Trading Spaces Is Bringing Back All the Original Designers You Were Hoping for — and Some Intriguing New Faces

Hildi looks haggard.

I'm surprised Ty is coming back. He was a huge deal for a year or two. He must need the money. Even though I'm horrified Hildi is coming back, I'm glad they're bringing back the old cast. It's a good move on TLC's part.

There's video elsewhere. Ty looks like he's spent all of the last ten years in the sun.

It'll be like those Brady Bunch reunion specials.

Hildy was the worst.

No big talents there but it was fun seeing them destroy homes and bring the owners to tears !

Dear God let them get more than a $2,000 budget which was inadequate 15 years ago.

I FUCKING LOATHE, ANNOYING Paige Davise, down to her IMPOSSIBLY, TACKY, Target clothes. Maybe she'll have a stylist this time.

In the video at the link, Ty and Doug look like they've been doing low-grade crank together every day for the last 10 years.

Carter still looks hot and has barely aged.

John Gidding ♥️

God, l hated that show

Everything was cringe including the host

Is this the one that started out as a spinoff off the UK hit Changing Rooms?

They need to bring back Justin Brown from In A Fix, preferably shirtless :D

Doug and Hildi look a little rough, to say the least. Ty looks pretty much the same, and Carter looks beautiful, as always.

I wouldn't have done it if they asked me.

Which they didn't.

Fuck 'em.

No Edward Walker and his pillahs? No Kia Steave-Dickerson armed with wallpaper border?

Frank and his down-home country kitsch, Lord help us.....

No room for me?

Hildi will need to check her uglier instincts. This is 2017, and bitches are liable to get physical instead of burst into tears.

Doug looks frail.

Doug looks like he crawled into a bottle and is quite happy there. Is he still a raging heterosexual?

That video of all of the "big stars" cost all of ten cents to produce. Not a good indicator of a well-produced show. I guess TLC doesn't care.

Will they address Ty's drug issues?

Is Page still aggressively cheerful? Seems so.

Ty Pennington is gay, right? I can't remember if there was any confirmation, but I thought that was the consensus.

I can't wait. Does anyone remember when Natalie Maines from the Dixie Chicks was on. They purposely gave her Vern. Can u imagine if Hildi redid her room.

He's never sucked my cock

Joanie who was runner up on ANTM is going to be on the show as a carpenter. She said on ANTM that she was a former stripper.

Does anyone remember the episode late in the run where Hildi ruined an African American couple's kitchen. She tried to get the neighbors to do an entire wall of sunflower seed packets. They did it but took it down during the night and then miraculously, Doug was switched as the designer in the morning. During the reveal, one of the homeowners almost went ghetto on Hildi and she looked terrified. It was glorious.

Hildi and Doug....ugh. Who in their right mind would let them anywhere near their homes?

Umm... interesting. I wasn't aware hey we're bringing this back.

Oh, hello Alex @ R27!

Duh? Whuh?

R28 I think Amy is still at the Home Depot.

Doug and Hildi were TV magic. And as fucked up as Hildi's rooms often were - at least she did something original with that pathetic budget. I can't imagine anyone wanting to live in most of her rooms however. Doug was usually very talented, but he was just a pushy, bitchy, entitled queen. He had a good sense of style - the budget was just crippling. When either of those two were used, I knew that I was going to love the episode and inevitably that reveal. THAT was why we watched the show folks - the drama and the tears! The designer who horrified me the most was Frank (the very straight, married to a woman, huge, queeny polar bear). His country kitsch and sponge painted stenciled explosion everywhere is my personal version of decorating HELL. I would take Hildi any day over him. Surprisingly, the poor, trashy home owners always seemed to like the horrid country vommit that he created - and usually with a putrid color range from the early eighties with some horrid clashing colors mixed in for good measure. When in doubt, use multi-colored duck stencils in lieu of molding! Yes, Ty looks like a HUGE meth head - but he always did have that appeal(??).

