hello everyone hope you're having the most fantastic day today welcome to the film
insight channel for today's video we're going to discuss even more hotels featured on hotel
hell and reveal how they're doing now so sit back relax and without further ado let's get
right into the content guys karen townsend i have not given up you're just as bad as she
is if you don't put your foot down and say no hotel hell is a series that has attracted all
manner of sad incompetent weak absurd and sketchy characters running establishments that would have
fared better without them but they sure did give us a lot of entertainment chef gordon ramsay would
tour the country looking for these hapless people to try to give them a helping hand and save their
ailing businesses sometimes it worked out but sometimes the owner would turn out to be a nutty
bizarre passive-aggressive soft-spoken wizard hag we met this particular hag in season three
and it took two whole episodes to get through her shenanigans this episode of hotel hell was filmed
in november 2015. for this episode ramsay traveled to one of america's most celebrated small towns
harper's ferry in west virginia just 60 miles from washington dc there he would stay at townsend and
meet karen townsend the 70 year old innkeeper and resident hag for whom we are unlikely to have many
nice things to say ramsay arrived at the gorgeous hotel and was immediately greeted by karen at
the door where they exchanged pleasantries and appreciated the quaint little town of harpers
little did the unsuspecting chef know that there would be nothing more to appreciate once
he crossed that threshold you will be astounded to know of the goings-on inside the dreadful townsend
in the first couple of minutes the celebrity chef was quickly met with a hoarder's bazaar
a strange assortment of hats that's a pretty special one um why is it so special full of dust
yeah century-old dolls old lady baskets little hats and whatever doodads karen had managed to
accumulate over time littered the parlor karen had come to run the towns in courtesy of her
son jason who together with his wife anna had the brilliant idea to buy her the inn
to keep her busy in her waning years in other words it was karen's retirement home
jason and anna also thought of the inn as an investment but you wouldn't know it by
looking inside Ramsay was not having a great first impression his dismay at finding baskets with dead
cockroaches was met with a quick snarky response as karen replied that they wouldn't charge
extra for that particular basket but there was more strangeness waiting for him in the bedroom
for a hundred and thirty dollars a night he would be staying in a musty old room with a locked
closet and no space for him to put his clothes and you won't believe the stunt karen tried to pull
instead of using the closet that was right there this woman told Ramsay who was there to help her
that he can put all his clothes on a couple of hanging hooks on the door but Ramsay wouldn't
have it he absolutely refused to sleep in a room with a hag's mystery closet of unverified contents
after much protest she opened it and he was met not with a bubbling cauldron but with a hag's
clothes upon looking inside disappointingly there were no potions inside either
inside there was only numerous dusty clothes that she never even wore according to the staff karen
was only ever seen in two outfits denim and beige but it wasn't just the closet she'd invaded there
was a battalion of shoes under the wardrobe and dumped linen under the bed look at all this stuff
karen when confronted straight up told gordon that he didn't need to be under the bed
karen was strange seemingly never at a loss for words and Ramsay was surprisingly gentle
with this one possibly because she was mad having had enough of this hoarder's paradise
Ramsay went to the tiny outdoor eating area where he sat down to the sound of a passing train
blaring its horn in this area he would also see something else of interest
more hoarding at least four fridges and freezers were lined up against the hotel's walls stocked
with food for guests because according to karen there was no space inside inside the fridges
were disintegrating bits of greens too many unnecessary frozen food items and the odd ashtray
karen had hoarded all the space inside and was now extending her claws to the outside of the inn
despite the appalling fridge situation the celebrity chef very bravely ordered some food mac
and cheese some fiesta stew and a trout the meal was unsurprisingly abysmal the stew was five days
old the trout watery and the mac and cheese greasy split in the middle microwaved and unseasoned
ramsay met karen's friend sarah during his meal as she busied herself sticking labels on the meat
and produce in the freezer sarah proceeded to hand Ramsay a card detailing her many talents
which included wikipedia editor an inspirer of loyalty greek teacher artist and solver of
naughty problems dirty sarah whatever her naughty problem-solving prowess may have constituted i
wouldn't be surprised if sarah were to join karen in the senile bin Ramsay's next step was to go to
the kitchen where he found a ramshackle operation run by jeff the cook the kitchen of the towns inn
was a disaster jeff was found to have been making boiled burgers and cooking in an oven that was
last cleaned a year before you're boiling a burger i'm just heating it back up when you say heating
it back up why are you cooking it from fresh not only that but nearly everything that came out
of jeff's kitchen was reheated in a microwave the kitchen had five microwaves and two chefs
but the worst was yet to come you won't believe what the microwave chefs were about to prepare
Ramsay would be absolutely gobsmacked as he cited a rotisserie chicken that looked like it had just
been excavated from the arctic the mummified prehistoric chicken was about to be reheated
in a microwave when Ramsay intercepted it he was incensed so incensed that he
displayed that store-bought frozen mummy of a chicken for all customers to see and called the
kitchen a filthy disgusting place chock full of malpractice right in front of the guests
