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It’s strange how one of the most likable guys on TV is also one of the last people you want to have angry and coming at you with a full head of steam. That is what I like to call the Jon Taffer effect. This is a man that will be up and in your face, screaming and yelling at you, but by the time he is done with your bar, you will go to war for the guy.
People love him, I love him, and nobody can get me ready to run through a brick wall like Taffer can. In my interview with the legend, I was able to ask a question I have always wanted to ask the man himself, ‘what is your favorite Bar Rescue moment?’ His response was absolutely glorious.
Jon tells a story about a married couple who owns a bar in Orange County, California that has been failing for years. The owners, Juan Pablo and Edith, had three kids and were in thousands of dollars in debt. Edith is ready to leave and divorce Juan Pablo as things were taking a downward spiral in their relationship. Taffer then brought Edith into his car to review security footage during the preshow recon of the bar as they do during every episode and that’s when all hell breaks loose.
Edith and Jon are watching Juan Pablo in the bar as a pretty young lady walks up to him and asks if he is married, to which Juan Pablo replies ‘there’s no ring on this finger.’
“Im watching this with his wife and she goes crazy, tells me he doesn’t come home at night and all of this. So, I say to her, Edith listen to me, when you walk into that bar tonight your husband has to think that this is a new day, that you are not going to tolerate this anymore,” Taffer said.
“And for the first time ever, I’m here, I’ve got your back, but if he thinks that you are going to let this slide tonight, like you have every other night, this does not end, do you get that? So you need to go in there and you need to make a statement that this is enough. So she gets out of the car, goes into the bar, punches him in the mouth, rips his shirt off and puts a drink in his face.
By the time the episode was over, their marriage was completely fixed. Juan Pablo then gives Jon a letter that reads ‘you were the father that I never had.’ Nobody ever spoke that way.”
Not only did Taffer completely resurrect their marriage and their bar, he then got an email three months later that Edith and Juan Pablo were having another child. It made me realize that Taffer may be the only man on the planet that can save your marriage from the brink of divorce, and turn it into you and you’re significant other making a baby three months later. A true ‘Bar Rescue’ fairytale.
Be sure to check out our full interview with Jon Taffer.