Anyone remember Doug's black room of levels? No furniture, just levels, like sitting on a long stair?

Alex McLeod was the Queen of Vocal Fry in 2000 long before the Millennials and Under decided it was their Group Speak.

My husband and I met Ty when he was signing copies of his first book at J.R.'s, a gay bar in Dallas. The place was PACKED with so many guys wanting to see hot Ty, who was super-drunk.

He seemed really gay. While signing our copy of his book, Drunk Ty said that he hated Paige Davis and much preferred Alex McLeod! As did we!

I know I am in the minority but I absolutely loved Hildi. She always made for an entertaining episode. I could never tell if she had that little self-awareness or was in on the joke. By season 2 if you signed up you knew what you were in for, so I felt no pity for the home owners.

I definitely preferred the aesthetics of Vern or Laurie, but would have loved to work with Hildi, she seems like a hoot.

I think my favorite to work with would be Laurie. She's like Designing Women come to life, and seemed to like working with the homeowners as much as they liked working with her.

One episode she worked with a gay couple in LA, and she was bringing them donuts and coffee and giving them air kisses. I hope they stayed in touch after the show.

Laurie was great also - she did quite a few great rooms. Surprisingly, the home owners were about 50/50 with her work. Many did not care for her style. Vern was perhaps the most loved in the reveals (at least from my memory) and I liked his bland, contemporary style and liked him for a short time. Things that perturbed me were 1) he is clearly closeted and talked about being so hetero and nothing but beautiful women that he loves from the 70's and 80's and 2) he was a major asshole on that Design Star show on HGTV years after. His nice guy image was forever debunked after that reality series. His work was OK but never better. His work was often liked however. Doug was always onto something spectacular....if only he had the means in the pathetic budget to complete it... Hildi was just the most kooky, likable, beautiful designer and she was quite the artist - her rooms made you think and always garnered a reaction for sure (usually negative LOL). Genevieve also had some hits for me (I liked her Asian meets 2000's contemporary back in the day), but home owners usually hated her work. I'm not talking a Hildi level of hate, but she rarely had a hit.

AND Alex McLeod was by FAR the best host!! Why on earth did she leave after season 1? She was lovely, smart and adorable. Paige was OK, but never the classy Alex.

R7, their budget was $1000. It really needs to be at least $2000 for the new season.

R38 - Precisely. I think that Doug and Hildi in particular could have given a whole different sort of wow had they had a budget to realize their more artistic visions. Frank just sponge painted, stenciled and hung cheap Xmas lights so he was actually a good fit for the $1000 budget if you loved country, crafty, dolls-in-a-rocking-chair, frumpy heart and duck carved out shelves decor. The more "designer" decorators wanted to perform a grand change - but very little could be done to realize a vision for that budget and time frame. They often fell short of the mark for that reason. The last light fixture that I purchased was $1700 if that gives a comparison (It was clearance at that price). It is in the dining room and consists of a really intricate set of ivory silk shades that interlock in an "artichoke" like fashion. But that is ONE part of a room. $1000 gets you nowhere for an entire room makeover... Ikea and thrift stores help - but you still need the time to even source those things.

Anyone who glues hay to a wall is there for shock value.

R40 - Agreed, but $1000 to redecorate an ENTIRE ROOM???? She was trying to get creative and it backfired.

Bullshit. No one does something like that to be creative, especially when those dykes had small children and the hay posed a serious risk.

It was a fail for sure. I would not have been happy to come home to that LOL.

Oh brother. Everyone has really run out of ideas. I'll skip it.

She could have troweled hay-like streaks into Venetian plaster or something. Perhaps that was over-budget. Doug did a bedroom with a huge upholstered wall right behind the bed with a desk/closet/storage behind it and I at 16 yoa thought that it was the coolest thing that I had ever seen. I wanted one. I think that was what started me watching the show in the first place. It was all grey.

Whatever aside, who would NOT want Hildi as a guest at your cocktail party?? Be serious - she was cool as fuck.

