Swapping capes and tights for aprons and architectural savvy, the Food Network’s Restaurant Makeover is a superhero for ailing eateries in search of a fast facelift. Or so you might think after viewing an episode of the top-rated Toronto-based fixer-upper, in which a team of design and kitchen hotshots (including Lynn Crawford, the Four Seasons’ recently departed exec chef, and Maro’s David Adjey) spends a single, intensive week transforming a culinary caterpillar into a buzz-worthy butterfly. But leaving it to the professionals doesn’t always produce a happy ending. As the series’ fans can attest, the all-important reveal sequence at the end of each episode sometimes shows visibly shaken (or downright upset) restaurateurs coming to grips with the radical metamorphosis. Now the program is having to clean up its own mess for a change, and it’s dishing up hush money to get the job done. At least one restaurant’s owners—who, for obvious reasons, shall remain nameless—were recently paid a legal settlement for their claims of shoddy workmanship and damage perpetrated by the show’s contractors. In exchange, they had to promise never to speak ill of the program or Tricon Films and Television, its production company. LeAnne Armano, one of the show’s producers, declined to talk about the agreement. “My understanding is that it’s not legal for me to comment,” she said, adding that any makeover can be traumatic. “It’s like a haircut: you walk through the door the first time, it’s going to be shocking.” Of course, some past participants are philo­sophical. Of 13 restaurants reached by Toronto Life, most had complaints about the show and the job its experts had done, but the majority also said the resulting publicity was worth the trouble. “If you don’t know the goal is to get a good TV show, you’re a fool,” says Sue Dingsdale-Glover of Cobourg’s The Human Bean. As people in PR say, any publi­city is good publicity. Let’s hope Restaurant Makeover agrees.