The blaggers' cocktail bar

[Minnie]

Here's the bar that Raymond Blanc has just bought into. They obviously employ a chef there because looking at thet menu JJ wouldn't have a clue what half of those things are let alone how to cook them  

The London Cocktail Club - pretentious name too, just like its owners.

[Dreamweaver]

^ Thanks very much Minnie.  That explains it.  I must admit I did want to know how to make one of those cocktails JJ served to Lady Arun...
they looked so perfect to make for guests for special occasions. 

[azuremartini]

So am I getting this right?  The whole series was basically free publicity for JJ and James, and the venture has been on the cards for God knows how long.  That explains why there were so many no-hopers among the candidates.  There was to be only one winner from the start.   

I thought that they were chosen for their concept alone, and JJ would be nominally in charge of the kitchen with a sous-chef doing the real work.  But this is cynical even beyond my wildest dreams.  How Chris must be feeling, if anyone has let him know that is, I just shudder to think.

As the new establishment is in London, I frankly think that a few campaigning letters to the editor of the Evening Standard might be in order.  Boycott the bar-stewards!

[Minnie]

Hi azuremartini, welcome to the forum As I understand it the Cocktail Club isn't the new joint venture, it's James and JJ's existing venture which they already ran before going in for The Restaurant - which rather puts the mockers on the idea of the programme being to make someone's dream come true by giving them the chance to take the first step on the restaurant ladder.

[azuremartini]

Hi azuremartini, welcome to the forum As I understand it the Cocktail Club isn't the new joint venture, it's James and JJ's existing venture which they already ran before going in for The Restaurant - which rather puts the mockers on the idea of the programme being to make someone's dream come true by giving them the chance to take the first step on the restaurant ladder.

Aha, so two guys with a functioning concept apply to be on the show because they fancy expanding to one or two well-to-do West Country cities?  And their track record in London convinces Raymond, Sarah and David (whose defence of Chris was limp to say the least) that not only are they a good bet, but they can be given a free eight-week publicity campaign, paid for by BBC licence payers?

The only question is, did the BBC know from the start, or not until the show was in the can and being publicised?

Or am I being too cynical here?

[Minnie]

I did read somewhere that Raymond was not happy with the previous two series but that he was going to have much more input in this third series. Well that worked a treat didn't it!

[azuremartini]

I see that the subtitle of RB's autobiography is "One man's hunger for perfection"

Well you've well and truly sold that value down the river, haven't you, Raymond?

Do you realise how badly you've wounded your credibility with this?

Do you care?  Or is it only about "business acumen" these days?

[Whatever]

Azuremartini, I think your post further up summed it up perfectly - As the viewer, we've been taken for a ride, and the BBC does appear to have been used as a promotional vehicle.

I don't believe it is coincidence that BBC coverage was watered down the same season a non cook wins a cooking programme.

It's almost as if the BBC woke up to it too late to do anything, and there only option was to dilute it by cutting back sharply on the coverage.

There was never a reason for them to have cut back this season, this has always been a flagship programme for BBC2.

[Minnie]

I wonder which came first - a massively reduced budget leading to a drastic cutting down of the format, or the farcical end product making the BBC slash the airtime allotted to it. If it was the latter why didn't the BBC just say to the production company "That's not what we commissioned, it isn't up to standard. We're not transmitting that pile of horse manure and we're not paying for it either".