Remember when she said the dining room needed more space so she nailed the table and chairs TO THE CEILING.

R47 - HAHAHAHAHAHA - that was epic! She was hilarious....at the trashy owner's expense. But epic anyway. LOL

Pretty sure that lesbian couple sued the show after that debacle. Which is totally understandable. Kooky is one thing, health risks another.

What were the health risks? Allergies? Or dumb kids eating hay?

Hildi was always a crapshoot, she could do nice rooms if she felt like it, but her bad rooms were astoundingly bad. I remember her doing a living room in some double decker outside of Boston, where she painted the walls a steel gray, with lots of white trim and pale yellow drapes, it looked really good. You never knew which Hildi was going to show up which week, which is good TV, I guess.

R51 - you nailed it. I do remember some really good rooms from Hildi but so many were too abstract and just ended up a train-wreck. Her artist intentions were often there, but the follow through was iffy. Again, $1000 budget - please. The time she tried to spray that shitty sofa hot pink for one. You just knew where that was headed. The show had to buy them some cheap Ikea thing due to the mishap.

I used to love this show. I remember laying in bed on Saturday mornings in 2002 watching the re-runs. I had breakfast and coffee in bed while watching. I miss those days.

What a great show. Glad to see it return.

has this aired? Are the carpenters gay? I always thought Ty pinged.

Hard to say about Ty. He never pinged for me, but he was cute in a sunburnt, meth-head, witty sort of way. Carter pinged more for me - but he is likely straight too. I really miss Mikey Verdugo (HGTV Design Star) who was getting a woody when around Carter on his reality series. Police officer Mikey was hotter than fuck (and he did at least one former gay porn as a young teen) and I would love to see him join the cast as a designer for the new Trading Spaces. I serious doubt that would happen, but I can wish anyway.

Vern owns an apt in in nyc, a small one. on the upper west side.

I see Doug is still a feets queen.

Faber Dewar, one of the carpenters toward the end of the first run, was pretty hot.

I'm dying to know what disparaging remarks were made by Frank, clearly the worst of the core group of designers who was on the entire series.

For me, Gen was the second worst...she was too hippy dippy much of the time.

Doug and Hildy could produce beautiful rooms when they weren't on the artist/designer rag.

Vern was fine, just predictable and boring.

Laurie was probably the one I could feel comfortable with in my house.

[quote]What were the health risks? Allergies? Or dumb kids eating hay?

Mold. Hay mold is actually really toxic to humans.

Laurie has that classic Southern design sense: tasteful but not stuffy. I always got a kick out of her hatred of ceiling fans.

[quote]I used to love this show. I remember laying in bed on Saturday mornings in 2002 watching the re-runs. I had breakfast and coffee in bed while watching. I miss those days.

This re-boot makes me nostalgic too. I had a bunch of friends that I'd go out with on a Fri or Sat night, and we'd all take a taxi back to someone's apartment to sleep over, then watch Trading Spaces the next morning -slightly hung over - while lazing around and chowing down breakfast. But now we're all in different cities, with responsibilities (kids, parents, businesses, etc.).

Sometimes growing up sucks!

Doug is the Lucian Piane of the show, can't stand his arrogant and delusional ass. Hildy was good TV but not a good person. Staged and unreal as reality TV is, she was aggressive in her desire to disappoint people, cost them money and time and a lot of hard work. Gen is not so very talented but was a nice presence, sexy. Vern is a sure thing but it's very ikea with one luxe item. He has predictable good taste. Frank was born under a popcorn ceiling and his aesthetic satisfied a lot of people if I recall. (even poor people are more savvy now) Laurie was the perfect combo of sweet and inventive and funny, but really talented and caring. She's the only one I'd want to spend a weekend with. Hell yes Ty was TVs most prominent meth head. He is free of that now but not so sure about his drinking. Ty and Carter are both straight. Carter was pretty though. Now, meh.

I ain't in college anymore. I can't watch this show again. It was quite addictive I recall.

