The Restaurant: Helen and Steve say goodbye to Nel's

It isn't enough to run a successful restaurant, can you express your concept into a cookbook that will satisfy the buyers of the three largest booksellers? And can you do that in under two days?

That was the challenge that faced three of the remaining four couples this week. Lindsie and Tim escaped the challenge having performed well in their cookery demonstration task and earning the Restaurant of the Week award. Each of the other three couples was given time with a food photographer and a designer and had to produce a cookbook detailing three recipes. Most importantly the book must reflect the concept of their restaurant.

Helen and Steve, both with marketing backgrounds, seemed to do almost everything wrong. They had very clear ideas of how they wanted their book to look and although the expert food photographer was on hand to give advice they were so set on their own ideas that they didn't bother to ask him, and therefore ended up with the two biggest mistakes in food photography - bright yellow accessories on a blue gingham background. The name 'Conquering Cabbage' obviously meant a lot to them, but really didn't do much to get their concept across to the wider public.

Michele and Russell's idea of including photographs and snippets of background from their own childhood to help illustrate their recipes was really inspired, but the fact that the cover did not show or even mention food at all let them down badly.

Alasdair and James were running late as usual, having spent far too long organising the props for their photographs. This meant that James ran late preparing the food and didn't have time to write out the recipes so ended up dictating them over the phone. We know from past experience (the famous poached pairs) that Alasdair's grasp of spelling (and proof-reading) is somewhat tenuous so it was no great surprise to find that the superb photographs of mouthwatering food were complemented by sloppy, inaccurate recipes and numerous spelling mistakes. Yet again the Gallery couple lacked attention to detail.

The big surprise of the episode was that despite repeatedly ignoring the detail and proving virtually incapable of organising the proverbial knees-up in a brewery, Raymond Blanc declared that the one book he would want to buy was 'The Art of Food' and that Alasdair and James have been given yet another chance to demonstrate their ineptitude. In the end it was Russell's food that saved the Cheerful Soul and Helen's unappealing 'school-dinner' fare that signalled the end for Nel's.

It has been obvious all along that Raymond Blanc has a soft spot for Alasdair and James. It seems certain that James is the best chef of all, but for a business partnership it will take more than being able to cook. James is also rude, arrogant and selfish, and Alasdair is little more than a bumbling wreck. So why has Raymond Blanc not closed their restaurant long ago? Is it perhaps the Apprentice production team trying to put their stamp on the show? The style has certainly been much more Apprentice-like this series than last; it appears that each couple has been designated a certain persona and everything is geared to show that persona. Is the Gallery being kept open simply for the comedic element provided by this hapless pair? Or are Alasdair and James in fact much, much more likely winners than they are being protrayed? Whichever is the truth of the matter it is a great disappointment and diminishes the show, a show which is good enough to stand on its own merits without needing 'Reality TV' gimmickry.

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