This Meridian bar made ‘unfortunate’ history on reality TV. The hangover is brutal, Idaho

Moments after “Bar Rescue” host Jon Taffer struts into the the Hideaway Bar & Grill, viewers get a distinct feeling that things might not end well.

“This is the worst-designed bar that I’ve ever seen in my life,” he informs the owner, who opened it in 2017 in Meridian.

“It’s a joke!” Taffer rants, voice rising. “Rookie as it gets!”

“There is nothing right about this bar!” he shouts as amused customers sip beers. “Nothing! Then you come in here — the food sucks! The drinks suck!”

The show sucks!

(Oops, sorry, that was me.)

Hands on hips, the owner listens helplessly to everything that’s supposedly wrong about the sports bar and restaurant he built at 1510 S. Celebration Ave. for about $1.7 million.

It goes downhill from there.

Aired Sunday on Paramount, this is must-see TV for Idahoans — if you’re entertained by raw humiliation. Assuming that nationwide embarrassment is your drink of choice, feel free to chase down this debacle. It’s available via VOD, streaming or reruns on Paramount.

As phony and staged as everything seems — the case for many “reality”-based shows — this episode still feels authentically cringey.

For the Gem State. For freakin’ humanity.

Launched in 2011, “Bar Rescue” has a simple premise. Taffer, an industry expert, visits struggling businesses and tries to help them turn things around.

This Meridian misadventure, “Hideaway from Reality,” is crammed with melodrama. Maybe it’s 100% manufactured. Maybe some of it’s not. Either way, a bar truly must be desperate to subject itself to this. Not to mention the remote possibility of this particular show’s ending.

Spoiler alert: When all is said and done — not much, except for relentless bullying by Taffer — the Hideaway has made “Bar Rescue” history. Taffer is so displeased with the owner and staff members that he does something that’s only happened twice before in 240 episodes, he claims.

Nothing.

He takes his production crew and leaves. Without doing jack.

The party basically ends before it started.

(A website that cares about these things says Taffer’s actually done that three times before. Still, way to go, Idaho! We’ve joined an elite group on the “Bar Rescue” wall of shame!)

“It’s really unfortunate,” Taffer says, before exiting in the rear of a black SUV. “I came here to rescue a bar.”

What’s unfortunate is realizing that you’ve wasted 40 minutes of your life on this nothingburger of an entertainment experience. It’s enough to drive a person to drink.

Posting has been disabled temporarily on the Hideaway’s Yelp page because of “unusual activity.” (Its Yelp rating, by the way? Two stars.) But before you put the Hideaway on your permanent “avoid” list, know this. Reality-TV filming tends to occur well in advance. Businesses evolve. A blog post from radio station 107.9 Lite FM says Hideaway ownership recently changed. Whatever the case, the large, modern building is listed for sale on LoopNet for a whopping $2.75 million.

If you live in Idaho, just be thankful that this mortifying fiasco wasn’t filmed in our capital city.

And if you watch the show? Take an extra aspirin or two.

This hangover’s gonna hurt.