the outraged Ramsay was in honest shock as he told guests that this outburst wasn't just for the tv
show he was genuinely disturbed by the working standards of the inn and there's nothing to do
with the tv program i promise you now based on the bad practices that's going on in that kitchen
so my apologies but i'm not gonna allow you to eat karen however was still in denial claiming
that the locals liked the inn and blamed the staff for the filth since she delegated the work to them
jeff was not entirely without blame since he could have at least made sure the kitchen and oven were
clean he's the one who allegedly concocted a menu that he couldn't handle but that's all according
to karen who could not be trusted karen was clearly ignorant oblivious and delusional
and chef Ramsay had had enough he retired to his bedroom in exasperation where he was about
to be confronted by something vile one of karen's accidents while upstairs Ramsay's nose twitched
as it sent something awful leaking in the inn he brought out his nifty little gadget that measured
how filthy a place is this viewers was the fiesta resistance of the town's inn you will be astounded
and repulsed at what he found he took swabs of the mats in the communal bathrooms and the
carpet in his bedroom but it was the filth levels in his bedroom carpet that would be the highlight
the exasperated chef stuck the swab from his bedroom carpet into the filth meter and lo
and behold the reading on the filth meter was astonishing anything above 30 would have been a
hygiene hazard what do you think the reading is 100 100 50 50. the reading wasn't 50 60
70 or 100. it was 803. this is how an rbmk reactor explodes sorry wrong show Ramsay was in disbelief
and immediately yelled out for karen and the staff and told them that it smelled like there was crap
on the floor a server called gage replied that it smelled like crap because it probably was crap
you were in the bathroom and i think you had an accident on the floor on the mat i mean
yeah there have been times when i have had diarrhea but it doesn't happen very often
ramsay was stunned as brenda another server revealed that karen had had an accident in
the bathroom when she first started working there karen admitted to having diarrhea on the carpet
but not before attempting to shift the blame onto bikers bicyclists and hikers who would stay
at the inn she even tried dismissing the issue entirely saying that at least the room was clean
this woman was bananas server gage was also at a loss and shouted that she was missing the
point there was poop on the floor for pete's sake perhaps karen thought she could control
reality by denying everything ramsay could have choked on her food and she would have
still given herself a five-star rating at this point was it malice delusion or mental illness
karen further revealed that she worked 16 hours a day 16 hours with nothing to show all this as her
friend sarah waddled about painting childish murals over cracks and chatting up guests
with hack stories townsend was crumbling from the inside and the fecal revelation had ramsay heading
for the exits server cage ran after ramsay like a lover begging him not to go but it was to no avail
however as ramsay was downstairs at the door getting his coat ready karen slithered downstairs
and ramsay was able to see her office bedroom that was usually locked he was surprised to find that
she slept on a board covered in sheets and quilts her bedroom office was the size of a cubicle and
separated from the kitchen by a large wardrobe ramsey was appalled this was no way for a lady to
live let alone a grandmother her room was covered in things she'd hoarded and the tired chef tried
one last time to get to see her reason by having a heart-to-heart conversation with her he would
later talk to karen's absent son this is not normal what's normal in what's normal seriously
and together they would try to rehabilitate the old woman as for the hotel's renovation the inn
was cleaned decluttered and the rooms were given an appropriately updated look karen was not left
out as she received a clothing and hairstyle makeover so she would no longer look like a hag
how the townsend had remained open without being shut down by the authorities all these years
is shocking after the renovation gordon left on a pinky swear and a promise from karen that she
would not go back to her old haggy ways karen if you'd like to say to the scene thank you
and i'm looking forward to moving forward there you go but wait this next part might surprise you
despite townsend remaining open and doing rather well today karen townsend was
disappointed about the hotel hell episode in a 2017 interview karen stated that she was unhappy
with ramsay's intervention which she says focused more on her hag-like habits
than the hotel according to her he was only there for three days and only spoke to her when the
cameras were rolling she further expressed her displeasure that the renovations were
not faithful to the inn's aesthetic and probably cost less than twenty thousand dollars
regarding the menu she added we really tried to do the Ramsay menu that november but it wasn't
working well he didn't train the chefs how to cook his fancy dinners while hotel hell seems a bit
disingenuous karen sounds like a bitter ungrateful hag how is townsend doing today today the townsend
is doing well shockingly enough it has 3.5 stars on yelp 4 stars on tripadvisor and 4.2 on expedia
it even won a 2021 trip advisor travellers choice award guests find it to be a charming homey quaint
little place in a picturesque location it seems popular with hikers and bikers and the guests
who meet karen find her friendly and welcoming even the negative reviews which complain of dust
cobwebs the occasional saggy bed and uneven and underfunded renovations still say the staff are
kind and the inn charming enough to forgive these missteps karen and her son jason have
really turned the place around though karen should learn to be a bit more grateful well that will be
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