I hated Frank, his shit was boring.

I agree, Vern is boring.

You can't really do much with 1000, hope they increase the budget. I might tune in for 1 episode for old time's sake.

I think I saw ty once in Walgreens, and he checked me out, or it was someone who looked a lot like him

Alex was fired from the show. I don't remember the exact reasons it has been so long. I do vaguely remember a story that she got her panties in a twist over something or other and walked off the set.. No one was sure if she would come back and things were getting down to the wire and they were preppIng Amy Wynn to do the reveal because they were running out of time.

Alex is from Texas and her single season is far better than all of the Paige Davis shit.

I hated when Doug tried to pretend to be straight, but there was one episode where he was clearly infatuated with the husband he was working with.

Ty was hot! Still is!

My ex used to love this show and we would have to watch it all the time. I will tune in to see if its the same, but i doubt ill be glued to the set.

Doug Wilson can eat my shit!

I loved when one of the husband's called the room that was designed for his and his wife: "whore's palace"

Or was that on Changing Rooms?

I really preferred Changing Rooms.

I think it was "tart's boudoir" - so obviously Changing Rooms.

Couldn't stand Ty when he was on that sob story home renovation show that was on in the mid-2000s. He was manic and high on some substance but his antics were presented as "isn't he just adorable"

Ah yes!! How could I forget?

Tart's boudoir. You are so right, r72!

I hope David Lynch is brought in to direct this reboot. I badly need 18 hours of Lynch-directed Trading Spaces.

Did Doug ever come out of the closet?

On that topic - did Vern ever come out?

Years ago. He and his husband have two kids.

Was Vern ever "in"?

Frank's wife is such a lucky woman. She's got herself a real man!

Mad TV did a great job capturing Frank's rugged heterosexuality!

Who was the designer with the long ponytail?

Also, if anyone remembers While You Were Out, they had a pretty hot carpenter who had a really visible coke problem. WHET to him?

Jason Cameron did not have a visible coke problem.

Evan Farmer seemed coked out all the time, though, as host.

Bah, R25. Vern Yip had some taste. I'd love him to do a room for me. The rest were silly hacks.

No, it was someone named Dan Jumbo or something. Maybe I'm thinking of the wrong show.

Barry Wood was cute.

[quote]Who was the designer with the long ponytail?

Edward "Pillahs" Walker

LOL at Mad TV @ R80. They nailed Perky Paige too.

Andrew Dan-Jumbo was on While You Were Out and Trading Spaces occasionally.

I used to catch some decorating show on the old BBC America that featured two adorable Scots men, both gay as could be. I really miss the old BBCA. It really sucks today. Endless reruns of STNG and Doctor Who.

The gay Scots men are a couple who live in Toronto. The attractive one tried to pick me up mid day. He was in full leather. They had a lot more than $1,000 to work with on their make over show. A lot more. They were pretty funny guys - so so so GAY.

The MadTV skit missed on Vern though. He never would have designed that room. Really nailed the Frank design.

That clip at r80 just reinforces that SNL should've snapped up Debra Wilson in her prime. She'd be remembered as one of the best cast members ever.

Frank was as hard to look at as his "designs".

I assumed all the guys were gay on the show esp Frank!

r94, he is NOT!

Oh, God. Are they still going to glue hay and paper cups to people's walls and ceilings and dumb six tons of sand in their living rooms? That show was fun for a season and then it became demented.

Laurie is the only one I would let touch my home. Possibly Vern.

I like Genevieve. Are her designs horrible? I don't remember them. I just remember she seemed huggly.

Laurie had such frau taste, but she was better than Frank.

How many ruined lives--er, how many episodes will the reboot be?

The Best of the Worst!

R101 That show was fucked up. They took such glee in people's misery.

I loved laughing at the trembling-in-anger Fraus who cried while their husbands didn't give a shit, as they were just happy to get back to the beer and Internet porn.

The lesbian couple whose walls were covered in straw should have sued Hildy for a hate crime.

