House Rules

Just caught up with the renovation of Mel and Dave’s house on the Gold Coast. What a promotion for the team hotel (Ramada Hope Harbour) which happens to be around the corner from the house.
Kim struggled during demolition stage with her sore knee. After a trip to the local physio her knee improved and she and daughter Michelle went on a purple patch. They had the best statement piece for the second round in a row, as well as having the highest judges score and highest homeowners score.
It seemed Mel and Dave were fairly strict in their scoring, picking up bad points which were even missed by the judges (e.g. different coloured floor tiles in the powder room and the adjoining laundry). They were particularly scathing of Chiara and David’s zone, giving the WA couple only 4 points.

A couple of days behind but echo the comments above regarding the judging overly dominating the show. One show a week was enough for that and I really feel now like we don’t actually see much of the end result, mainly due to how they split the zones across the house. Even with the home owners reveal we just see the snippets of them entering each room and never really get the overall feel of the house, probably because often the overall feel is a bit of a mess. Much prefered the early series when the renovators could have a vision for an entire Master suite or a kitchen diner. They really took the biscuit this week by having someone do an en-suite and then another bedroom.

The bonus room and statement pieces dominate too much now too - indeed it seems episode one is about wars over space, episode 2 about the statement piece and then 3 & 4 about the judging.

Also this year with the launch reno and extra team it’s already extended by two weeks. Will be interesting to see whether they cut to 4 as usual to do the gardens or throw in another couple of houses and do it when they cut to 6. Indeed I wouldn’t be too against that, then do the fix up challenge after the gardens just to open that up as an option too.

I’m not watching this season, it’s too much the same as MKR (the model and the bitchiness and the fake drama) but it’s hard to escape some of it when 7 shows it all day over the weekend (is there nothing else to show? Some AFL perhaps?)

Is it tanking? It seems very boring and bland from what I’m seeing just now.

Given that both have ‘rules’ in their names, not surprised that it’s similar in format (and bitchiness).

Your point? I was calling out that because they are so alike, and I’m fatigued from MKR - I am not watching.

Point is that you mentioned that they’re both similar and hence a turn-off after an overload of MKR. I was just merely agreeing with you but not surprised at the same time because both shows are similar in format and have pretty much the same name.

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Ok fair point. :ok_hand:

It’s jsut really annoying me how it’s just on all the time. Prob doesn’t help I’m away for work and I don’t have Foxtel here.

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Caught up with the renovation of Josh and Brandon’s house this weekend. David had two massive blow-ups, first with Leigh and Kristie on room sizes then with Chiara on shelf choices. Then with minutes to go to the statement piece deadline, his drawers fell to the ground smashing three pieces of mirrors. Fortunately the judges and the brothers admired Chiara and David’s decorations and gave the Perth couple great scores. I think David needed to control his temper because it often got in the way of him making rational decisions on designs and decoration.
Kim & Michelle and Mel & Dave both had bad weeks, unable to finish one room each (Kim & Michelle - ensuite, Mel & Dave - bonus room). Kim & Michelle struggled during painting night, after winning the first two statement piece contests. Sometimes it would have been better to let another team win.
It was very costly for Mel & Dave, because had they got a pass for the bonus room and received five bonus points, and with Kim & Michelle’s house to be renovated next, it would have been Jared and Jess (25 points) who would have to sleep in the tent this week.

“O my gawd”, “holy moly”.

FYI my location is the feature of tonight’s epsiode :hugs: You’re welcome.

MasterChef, The Bachelor, The Bachelorette, BH&G, plus segments from other shows have now been featured here in recent years. Yay. Self indulging sorry.

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For half a second I thought you were referring to your house.

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Renovation of Kim and Michelle’s house at Tweed Heads was done in mid December last year (when Mel and Dave looked up on HotelsCombined app to book a hotel room, the date was showing December 14).
Coming last on the previous round of reno, Mel and Dave should have been camping for the week, but due to possible presence of snakes in the area, building supervisor Owen allowed the couple to stay in a hotel for the week. Problem is Mel and Dave were so sneaky in not telling the other teams they were not camping, to avoid getting the bonus room, and they got some backlash.
Kim and Michelle were generous in their scoring, giving two 9s and three 10s even though some of the zones had flaws which were picked up by the judges. Chiara and David were brave enough to do a huge zone (kitchen, girl’s bedroom, hallway 1 and kids’ play room) but it did pay off, earning 38 points from judges and homeowners and topping the leaderboard two rounds in a row.

Joh mentioned during her narration that the shops are 1.5 hour drive from Rye. I reckon many contestants did not know where to look. Most of the show’s suppliers are located at either Mornington, Mount Eliza, Frankston or Rosebud, which is a minimum 30 minute drive one way. When the teams arrived in Melbourne they would have been given a list of recommended suppliers with addresses.
The renovation of Leigh and Kristie’s house was done in January during the holiday season so it would have been hard for the producers to book rooms for five teams at the local hotel.
Leigh and Kristie’s scoring was strange. They picked out each team’s mistakes but still gave it high scores (9s for Mel and Dave, Josh and Brandon, Toad and Mandy). Chiara and David would feel there was some injustice after they clashed (yet again) with Mel and Dave when they renovated master bedroom and ensuite respectively. Dave installed a curtain without telling David first, yet the ensuite earned higher marks from the judges and homeowners. Chiara and David also gave the bonus room to Mel and Dave, but the latter just got a pass from Leigh and Kristie and leap to the top of the leaderboard. Chiara and David got 7 points, the same as Kim and Michelle who did not complete their zone.
The renovation of Chiara and David’s Perth home would be the last for Toad and Mandy. As long as they did not struggle during renovations they should progress to the next round. Seven has started promoting “backyard battles” during last night’s reveal, so the order may be shuffled again with gardens and exteriors to be done before the 24-hour fix-up challenge.

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Plenty of complaints on Facebook that Seven has spoilt it with those promos with keen-eyed fans working out whose backyards are featured.

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Tonight on Better Homes and Gardens, Tara Dennis visits Kim and Michelle’s family home and transforms the kids play room for the better.

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Are reality show contestants crossing the line more now? Or are the producers not stepping in to stop bad behaviour for ratings?

I’ve commented to my wife a few times when watching this season that a couple of the guys there have some real anger issues this time and seem to react with violence and intimidation when things don’t go their way. I’ve been surprised there hasn’t been more made of it because it’s been quite obvious a few times this season. Glad it’s coming out now. I really did like the way that Michelle handled herself with that last night and didn’t back down!

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There is some manipulative editing done in those studio scenes, the more obvious ones are where a close up shows a contestant frowning and the cut to the wide shot shows them smiling - that happened with Michelle a couple of times last week. We don’t really know long that stare went on for, or how long Kim really looked like she was going to have an episode.

Former Big Brother contestant Simon “Hotdogs” Deering made a cameo appearance on last night’s reveal episode, as a Purple Bricks property expert.

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