Trivia / Bar Rescue

• Banned Episode: The "Pit and Barrel" episode was pulled right before airing because the owner shot and killed a patron (country singer Wayne Mills). The encore airing of the episode was not pulled, however, and the episode can be found online.
• Creator Backlash: Taffer has openly regretted a few rescues because the owners involved had gone back to their original ways after he left. The most prominent case of this is Piratz Tavern, which went back to its original decor as quickly as it could and closed down a few years later.
• Executive Meddling: While it exists, Jon Taffer has no tolerance for blaming the show for the bar's actual problems. When accused of planting a liquor bottle full of fruit flies behind the bar, a very irate Taffer asks the bar owner if they really thinks he went out with a bunch of little traps and caught the fruit flies one by one to put in the bottle.
• Follow the Leader: The show is essentially Kitchen Nightmares but in bars. Also, the main difference from Kitchen Nightmares is that while it still has a good amount of drama, Bar Rescue focuses on more of the science of how to properly run a bar. Spike also copied the formula four more times. This includes:
  • Car Lot Rescue. It's about rescuing dealerships on the verge of collapse.
  • Tattoo Rescue, which followed tattoo artist Joey Tattoo in rescuing tattoo shops.
  • Homestead Rescue, which is about rescuing Homesteads that are on the brink of destruction.
  • Hungry Investors is a spinoff of Bar Rescue. It follows Taffer, frequent Bar Rescue chef expert Tiffany Derry, and newcomer John Besh, as they not only try to rescue two similar restaurants in an episode but also become investors in the one they think will have the most success.
  • Gym Rescue features Frank Shamrock and Randy Couture rescuing failing gyms.
• What Could Have Been:
  • Apparently, O'Face was being planned to be turned into a railroad themed bar, given the nearby train yards, as part of its rescue. But as noted on the main page, the rescue never actually took place because the owners and most of the staff were so completely intolerable.
  • The infamous "Pit and Barrel" episode only aired at all due to a technical error—it was pulled from its first slot but not the "encore" slot later that day. The owner had killed Wayne Mills only a day prior. If that never occurred, it would have likely been watched like any other episode of Bar Rescue would have.

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