This special received some lukewarm reviews in newspapers, with Tim Dowling describing it in The Guardian on the night of broadcast as: "everything you could have expected it to be, and less", while The Metro regarded it as: "TV eating itself, a once sharp and funny show dragged down by a Z-list menu."
Robert Englund spoke about the experience in a Q & A with The Guardian in June 2022, admitting he was an Anglophile, but didn't know any of his fellow diners: "The problem with doing British reality shows is that sometimes I know exactly who the people are - I know all the gossip and scandal - but sometimes I don't."
Robert also noted that the food he prepared wasn't what he wanted: "I remember I asked for fresh tuna fillet, to add my secret ingredients - scallion, sweet gherkin pickles, finely chopped red pepper, a hardboiled egg, a little gourmet mayonnaise and a little honey mustard. I whip it all up, put it on toasted sourdough with a little butter, then melt on cheese; it's an old bachelor recipe called a tuna melt. But it only works if you use really high-quality tuna. The crew brought this terrible canned tuna. I ended up serving my poor fellow contestants glorified cat food."
Robert also noted that the food he prepared wasn't what he wanted: "I remember I asked for fresh tuna fillet, to add my secret ingredients - scallion, sweet gherkin pickles, finely chopped red pepper, a hardboiled egg, a little gourmet mayonnaise and a little honey mustard. I whip it all up, put it on toasted sourdough with a little butter, then melt on cheese; it's an old bachelor recipe called a tuna melt. But it only works if you use really high-quality tuna. The crew brought this terrible canned tuna. I ended up serving my poor fellow contestants glorified cat food."