[quote]Anyone who glues hay to a wall is there for shock value.

She did a glue an feather wall too once. and the hay wasn't glued flat to the wall, there were pieces sticking out so you could put and eye out.

She also covered the walls in fake flowers in a bathroom once. Can you imagine the mixture of dust, mildew, and mold that nightmare would eventually create? And then thousands upon thousands of tiny staple holes to face when you went to tear it down. She was amazing.

R57 thinks all Asians look alike.

Amazing is one way to put it....I thought Hildy was an asshole. I am a pretty wild and creative guy but she seemed like a misanthropic stunt queen. She did the equivalent of student work even though she was so continental? Have a look at her now...the struggle is real.

Hildy was "amazing" only in her eagerness to be an early reality TV villain. When Trading Spaces became an angry Russian roulette makeover show, TLC became basic cable trash and took Discovery Communications properties with it. There was a time when Discovery was an internationally respected National Geographic type property.

Hildi and Doug understood their role on a television show. Both have portfolios to use for real projects. Don't be so gullible. Making Pam cry over a fireplace surround was compelling TV

"Page Davis has signed . . . "

Does this mean the merciless YouTube posters will revive home videos of Page's shaving her areas in the shower, totally nude, singing, "I Fee Pretty"?

(Back in the day, this was rumored to have contributed to TLC's decision to abruptly fire her.)

I didn't know Paige Davis was fired from the show. Who did they get to replace her?

R112, Kelly Osbourne.

Vern always had to put up some sort of fixture and/or sconces that required lighting dozens of candles. It made for a good picture on TV but can you imagine having to spend 5 minutes going around the room with a box of matches to "turn on the lights" every day?

Laurie and her hatred of ceiling fans was so bizarre considering she was born and raised in the South. What sense does it make to take it down in a place that is soupy enough to have had one put up in the first place? Otherwise, hers were the best outcomes if you wanted something that looked put together.

Frank's best/worst thing was the time he painted a couple's child as a mural on the wall. She was peeking from behind some piece of furniture as if she was "on watch" forevermore. Nightmares!

The worst by far was Kia, who used wallpaper in almost every design. And her worst room ever involved fake indoor/outdoor grass and a picket fence surrounding the bed. You know, so you could fall and impale yourself in the middle of the night. She said it was supposed to be a garden (there was a swing involved), but it looked like a graveyard.

R114 That's worse than Hildy's dumping of a beach in the middle of a living room with walls and doors painted to look like a circus tent?

Paige left in 2005 and they did a host-less version for a few seasons. She came back the final year it was in production after the ratings had tanked. By that point, the craze for the show had passed.

Bring back Alex McLeod!

Faber was really hot, too, but not as hot as Ty.

Didn't some of the "While You Were Out" talent work sometime on "Trading Spaces", and not just Andrew Dan Wham Bam Jumbo?

I miss Evan Farmer.

R117 Here ya go.

I forgot! Faber was at a Home Show in Dallas in the Early 2000s in the height of "Trading Spaces" mania. I went with my husband, and we watched Faber dealing with those crazy Fraus. No wonder he was drinking beer.

But the hottest guy there that say was the original host of "Curb Appeal", but I can't even find his name online!

Thanks, R118, but Evan looks like a Sad Old Gay now with that grey beard and gay hair.

R120 He's a sad old gay because he aged? There's no hope for our kind.

The beard and the gay hair are ridiculous.

There is no hope for our kind of we are all Sad Old Gay Clones (and Evan is supposedly straight).

[quote] I'm surprised Ty is coming back. He was a huge deal for a year or two. He must need the money

He definitely needs the money. The last time I saw him he was shilling reverse mortgages or some other type of scam bullshit

I remember Frank's PR person had to issue a pissed off press release to 'straighten out' all the rumors about his heterosexuality.

There were rumors that Frank was heterosexual?!? Hilarious!

