When top chef Raymond Blanc opened his frist restaurant in Ixford he had to remortgage his home. The winners of his TV show will be spared such problems, he tells Steve Pratt.

Chef and restaurateur Raymond Blanc broke a promise he'd made to himself by agreeing to front BBC2's new series, The Restaurant. "I said I would never do a reality TV programme," he explains.

"I am a person first and foremost, I want to inspire and create, to believe in people, not bully, humiliate and crush them. But as soon as I saw that the series concept shared my values, I agreed to this wonderful opportunity. So never say never.

"I feel I could have written this programme myself because for eight years I had a scholarship at Le Manoir aux Quat' Saisons which offered talented young people, who like me had received no formal professional training, a chance to realise their dream of owning their own restaurant."

He was so convinced by the programme idea that he put up a six-figure sum of his own money, as well as committing his time to the project and placing his reputation on the line.

In The Restaurant, he puts nine couples through their paces to see if they've got what it takes to run their own restaurant. The odds are against them - more than 1,000 new restaurants open every year in Britain and around half of them close within two years.

Some couples in the show have little or no experience other than cooking at home and throwing dinner parties. Each of the couples takes over an empty restaurant, makes it their own and opens the doors to the paying public. "It's a life-changing decision to take part in this programme. It's not just a game. They're making many sacrifices without even knowing if they're going to win," says Blanc.

"Thousands of young people dream of owning their own restaurant, a few manage to save enough money to do it, and even fewer succeed. On top of winning a share in a business with me, what they'll gain is my experience, my team's experience and myself guiding and supporting them.

"The series will make fascinating viewing for all the right reasons. I'd like any aspiring restaurateur to realise that the business, however demanding it might be, can also be incredibly rewarding.

"It doesn't, by necessity, involve unbridled masochism and egotism. For me, true creativity cannot flourish in that sort of environment. I want to see joy not just pain."

He doesn't underestimate the difficulties the nine couples are facing. Owning a restaurant may look really sexy, but that image is deceptive and very different to the real world. The first lesson is to balance your ideas with the reality, he says. "If your head is in the clouds, your dream could easily crash down and become a nightmare, and you will become one of the statistics.

"My second piece of advice is to learn all the facets of this amazing world which means understanding your customers, becoming a good businessman and a good communicator, marketeer and trainer - turning your restaurant into an experience and, of course, learning how to be the perfect host.

"On top of that you need a good-natured philosphy on life to deal with the problems that arise out of these huge challenges, together with plenty of energy and stamina to deal with all the pitfalls you will encounter. It's a constant balancing act."

Blanc, son of a working class family from Besancon near Dijon, started his career in England as a waiter at the Rose Revived Restaurant. When the chef was taken ill one day, he took over.

He understands the challenges facing the participants in the series. In 1977, he risked his savings to start his own restaurant, Les Quat' Saisons in Oxford, alongside his first wife Jenny.

They put together their savings and remortgaged their house to raise the cash. "That's how most young people start their business, risking everything in order to achieve their dream," he says.

"Our restaurant was a humble little place on the wrong side of the city on the wrong side of the road within a dreary concrete shopping precinct. We bought second-hand equipment, decorated the restaurant with simple red and white tablecloths and cheap prints of Paris on the walls. Cheap maybe, but charming and endearing too - and so, so very French."

The kitchen presented another challenge. When they arrived it was inhabited by a huge family of rats. The walls were covered in grease and solidified black tar with broken tiles. "My kitchen was nine square metres of windowless misery," says Blanc.

"It was covered by a corrugated roof, and no insulation meant freezing temperatures in winter and, of course, boiling temperatures during the summer. I also inherited a one-legged, four-ring gas oven, covered with chipped enamel and no bottom."

All that was put right with Les Quat' Saisons winning him Egon Ronay restaurant of the year, prestigious Michelin stars and many other distinctions.

Now relocated to a small country house in Great Milton and renamed Le Manoir aux Quat' Saisons, the hotel and restaurant is thriving, along with his chain of Brasseries Blanc restaurants and a cookery school.

He sees his job in the series as "to inspire people, to give them the tools to succeed, to support them, as well as being tough with them when I need to be. Talent is never enough to carry you."

* The Restaurant is on BBC2 on Wednesday and Thursday at 8pm.