When the third season of Last Restaurant Standing began, I noted how different the first episode was from previous seasons and suggested that only time would tell whether the changes were worth it or not. Now that the winner of the third season has been declared I can quite clearly say they weren't. In the end, the reasons the third season seemed to work nowhere near as well can be divided into two separate areas – the contestants and what seems to be a greatly diminished budget for the series.
Taking a look at the former area first, there really was no single team that impressed at all at any point during the season. There may have been teams with good chefs and teams with a member who could run a decent front of house, but never did it appear that there was a great front of house person and a great chef combined in a team that had any idea about what it might require to run a restaurant.
Now, we're about to get into the results, which isn't really a spoiler because the season ended a while ago in England and last night here. But, I tell you that we're going to discuss results just in case you haven't watched and my suggesting you shouldn't bother to waste your time isn't enough to convince you.
The team that won, admittedly, doesn't have a member of the team who can cook. Any task where the contestants were required to cook wasn't one they excelled at. JJ and James were marketers, packagers. The two men couldn't make a good drink and smarmily smile at you and get you to buy whatever they might be selling. You might feel kind of duped by it all later, but at the time you'd buy it. You want a soufflé for dessert? How about I make you a drink instead? Risotto? Nope, can't cook that. In fact, I'm not so much comfortable with the idea of applying heat to food in order to cook it.
Article comments