I remember backyard renovations during the early seasons and that was a nice change from the usual house renovations. No idea why they decided to get rid of those elements.
Charity renovation is a great idea but I’m not sure if viewers will tune into that (though viewers do love happy TV these days and they might give it a chance). They also need to find a way to create buzz and excitement for the program.
There was a report on the filming of this season being completed just in time before state borders were closed in late March. Renovation of Kimmy’s house in Launceston took place in the first week of March*, so obviously the producers decided to bring the charity renovation forward, skipping the backyard renovations.
*a comment on the show’s FB page said the crew finished packing up the Launceston set on March 15, with Tasmanian border restrictions came into play from March 20.
So they didn’t explain why they didn’t renovate the external areas?
Your theory sounds like it may be true but we don’t have any confirmation though.
When Jamie Durie was interviewed by Fitzy and Wippa at the start of the season, he didn’t indicate that the season was cut short. He said he had just completed all the voice over work he needed to do on the show before it started screening.
Maybe they didn’t want to reveal too much about the season being cut short but maybe they always intended to do a shorter season.
Seven continued to drive the cars of the departed contestants around Penrith for the grand final. From Facebook:
So is pretty clear the final part of the season was curtailed due to Covid-19 with no garden renos and the charity reno, which is usually for the final 3, bought forward to be for the final 4. Also wasn’t the final supposed to be back at the Gold Coast Tower - they said in the early stages the show would “begin” and “end” there.
In terms of the show I’d have rather seen the final 4 renovate their own gardens under lockdown than this fairly uninspiring charity house, but otherwise I think other than the pointless Penthouse challenge at the beginning this has been the best series of the last few years. The renos were stripped back to basics with no pointless format points, they were consistent in their rewards for the weekly winners, the contestants have been great and no complaints really about the hosts and judges either. Only thing is I do think the standard of renovation has dropped over the last couple of seasons, and as someone suggested earlier in the thread that might be due to budget cuts.
Yes, they did. I had assumed the grand final was going to be the outdoor area of the top floor of the penthouse.
Some good points there.
Definitely agree with the fact that they should’ve done garden renovations (for familiarity’s sake) but charity renovations is not the worst they could come up with (the penthouse takes that title). Unfortunately I didn’t find any of the contestants very likeable this year. The best were good but in memorable whilst the ‘bad’ ones were nasty. They need to steer away from these kind of contestants in the future because creating drama is certainly not going to help the show.
The show could’ve rated OK-ish but I think MKR being a turkey has hurt the show badly since there’s been almost zero momentum going into this season. They need a new show to lead into House Rules if it returns next year.
According to promo just shown in Melbourne tonight during The Front Bar, the grand final was filmed at the same space where interior renovation scoring took place.
That space doesn’t look like either floor of the Focus penthouse. It looks more like the first floor of the Beaconsfield warehouse, however Seven sold that in September last year. I can’t figure out where it is.
Every year I am surprised that they keep renewing this, but unlike previous years, the show hasn’t picked off at all this year.
I would be surprised if this and MKR are renewed.
Wonder if the absence of Joh Griggs has been a factor?
As much as I miss Joh, I’m ok with Jamie too. I also like that his voiceovers have added a bit of humour into the show.
I also like Jamie’s poking fun at the producers, e.g. the slo-mo footage of the demolition of existing interiors.
EDIT: did anyone notice the supplier t-shirts won by three teams in Wednesday’s episode during paint night? Kimmy and Rhi wore USG Boral, Tamara and Rhys wore Bunnings Trade and Kayne and Aimee wore Nepean Landscape Supplies t-shirts. Did the suppliers provide the clothing?
Tonight, on HOUSE RULES: HIGH STAKES, Tasmanian twins Kimmy and Rhi were crowned 2020 champions with a judges’ score of 27/30.
The sisters from Launceston won $100,000 and walked away with a transformed home (Kimmy’s) plus $30,000 cash secured during the series, after topping the leaderboard three times. In a nail-biting finish, the twins came in one point ahead of Victorian plumber couple Kayne and Aimee who scored 26/30.
The Grand Final challenge saw four teams turn a metal shell into a Zen-inspired tiny home masterpiece in just four days following five ‘House Rules’ set by judges Laurence Llewelyn-Bowen, Kyly Clarke and Saul Myers, with their score deciding the winner.
Kimmy and Rhi scored 9/10 from all three judges for their bedroom and kitchen. LLB declared the twins “incredibly good designers,” who went out of their way to understand what Zen is about and put it into an Australian context. LLB said: “This is Australian Zen.” Kyly said: “Kimmy and Rhi, you should both be very proud of yourselves, a magnificent display of your design skills.” On their kitchen, Saul added: “This feels like the heart and the hub of the home,” saying it walked the delicate balance between style and functionality.
At Homebase, through tears, Kimmy told host Jamie Durie and co-host Abbey Way: “$100,000! It’s ridiculous. We are just two girls from Tassie who thought it would be cool to apply for a TV show and now we win $100,000!” Kimmy added: “This has literally been the world’s wildest ride!”
The sisters were popular winners with fellow competitor Rhys declaring: “They’ve been the benchmark all series.” Kayne added: “They definitely deserved it. Good on them.”
With only two points separating the top three spots, runners up Kayne and Aimee impressed the judges with their craftmanship and design in their zone of front yard, walk-in-robe and hallway securing a 9/10 from both LLB and Saul and 8/10 from Kyly who said: “What I have really enjoyed seeing from the both of you is you’ve grown so much….An excellent delivery this week.” Saul called the WIR a “masterstroke. One of my favourite rooms, if not my favourite room in the house.” LLB declared: “There was maturity, there was elegance but there was still an enormous amount of Kanye and Aimee.”
Best mates from Western Sydney Laith and George scored 25/30 for their dining, laundry and bathroom. LLB scored a 9/10 and called their laundry “clever decorating. Very seductive… one of the best laundries we’ve had so far.”
QLD’s Tamara and Rhys scored a combined 24/30 with LLB stating: “Your achievement with that verandah and facade has been extraordinary. You should be very proud.”
Final scoreboard
Congratulations on the winners 
Unless I wasn’t paying attention, the final 10 minutes lacked any excitement. They sort of announced the winners then finished. The End. 
The cost-cutting at Seven and the restrictions resulting from COVID-19 meant the final was a small scale affair. The three eliminated teams were not invited (not to mention Carly and Andrew who walked out in episode 2) nor were families of the four grand final teams. There was not even confetti when Kimmy and Rhi were declared winners.
The twins were well deserved winners though. They topped the leaderboard five times (including one tie with Laith and George) going into the grand final and had consistent form.
Kimmy and Rhi’s win made the home page of both The Launceston Examiner (their hometown paper) and The Hobart Mercury, below the Queen’s Birthday honours. The twins were the first Tasmanian winners of a reality TV show since Regina Bird (now Sorensen) took out Big Brother in 2003.
Do you know when they finished filming? Because apart from it feeling like the show finished abruptly, there was no sign of Covid impacts (eg. no social distancing). Pure cost cutting would make more sense.
It just felt flat - whether that was due to Covid restrictions, bad editing or just poor production I’m not sure, but it was pretty much “Congratulations - The End”.
Happy with the winners though but the scores in the final being 8s and 9s just highlight how this series hasn’t fired. Was thinking earlier actually how in the first couple of years there was a viewer vote element but this year I genuinely struggle to remember any of the renovations the teams did so would not be able to vote for them based on that at all.
As for where the show goes from here - I think had this series had the garden renos and then the charity house as a final for 2/3 teams it would have almost been perfect in structure at least, other than the Penthouse nonsense at the beginning. However with ratings as they are and social distancing instructions likely to at least make it difficult to produce this show for next year it would be a surprise if it returned, though I think that is no reflection really on the judges and hosts from this year. I’ve no real complaint there.
I guess much depends on how Big Brother performs - and that has the added advantage of being able to be produced in relative isolation.
The reveal scoring was clearly filmed in Sydney not Gold Coast. In last night’s grand final, Jamie said the judges visited the finished house earlier in the day and in the clip, the judges wore the same clothing.
Just after the grand final finished in the east coast last night, design expert Carolyn Burns McCrave tweeted this, suggesting the show was coming to an end.
https://twitter.com/CarolynBurnsMcC/status/1269579660636983296
Aimee told the Funny Business podcast with Rob and Lachlan the show finished filming in April.
