.
For me really two points:

I really wanted to see the two blaggers get some kind of pay back even if only to straighten them out long term. This looked like it was going to happen in final challenge but not so. I think from Reading comments others feel the same even if it makes us similar to romans watching the gladiators.

Secondly it highlights issues in my and suspect others worlkplaces where this kind of blagging and off the cuff rubbish seem to produce results and hard work appears not to. The final seemed to rub this in a little which I think is one of the reasons we are getting annoyed.
One team was lucky and got breaks but that's how it works for some people and others are attracted to it as a quality. In this sense I suppose the correct decision was made even if I would have preferred the picnic boys to fall flat on their faces get carpetted by ray and co and loose the contest
 
Just had to come on here and share my OUTRAGE.

I'm a Brit in Oz and I've just finished watching 'The Restaurant' S3 on BBC Knowledge.

What an UTTER farce! I am appalled! If you wanted a marketing and branding competition DON'T call it 'The Restaurant'. THEY COULDN'T COOK! And their stupid floppy hair was a constant irritant.

PLUS that woman who couldn't say 'Gravalax' properly in the first couple of weeks was exceptionally annoying.

I feel diddled and swizzed.
 
Thank you - that's answered my question asked somewhere above. I wonder when the decision to change the emphasis was actually made.

And no, you don't sound bitter at all. Maybe just as confused as the rest of us.



Living as I do with a very long-time admirer of RB, what I can say is that his decision has done absolutely no favours for his reputation.

I was hoping at some point to arrange a birthday treat to Le Manoir. Maybe I still will - but this has certainly made me pause.

That said, I don't personally mind that they wanted to rebalance the format to provide more emphasis than the previous series on 'concept', rather than have the participants prove they have the whole gammut of practical skills necessary for running a restaurant. But I do think they should have been explicitly up front about it. If cooking ability wasn't a significant criteria they shouldn't have based all the tasks on it, or at least had some management/profit & loss type tasks for clarity.
 
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