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When Are You Guys Going To Be on Telly?
What you really mean is, when are you guys going to be a Hollywood A-List couple who are referred to as one single name (Mac + Kate = Mate.  Or Kate + Mac = Kac.  Let’s stick with Mate).  Our episode was filmed over three days in late October 2011 (two days for process and crowds shots and one day with Guy) and will be aired on Food Network on Monday 23^rd January 2012 at 7pm. After this date we’ll be charging $100 for use of our image and $500 for semi-nude beach shots of us.

Did Guy Really Come to Eat Here?
He really did.  And he brought a crew of 8 people with him.  His son (Hunter, who appears in our episode and taught me how to throw a football), One Producer (who had recently quit smoking…bad idea), Two Camera Men (who had more grand titles like directors of photography), A Sound Guy (who was married to the producer), An Assistant (what a lovely fella), his Camero Driver (who was also director of brown smoothies) and an Intern (the poor, poor thing).

What Did He Eat?
A little bit of everything really.  We cooked three dishes together for the show (Fish & Chips, Toad In The Hole and Haggis) but he snacked on a sausage sandwich as well as a platter of chips and anything else that wasn’t nailed down.  His drink of choice, Coke – that may be where his energy comes from.

Did He Love Everything?
He certainly seemed stoked with the Fish & Chips and the Toad In The Hole (I may even have seen the forming of a tear in his eye when tasting the Yorkshire Pudding) but viewers of the show will know of his aversion to anything classified as offal so he hated the haggis from start to finish.  He even bought a sick bag for our haggis butchery and prep scenes but I’m happy to report it remained unused.

Is Guy a Nice Guy?
We agree that he was a thoroughly nice guy who seemed genuinely interested in our restaurant, our food, our lives and our continued success.  He even took time to have a candid one-on-one with me at the end of filming with some really solid advice on getting ready for the DDD crowds.  But whether he is actually nice is really Santa’s call.

How Did You Get On The Show?
Contrary to most people’s cynical belief, they actually contacted us.  When I asked them how they heard of us (we’d only been open just over a year when they first got in touch), they said that some of our customers had written in (bless you guys) and that they follow trending restaurants on review sites such as Yelp.

Why Did It Take Three Days To Film For 12 Minutes Footage?
Because those Food Network people are unbelievably thorough.  Like OCD thorough.  Before anyone even turned up, I had already spent about 30 cumulative hours on the phone explaining every minute detail our processes in triplicate.  Ours was also a slightly longer shoot than usual because of the complexity of some of our dishes.  By way of example, our haggis usually takes two days to make so I had to have the haggis at five different stages of readiness…on two separate days. We were told on many occasions that ours was probably the most complicated shoot that they had ever done on DDD, and again I’d like to point out that our producer had just quit smoking some three days before meeting us.

Did You Get Paid To Be On It?
Nope.  In fact we lost out on three day’s takings and gave away an incredible amount of food.  But it is priceless exposure for us given that DDD is the Food Network’s most watched show.

How Natural Are The Crowd Scenes And Interviews?
About as natural as Kraft Singles slices.  We had to arrange for customers to come at precise times on two separate occasions; one of them waaaay too early in the morning to be chowing on haggis and making “mmmm” sounds.  The people in our crowd scenes are regular customers who, over the course of the last 18 months, we have come to think of as friends.  Whilst they were being interviewed, the rest of the diners had to eat in complete silence resulting in this super-awkward voyeuristic dining experience.  That being said, it was unanimously agreed that Guy’s interviews were extremely relaxed and people didn’t even realize they were being filmed until it was all over.

 How Come You Look So Fat?
The camera adds 10lbs and there were multiple cameras on me at any one point. 

How Come Your Wife Looks So Fat?
She was 7 months pregnant with our second son during filming.

So When Are You Opening In ________ (Insert Your Town/City Name Here)?
When the week has an extra 5 days added to it.  But maybe one day…

You Guys Rule.  How Can I Get My Hands On Mac’s Merchandise / Gift Cards?
OK, so no one really says this verbatim but we know you’re thinking it so we have a selection of t-shirts, caps and mugs available in the shop as well as gift cards from $10 to $10m.