What you see is not what you get when it comes to making television, according to the owners of a Blenheim restaurant featured in a reality show this week.
Bacchus owners Ross and Penny Heywood and their staff appeared in an episode of the New Zealand series The Kitchen Job, which aired on TV3 on Tuesday night.
The series revolves around restaurateur John Palino, who takes failing restaurants and makes them successful.
Waitress Flora Matyas said that the following night, the restaurant was three times as busy for a normal Wednesday night.
Mr Heywood said he was now recognised on the streets of Blenheim.
Mrs and Mrs Heywood have since put the restaurant up for sale because of health reasons.
However, the couple, who bought the restaurant in April last year, said they were not desperate to sell, because some of their other ventures had sold, leaving them less stressed.
Mrs Heywood said filming for the episode took place in April, over about three days, and the schedule pushed her and the staff to their limits.
Filming began about 8am each day until the restaurant closed late at night.
Mr Heywood said the restaurant was made out to be in a worse financial position than was shown in the programme.
Mrs Heywood said scenes of her and the staff emotional and in tears, used during the middle of the show, actually happened at the end of the shoot.
"We weren't completely fairly portrayed in the right light, but someone had to be the ogre," she said, gesturing to herself.
She conceded that the show needed to have some drama, and said the staff had to sign a contract saying the footage could be used however production company Top Shelf Productions wanted.
Mrs Heywood said she emailed Mr Palino directly to ask for advice, because Bacchus had become "stale". Within weeks, the film crew was in Blenheim filming the episode.
She said the restaurant had kept most of the changes, including the new Italian-style menu and decor, but other ideas such as a "passport" – which saw customers receive stamps, earning them a prize – had not been taken on board.
The Heywoods were not paid for their appearance on the show, but the production company paid for the renovations and new kitchen equipment.
Head chef Gabor Rozsos said the show was important because the restaurant needed a new personality and a new style after 16 years.
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