SILVER SPRING, Md. -- Not long ago, "Bar Rescue" host Jon Taffer told The Huffington Post he didn't understand why one of the D.C. area's most quirky businesses would revolt against the Spike TV host's best make-over efforts, which briefly transformed the pirate-themed bar and restaurant into "the Corporate Bar and Grill."
"If you had a pirate concept that had failed for five years and had a new concept, would you go back to the concept that failed for five years or try something new?" he asked.
Well, yes. As we all know, since the Piratz Tavern episode of "Bar Rescue" first aired in July, the bar is back to being by, for and about pirates. Or piratz. Who watch "Bar Rescue" every week.
"Oh hell yeah, every Sunday!" said Tracy Rebelo, who owns Piratz Tavern with her husband Juciano. The establishment has installed four televisions for weekly watch parties. But that does not mean that the Rebelos are fans of Taffer.
"We were not his ideal crowd," Tracy recently told The Huffington Post. "We didn't respect him. He's an idiot. He was abusive and nasty and stupid and juvenile, everything he accused us of."
That aside, Tracy says the negative portrayal has been good for business. "It forced me to follow my instincts and take the tavern to the next level, make it a more mature tavern," she said.
Since the cameras came and left, Piratz Tavern received another makeover, this one funded by the Rebelos. A new floor, second bar, new paint, new lighting fixtures and more things Rebelo had planned were forced to happen at an expedited rate.
Check out Piratz Tavern's ongoing transformation in this slideshow -- story continues below:
Piratz Tavern
Other positive changes: Rebelo told HuffPost that the bar has attracted a host of new customers since July. More personally, while the show depicted the Rebelo family -- Tracy, Juciano and their teenage daughter -- living in Tracy's parents' basement, the family now has a place of their own.
"We've come back so well we are now renting a house," she said.