Montana Bar Rumors: Will Billings be Featured on ‘Bar Rescue’?

Will Billings have the first Montana bar featured on Bar Rescue?

We try not to spread rumors, but this one is too good to keep to ourselves. A friend heard through the grapevine that the reality TV show Bar Rescue is currently in Billings to film an episode.

To the best of our knowledge (and internet searching), Bar Rescue has never featured a Montana bar or nightclub, despite a whopping 230+ episodes over 8 seasons. Season 9 recently debuted. Episode one of this season features a bar in Gilbert, AZ with a “dangerously dirty kitchen” and untrained waitstaff.

Bar Rescue is a fun show.

If you've never seen the show, the premise is simple. Host Jon Taffer arrives at a bar that is suffering financial distress. He and his team install cameras throughout the establishment and monitor the place for a day or two, discovering weaknesses and potential problems within the bar.

Then, Taffer storms in and starts screaming.

It’s all part of the schtick. Owners and employees get berated by Jon (some staff members usually cry at some point), and Jon yells something to the effect of “Shut this place down!!” Then he spends a few days showing them how to run a better bar, while construction crews give the place a facelift.

The bar is often given a new name during its Bar Rescue rebranding. Of course, like most “reality” shows, much of what viewers witness on TV is staged or dramatized significantly. ScreenRant.com wrote an eye-opening piece about the popular series called, ‘Bar Rescue: 10 Fakest Things About the Show, According to Cast and Crew’.

Fix the menu, fix the drinks, and clean it up.

If the bar serves food, Taffer’s culinary experts advise them on creating different menu items that are easy to make with decent profit margins. One of the show's expert mixologists helps the bar create a few signature drinks (again, easy to make and serve quickly with minimal ingredients). The bar reopens with fanfare, and tears of joy and everyone lives happily ever after.

Is Bar Rescue currently filming in Billings?

Shows like this typically require all bar employees, owners, contractors, etc., to sign strict NDAs (non-disclosure agreements), so we might not know for sure if Taffer and Company is in Big Sky Country until the episode hits the small screen. Or if someone doesn't keep their mouth shut.

If Bar Rescue IS in Billings, which bar do you think is getting a makeover?

We’d take a few guesses, but at the risk of offending some of our favorite watering holes, we’ll let you do the speculating instead. Reach out with the Chat button on our mobile app, leave a Facebook comment or message, or email me at Michael.Foth@townsquaremedia.com