Jeremy and Jane win BBC Two’s The Restaurant
Royal Marine cook Jeremy Hooper (33) and his wife Jane (29), a trainee teacher from Devon, have won BBC Two’s The Restaurant.
The couple seen winning in tonight’s programme will join forces with Raymond Blanc to open a new restaurant in Thame close to Raymond’s renowned Le Manoir Aux Quat’ Saisons.
Says Jane: “We have won the opportunity of a lifetime. It’s what we’ve always dreamed of doing but we never imagined our dreams would become reality so soon, or with such an amazing mentor.
“We couldn’t wish for a more well-respected, knowledgeable, and experienced mentor than Raymond. We know that we still have a lot to learn and that it’s going to be very hard work, but we know we’ve got a great teacher and we are ready for our next challenge!”
Adds Jeremy: “We worked very hard and took the competition very seriously, and to win was an amazing achievement for us. We intend to focus and be 100% driven on making our partnership with Raymond a successful one.”
Over eight weeks viewers have seen the couple battle it out with the other contestants for the unique opportunity to go into business with legendary chef and restaurateur Raymond Blanc.
Says Raymond: “Jeremy and Jane have a passion. Jeremy’s background means that he can cook, but as restaurateurs consistently they have to be able to run front of house and make money. Over the weeks they have become a driven team who are able to pass on their knowledge to their staff.”
Adds Raymond: “I have been enormously impressed by how much effort all the couples have put in to the competition – their determination to make it work has been obvious.”
Nine couples started out in the competition and to test their skills they had to run their own restaurants for the very first time.
In the final, to help him make the ultimate and difficult decision, Raymond told the finalists Jeremy and Jane, and Laura and Jess to take their restaurants to his home town of Besançon in France – the place where he grew up and started his own career.
The two couples were shocked to learn that they had less than 48 hours to reopen their own restaurant there for one night and introduce the French to their British cuisine.
This proved to be the toughest of all the challenges the couples have been given during the series, and there were plenty of tears and tantrums as the kitchen and front of house struggled to cope with the packed restaurants, pleasing Raymond’s family and, most importantly, impressing the woman who taught him to cook … his mother Anne Marie.
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October 25th, 2007 at 9:28 am
A shock and a pleasant surprise. Congratulations to Jeremy and Jane, and commiserations to Jess and Laura.
I have to admit I’m chuffed Jeremy and Jane won. Not that necessarily I think they were the best couple over the entire series, but they were so passionate and for me displayed enormous resilience throughout. Jeremy’s final speech on his eight course menu when he was unable to pick any course that he way happy with, even though it had received praise from Raymond Blanc and more importantly Raymond’s Mum, for me just illustrates his passionate approach to his food. But I just want to advocate for each and every couple that entered this competition. The thing that made The Restaurant such compelling, entertaining viewing, is where other reality TV shows failed, it was exactly that: Reality. I know from my own bitter experience running (and failing at running) a restaurant how much effort and hard work every contestant put in. Every customer complaint and every messed up order, each mistake, each badly cooked dish, each accident and every single stressful teardrop over the past 9 weeks, I have previously experienced and have shared again with them week in and week out.
Good luck for the future to every contestant.
Running a restaurant: It’s a stressful and emotional ride. I’m glad that this time, I was just a passenger.
October 18th, 2008 at 7:43 am
This series has just finished showing in Canada. So this is the tripe the BBC is serving up these days, no wonder I left the country!
Totally predictable from start to finish - we picked the winners when they & their concept were introduced in the first episode. No matter how badly they messed up, no matter how often they screamed, argued, insulted each other, they & their 8 gourmet courses were destined to win. No self-respecting Frenchman (even one called Ray White with an atrocious ‘accent’) would dream of choosing anyone else.
No matter that the twins were so obviously the best of the bunch, their “Brown & Green” was doomed. Far too mundane for any pretentious French chef. Go see Gordon Ramsey girls, he’ll appreciate you & your concept!
I suppose the new series will just be more of the same - predictable from the get go; full of irritating, pregnant pauses; lots of inane waffle; topped off with the ’school kids’ waiting in trepidation outside the headmaster’s door!! Eventually it will be shown in Canada, I’ll pass thank you very much
November 13th, 2008 at 9:40 am
we would really like to talk to any of the runners up on the program and potentially offer them a restaurant in the midlands.