Restaurant Impossible - Lake Arrowhead Sports Grille Update

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Tonight on  Restaurant: Impossible, Robert Irvine and his crew are in Blue Jay, California to makeover Lake Arrowhead Sports Grille.  In this ambush, Konnor, who is the son of owners Keith and Karen, reached out to Restaurant Impossible for their help.  Konnor thinks that everything is falling apart, such as his parents marriage, the business, his dad's interest in the restaurant, and his mom's health.

As I normally do with Restaurant: Impossible episodes, I searched around the Internet to read stories, comments and reviews about Lake Arrowhead Sports Grille to get an idea of how the restaurant is doing since Robert Irvine visited, and here is what I found (note - all reviews are post Restaurant: Impossible):

Worst Cooks In America Celebrity Edition Winner Crowned Tonight

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Tonight at 9pm ET/PT on Food Network is the finale of Worst Cooks in America: Celebrity Edition where the winner will take home $50,000 for their charity.  The final two contestants are Jenni "JWoww" Farley representing Anne Burrell's team and Kendra Wilkinson representing Rachael Ray's team.  On this episode, JWoww and Kendra are coached by their mentors and have to cook a three-course menu for a panel of experts.  Whoever cooks the better meal will win $50,000 for their charity.

To get to this point, the order of celebrities eliminated was Dean Cain (episode 1), Jaleel White (episode 2), Chris Soules (episode 3), Barry Williams(episode 4), and Ellen Cleghorne (episode 5).  The ratings for Worst Cooks in America: Celebrity Edition have been very good for a Food Network show on a Wednesday night bringing in about 1.5 million viewers per episode, so this may be something Food Network will try to do again.

I will update this post with the winner of Worst Cooks in America: Celebrity Edition once the episode airs.

UPDATE - Winner after the page break

Pinehurst Country Lodge From Restaurant Impossible Has Closed

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Pinehurst Country Lodge in Greeley, Pennsylvania, which was featured on season six of Restaurant Impossible has closed.  The restaurant posted the following message on their Facebook page on October 18th:

"It is with great sadness we announce the closing of the Pinehurst restaurant. Between economic difficulties in our area, government regulations and taxes and now the closing of route 739 cutting off a high percentage of our customer base it is no longer feasible to remain open. My words won't do justice in thanking those of you that have supported us over the years. The great people that we have met and considered friends including the Resnicks, the Bowmans, the Cutrones, the Luca's, the Brownlees and Bob Schmidt. And to our great staff who we considered family, thanks to all of you. While life doesn't always work out as planned the memories of the Pinehurst and those we have met will stay with us forever. Thank you all."

They also posted a similar message on their website.  The restaurant did have some pretty good reviews for the food and a lot of people responded to their Facebook message saying they were sad to see it go.  This is the 10th restaurant from season 6 (2013) of Restaurant Impossible to close and the Restaurant Impossible Update Page has been updated with this information.

(Link to Original Update when episode aired)

Restaurant Impossible - Theresa's Restaurant Update

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Tonight on the season 12 premiere of Restaurant: Impossible, Robert Irvine and his crew are in Bradenton, Florida to makeover Theresa's Restaurant.  This season of Restaurant Impossible has an ambush theme, and Robert ambushes the owner Jodi after her friend and banker put out a call for help.  Robert finds that Jodi is micromanaging her business and while there, the kitchen staff threatens to walk out. 

As I normally do with Restaurant: Impossible episodes, I searched around the Internet to read stories, comments and reviews about Theresa's Restaurant to get an idea of how the restaurant is doing since Robert Irvine visited, and here is what I found (note - all reviews are post Restaurant: Impossible):

Food Network Star Season 12 Now Casting

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Food Network Star is already casting for season 12 of the show, and they have upcoming open calls in Chicago, Los Angeles, Dallas, and Washington DC.  You can also submit applications online and they are due by November 18th.  One thing I always like to look at are the rules and eligibility requirements for being on the show.  Here are a few of things of interest from the rules:

• Contestants must be willing to travel to a location determined by Food Network for 6-8 weeks in January/February 2016.  So filming is usually 6-8 weeks for the show, and considering there are usually about 11 episodes, that equates to shooting 1-2 per week.  Later in the rules, it says filming days are usually 10-12 hour (or more) days on your feet.
• All finalists are required to sign a release and agreement form with Food Network that will 

