'Bar Rescue': Jon Taffer Goes Penalty Flag Crazy in Exclusive First Look at New Episodes
Bar Rescue Season 8B kicks off with a challenge for host Jon Taffer. In an exclusive first look of the first new episode, Taffer goes penalty flag crazy at a sports bar he is trying to help. New episodes of the long-running series debut on Sunday, March 20 at 10 p.m. ET on Paramount Network.
In the new episode, Taffer tries to save a sports bar that is losing customers and struggling to stand out. During a test of the restaurant staff's skills, Taffer notes that many of the customers are waiting over 10 minutes just for their drinks. As he walks between the tables, Taffer throws a yellow penalty flag each time a customer shares how long they have waited. One couple has been waiting 15 minutes! There were more flags thrown in the scene than during the entire Super Bowl!
"Stress test is crazy right now," Willie, one of the restaurant employees. said. "This is bananas! We're very stressed. We're a little tense and a flag is like, 'Oops, we messed up again!' Please don't throw another flag." However, the next flag came from the kitchen as the staff wasn't taking prepared food to the customers.
Bar Rescue launched in 2011 on Spike, which was rebranded Paramount Network. During its eighth season, the show reached the 200th episode milestone. Season 8 was mostly filmed in Las Vegas, where Taffer lives. The city's hospitality industry was hit hard by the COVID-19 pandemic, which made the last batch of episodes the most emotional yet. "These are people who are running successful businesses and the pandemic or Mother Nature, if you will, took their businesses away from them," Taffer told Variety last year. "It's reminiscent of the hurricane episodes that we've done over the years, where the owners weren't failures, but circumstance put them in that situation."
The preview for Season 8B shows that the conflict between employees at the failing restaurant will continue to be a hallmark aspect of the show. While Bar Rescue is famous for Teller's criticisms of the places he tries to save, fans have come to love the behind-the-scenes drama that unfolds in the kitchen. "I always looked at Bar Rescue as a really interesting way to do a family drama because the bar business and the restaurant business to an extent, a lot of them are run by families," former Spike TV originals executive vice president Sharon Levy told Variety. "It's that working environment where perhaps they should have more HR." The first six seasons of Bar Rescue are now available on Paramount+.