Frank has a wife and they owned and operated a store for years called Mosey 'n Me that sold arts & crafts stuff. He started his career as a teacher, and then was a florist for two decades. My friends and I used to always joke that Frank would someday say "Paige, if you don't behave, I'm gonna bend you over that couch and eat your pussy!"

Hildi was never a designer. She certainly didn't come up with that stuff on her own. She moved to Paris after TS and became a florist, which obviously isn't lucrative since she's back doing TS.

Vern has a place in NYC, it was featured in a local program. It's small and crammed with too much shit.

Vern also has a place in Georgia that he re-did on a series, on I think HGTV. It isn't like his TS aesthetic at all, which was minimalist. This is overly fussy and I'd never suspect it was Vern's

Hildi peaked early in the series run for me, but then her narcisim took over as the show progressed. All of her room makeovers were eventually about pushing some envelope instead of making a liveable space for the homeowners. She also thinks she's hot shit, but she's really a buttaface.

Doug was a bit of joke too, for many of the same reasons as Hildi. I remember he always wanted to do this "Venetian stucco" technique in every room. I love how both of them got pranked during some fake episode where the homeowners were improv actors who tortured them. They were the perfect pair of designers for that. I thought he was out, but I think he dated Stacy London.

Genevieve Gorder was always one of my favorites. She was one of the first spokespeople for FLOR tiles and I remember she used them on the show. I really liked one episode where she redecorated an apartment with hardwood floors that were ruined because they had permanent dog urine stains. She re-painted them matte black and it looked totally fucking hot.

Vern was the only one with a modicum of class. I guess that made sense, given he's a formally trained archtiect. I also admired his insistence on spending the entire budget on a room, meanwhile Frank was happy just spending $300 (on a $1K budget)!

And of course, Frank was a colossal closet case. I wonder if he's finally out now, but I know he does (or did) have a wife and kid.

I notice Laurie gets a lot of love here, but I thought her designs were snoozeville. I rolled my eyes when I saw she tried to create a Mondrian by slapping painter's tape on a canvas. As if that were an authentic technique... She had a hot husband though.

Amy Wynn was one of my favorites. She lost her shit on Hildi once on camera and I loved her for that.

Goddamn, Evan Farmer got OLD in just 11 years.....

[quote] I love how both of them got pranked during some fake episode where the homeowners were improv actors who tortured them.

I'd love to see that. Do you have a link?

I wish Amy was coming back. She was my favourite carpenter on the show. I could do without Ty.

you can see vern's apt here. too much furniture. and they are too big for the tiny space.

I don't think there's much hope for this revival unless they up the budget. No one wants to see a sofa made from an old twin mattress and drapes made from sheets any more. Give them 5 k an episode and do some quality work.

Wow, Vern got old. I haven't seen him since he left "Trading Spaces." And 800 square feet is not tiny for a New York apartment. Friends are jealous of my 500 square feet setup.

R135, yes but he has too much stuff in it and makes it really small and hard to move around in.

R131 I can't find any video of it, but here's a record of the episode.

Doug was paired with some fake mother/son team. The mother pretended to have the hots for Doug, and the son acted like he was totally uncomfortable with his mom's overtures. Doug was amused by the whole thing, of course, and flirted back.

This team also insisted on using some taxidermied pug in the room makeover. When the neighbors saw it in the reveal, the husband "confessed" that it was actually their old pet that he killed.

I remember Hildi's homeowners did some schtick where they re-painted the entire room pink overnight. Naturally, she flipped the fuck out when she returned in the AM.

The episode featured a lot of surreptitiously BTS shot footage of Doug and Hildi reacting to the "wackiness" of these homeowners. Hildi was having a panic attack about her room being re-painted, and Doug was kiki'ing with some gay producer about the slutty mom.

The whole production was in on the joke except for Hildi and Doug. Glad they got their comeuppance...

Remember Doug in his leather pants and flip flops?

The episode where the couple told Hildi not to do anything to their beloved mantlepiece and then she covered it (and let them think she had destroyed it) was one of the most brilliant pieces of TV I've ever seen. The lady in the couple was actually crying as she left the room.