"render  applicant  exclusive  to FOOD  NETWORK for  a  pre-determined period  of  time  (meaning  that  applicant  would  not,  among  other  limitations,  be  able  to  appear in programs in any media, make public appearances, publish a food-related book, or be associated in any manner with any commercial, advertisement, and/or endorsement without FOOD NETWORK's express written  permission  in  each  circumstance); and (ii)  give FOOD  NETWORK the  option,  at FOOD NETWORK's  sole  election,  to  exercise  the  right  to  have applicant  appear  as  a  host,  co-host,  or contributor  to FOOD  NETWORK programming  or  use  applicant's  name,  image,  and/or  likeness  in FOOD  NETWORK programming, merchandising, or  other  ancillary  media  (including  a food-related book  at  a  rate  of  compensation  and  in  accordance  with  such  terms  and  conditions  that  shall  be determined by FOOD NETWORK in its sole discretion)"

I imagine the actual release and agreement form has much more information and restrictions.

• The last rule makes it seem like the Food Network will pick the winner again for season 12 and America will not get a chance to vote.

Other things of note on the JS Casting site, is that they are casting for Beat Bobby Flay season 8, and they are already casting for a second season of Chopped Jr. before the first season has even started.  They are also casting for a Kids BBQ show, but it doesn't say if that is for Food Network or another channel.

Eddie Jackson's BBQ Blitz Premieres Tonight On Food Network

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Here is just a reminder that Food Network Star winner Eddie Jackson's show BBQ Blitz will premiere tonight on Food Network at 10:30pm ET/PT.  As detailed before, the show is a traveling/competition show where "grillers, smokers, and fire-roasters will cook off for a chance to win $5,000 and the title of best barbecue chef."  This disappointed some fans of Food Network Star who wanted to see him cook rather than host as Food Network Star focuses more on cooking than hosting.


The judges on each of the episodes include a few celebrity chef judges and a former NFL player.  Looking at the first few episode descriptions, the former NFL players appearing as judges will be: Ken "The Hammer" Hamlin, Anthony Lucas, and Quinton Caver.  All of these players attended Eddie's alma mater Arkansas, so all the players on this season may have ties to Arkansas.  The show really plays on Eddie's football past with the name BBQ Blitz, cheering spectators, and former NFL players.

BBQ Blitz will also replay three hours after the premiere at 1:30am Saturday and again on Sunday at 3:30pm ET/PT if you happen to miss it or don't DVR it.  I will update this post with the ratings for BBQ Blitz once they are released.

UPDATE - The ratings for BBQ Blitz were - Total Viewership 865,000, Target Demo 18-49 - 0.3  (TV By The Numbers).  For reference, Diners, Drive Ins and Dives right before it at 10pm had 1,029,000 Total Viewers with the same amount in the target demo.  So there was a considerable drop off.

Burgers, Brew & Que was another show that premiered in the same timeslot on July 17th, and had Total Viewership of 1,310,000 and a 0.4 in the target demo. (Show Buzz Daily).  The Diners, Drive Ins and Dives right before it at 10pm had 1,275,000 total viewers, so there was a slight increase.

Judging by these numbers, I would say that the ratings for BBQ Blitz weren't that great.

The full press release about the show from September is below if you are interested:

Cutthroat Kitchen: Superstar Sabotage Begins November 4th - See The Competitors

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Food Network's Cutthroat Kitchen: Superstar Sabotage is coming back for a second tournament that will begin on Wednesday, November 4th at 9pm.  Sixteen chefs will compete for up to $75,000 for charity in this five-episode series.  In the first four episodes, the winners can win up to $25,000 and they will all face off in the finale for a chance to win up to $50,000 more.  The chefs competing in this season include:

Episode 1 - Richard Blais, Cat Cora, Melissa d'Arabian and Aarti Sequeira
Episode 2 - Josh Elkin, Eric Greenspan, Kelsey Nixon and Justin Warner
Episode 3 - Rocco DiSpirito, Duff Goldman, Claire Robinson and Fabio Viviani
Episode 4 - Bobby Deen, Alex Guarnaschelli, Marcel Vigneron and Sherry Yard

Last Cutthroat Kitchen: Superstar Sabotage was won by Eric Greenspan, who is competing again this year.  Other repeat competitors from the last Superstar Sabotage are Aarti Sequeria, Marcel Vigneron, Fabio Viviani, Justin Warner, and Alex Guarnaschelli.  Eric, Aarti, Marcel and Fabio each won a round last year and took home money for their charity.

The full press release  about Cutthroat Kitchen: Superstar Sabotage with episode descriptions is below: