Logo

The owner of New York’s Uncle Jack’s Steakhouse chain is getting his own reality show.

Cable channel TruTV is expected to announce tomorrow that Willie Degel — the tough-guy restaurateur from Queens — will star in a new series about the ins and out of running three old-school steak places in the city better known for raised-pinkie cuisine.

Crain’s New York, the business magazine that named Degel one of the city’s 40-under-40 entrepreneurs to watch in 2005, broke the news on its Web site over the weekend.

The series is produced by the same people who created “Extreme Makeover: Home Edition.”

The working title for the series is “Willie’s World,” though “Jacked Up” and “Willionaire” are also said to be in the running.

No debut has been set yet.

The son of a former longshoreman, Degel opened the first “UJ” in Bayside, Queens nearly 20 years ago.

A hard-driving perfectionist, the restaurant owner has spread out in recent years with two more places — one in midtown and another on the far Westside.

“I’m going to make the show about the business,” he told the magazine. “They are not going to come to my house and film my family.”

Comments
anonymous profile image
Powered by RoundtableBuilt on infrastructure designed for real-time media. Learn more at RTB.io.© Roundtable 2026. By using this site you agree to the Terms of Use and Privacy Policy