R131/R137, that episode is featured on "The Specials" DVD. Hildi was pretty cool throughout the whole thing but Doug had to leave the room at one point because he was pissed at the fake homeowners.

It also features an episode where the homeowners are given a HUGE budget (50k or 100k - I forget). In that episode all of the designers were featured and the homeowners alternated at choosing each team member (like choosing sides at softball in grade school). The ones picked last, including Frank, were not too pleased. Surprisingly, Doug and Hildi were among the first ones picked. Doug behaves like a bitch at one point and gets into an argument with one of the homeowners .

I know I posted this in another thread about TS, but I knew a couple who had signed on to have their house redone. (IIRC, you had to contact the show, explain which rooms you would like done along with photos and, if preliminarily selected, a production team along with a designer would come out, have a look around and then determine if you and your room(s) were a fit for the show.) The couple were chosen for a run-through and Doug was the designer. According to my friends, he actually had a very beautiful portfolio of work but asked (paraphrasing a little), "How much are you willing to let me do?). He also flirted big time with my married male friend. In the end though, they weren't chosen to appear on camera, due to some logistical issues.

I loved both Doug and Hildi and they are the only two "designers" that I would allow into my house. Maybe Vern...

I'd let anyone but Frank or Kia in my house. Well, I'd gab with Frank over coffee but he wouldn't be allowed near my sponges

As the seasons went on, the show was not about home decorating; it became a Russian roulette that people watched to find out what horrible misanthrope would ruin someone's home, what they'd use to ruin it, whether the neighbors would be complicit or refuse to participate, and the big reveal of tears and rage. It was the beginning of really dark reality television that lavished in witnessing people's misery. After a season following that transformation, viewers watched without much guilt because we knew that the people who agreed to be on the show knew they were playing Russian roulette and deserved what they got. It's kind of incredible that a home makeover show could become such a pivotal influence in making a culture cynical.

I agree. Because of the train wreck concept, the time has come and gone. I am surprised so many signed back on but I think TV stardom is like crack. Like all projects that try to recapture past glory, this one will leave without being noticed.

R144, that's a very good analysis. Sad but true.

Reality TV already existed in full force by that point. It was perhaps an early pioneer in the latest explosion but was nonetheless not a real ground-breaker. It was one of the first home renovation shows that introduced game show elements. Of course, the producers did eventually adopt some of the more unsavory characteristics of other reality shows by manufacturing drama, but the whole genre is built around that to a degree. Crying Pam created a buzz like no other at the time and the fact that people still talk about her to this day is testament to what the public really wants to see.

And can we talk about what a cunt she was? When her friends at the end say they knew she wouldn't like it, she chokes out a "well why didn't you stop it?" that told you all you needed to know about how that relationship was going to go from there on out. What a bitch!

Faber was the sexiest carpenter on TS. Bring him back and I'm in!

HGTV had a show called "Designing for the Sexes" that was a complete fraud. The concept was that a designer consulted with a husband and wife who had very different tastes and came up with a room design that satisfied both.

An actor friend of mine (who's gay) posed as a husband with a girlfriend of his. The show took them to a house in the Hollywood hills that they'd never seen before and they had to act like they'd just bought it and had wildly different ideas about what to do with it. The production removed all the existing furniture from the room and my friend and his girlfriend were told what to say about their preferences. At the end they just moved all the furniture back and had the big "reveal," which they oohed and aahed over. They never met the actual homeowner.

R149 All of reality TV is fake. All of it.

I can't say I'm looking forward to this. Given how "reality" TV has evolved since the show originally aired, it's obvious the new episodes are going to be entirely staged and faked and scripted.

This show was novel for about 2 years-then it was a big snooze. Everyone I know liked at first for its novelty, then just stopped watching it. I am very surprised they are bringing it back.

The biggest problem was the lack of $$$ for a real makeover

R153, and all the MDF they used in the crap DIY furniture and wall installations.

"While You Were Out" did better rooms.

And Evan Farmer was hotter than anyone on TS.

Last I heard of Genevieve (several years ago now), she was dating one of those hot "Kitchen Cousins" who briefly had a home reno show of their own. They were BY FAR the sexiest men ever to appear on one of these kinds of shows, but by the time their show aired, the whole genre seemed rather tired and passe and they didn't last.

Or was there another reason?

Is Gen is still with him (whatever his name was.....sorry!)?? Or have the Cousins resurfaced somewhere on TV and I'm just not aware?

Changing Rooms in the UK was the very first of these reality TV competition shows ever. Or was Survivor the very first?

R149 I knew these shows were staged, i.e. House hunters they already have bought a house and go look at others that may or may not even be for sale. But your story takes the cake. Love it or list it is another example of super-fake. Fixer upper seems relatively legit. I'm guessing that the people have also already bought the house but at least Chip and Joanna live in the town. Anyone have any inside dish on that show?

R156

The Cousins have a podcast now—as far as I know, they haven't been on TV since they were sued by a homeowner for doing shoddy work and subsequently filed for bankruptcy.

Based on Anthony's Instagram, he's had a new girlfriend for a while now.

Anthony and John still seem really, really gay to me, BTW. Here, they could pass as a daddy–boy couple in P-Town.

R149, you made me think of the queeny host, Michael Payne, who is married to a woman.

R161, I didn't think Payne was queeny but he's British and that can be confusing.

Does Ty still have his own line of paints and stuff?

More, more, MORE on those Carrino Bros!!!

The kitchen cousins were on the insufferable Rachael Ray show for her season opener. I had to watch it because it was on at the salon. My lord Rachael is up about 40 pounds since I last saw her.

[quote]My lord Rachael is up about 40 pounds since I last saw her.

Big as a house...

Look at those rosy cheeks

[quote]Look at those Rosie cheeks

FIFY

The reboot premieres tonight.

The hay glued to the walls episode is on right now

.

New episode is on.

Hildi and Doug are the designers, while Ty Methington and Carter the Sexiest Sex Pest are the carpenters.

Doug, right out of the gate with shit brown ceiling....ugh.

The sexy carpenter who forced his makeup girl to suck him off and take his load on her face dozens of time is back?

I’m conflicted.

A friend whose neighbors did TS years ago told me that the production hires immigrant laborers to do all the actual construction and then they swap out Carter et al for little recorded spots. She was very disappointed at the fakeness of it all. I guess Carter was probably in his trailer forcing his cock down the makeup lady’s throat while the brown people were building shit he gets credit for.

Hildi gluing wine labels to a kitchen for a family that abstained from alcohol.

Doug making a bedroom into a prison scene. He wanted to have toilets in the bedroom (supporting a bench). I think he also sawed an antique 4-post bed.

Someone turning a playroom into a circus tent.

Only Barry Wood, Carter and Faber are welcome in my bedroom.

Hildy is a major cunt. One of the nastiest things she ever did was to a couple who were very religious and did not have alcohol in their house. Hildy had mentioned putting up empty wine bottles as part of the decor and they asked that she not do that as they were non drinkers due to their religion. They seemed like nice people and were not arrogant about it, just requested that she bypass it. Of course, she had to go ahead and do it anyway and at the reveal they were uncomfortable and embarrassed but did not rant or rave about that detail. Even though I don't think like this couple, I still felt their feelings should have been respected.

ill be watching!

So how did it go?

Did Hildi gotta Hildi?

I enjoyed seeing King Bed Ty go up against Queen Bed Hildi.

I actually liked both rooms.

[quote]I loved both Doug and Hildi and they are the only two "designers" that I would allow into my house.

Just may be the most pathetic thing posted here in a long time.

Love the clip show where Amy Wynn Pastor almost clocked Hildi. She was pissed.

They added the gorgeous John Gidding to the mix. He liked being a model in NY seeing beautiful boys naked backstage!

Carter who?