HGTV SHOWDOWN

HGTV Showdown is the design competition show that features HGTV's top talent pairing up to plan and execute a winning design in less than 6 hours for one lucky homeowner. Then the homeowners get $10,000 to recreate the design at home.
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98 Degrees and handy

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DAN STEINBERG/AP FILE PHOTODrew Lachey, host of a home improvement competition show on HGTV, says he has lots of experience from working around his house. (Dan Steinberg/Ap File Photo)
By Christopher Muther Globe Staff / June 11, 2009
Step aside Ty Pennington. Watch your tool box, Carter Oosterhouse. There's a new home improvement hunk in town. Former boy band crooner, "Dancing With the Stars" champ, and Broadway performer Drew Lachey is currently hosting HGTV's "$250,000 Challenge," where couples compete for the aforementioned cash prize. It's a home improvement version of "The Amazing Race," minus the travel and clues. Lachey not only officiates, but even helps out the teams. We spoke with Lachey last week about his new handy man status.

Q. Not to sound rude, but what qualifies you to host a home improvement show?

A. Are you questioning my carpentry skills?

Q. Totally.

A. I learned the ropes with projects around the house. I've done everything from painting to tiling floors in bathrooms. It's a pretty wide variety of projects at this point.

Q. More importantly, how did they turn out?

A. I'm proud of them. My wife likes them, so all parties concerned are happy with them. I think that's the most important thing.

Q. I noticed that you occasionally jump in and help contestants on the show. Are you worried about screwing up and costing them the prize? $250,000 is a lot of money.

A. I never was really concerned with that. Maybe I should have been. But I felt confident that I could get in there and do a good job, I'm pretty competent when it comes to those kinds of things.

Q. When you were singing with 98 Degrees, were you tiling your own bathroom, or is that a more recent development?

A. When I bought my first house, 98 Degrees was still going strong, and that was something I did on break between albums.That's when I really started to get into it. It's what I did to feel normal. It kept me grounded. I was validated as a man because I could do these sorts of things.

Q. If HGTV decided to follow this up with a "$250,000 Challenge" that pitted 98 Degrees, 'N Sync, and the Backstreet Boys against each other in a contest of home improvement skills, who would win?

A. Oh, 98 Degrees, absolutely. You didn't even have to finish the question.

Q. Well, you were always the boy band with the biceps.

A. We're also from the Midwest. We're not afraid to get our hands dirty and swing hammers.

Q. OK, and now the real purpose of this interview: When is the 98 Degrees reunion happening?

A. Honestly, we've all talked and laughed about it. I don't see it happening anytime in the future. If the opportunity presented itself, we would all be open to it, but that time is not now.

Decorating with the stars

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‘DWTS’ champion Drew Lachey returns as host of HGTV reality competition

Drew Lachey has stepped off the dance floor and into the world of home improvement with his role as the host of “HGTV’s $250,000 Challenge.” When we asked how the former “Dancing with the Stars” champion got the gig, Lachey was impervious.

“I just thought it was because of my dashing good looks,” he deadpans.

Not that we don’t find Lachey as adorable as he does, but the reality show regular’s first appearance as a handyman actually dates back to when he was tooling around at his brother Nick Lachey’s mansion on MTV’s “Newlyweds.”

Back then, the two brothers were attempting to use a forklift to get arcade games into the pad Nick shared with then-wife Jessica Simpson. Who knew that one day Lachey would be hosting a show that challenges five families to renovate their homes in the hopes of winning $250,000 to drastically change their lives?

“I think the idea for this show has been around for a while, but as the country went through its changes, I think the general premise of the show has been reconfigured to reflect the times,” says Lachey.

“The people that competed in this show were all very deserving and in need of this quarter of a million dollars — whether it’s because of unemployment or their house was going to get foreclosed on, or student loans or lost equity in their home — everybody had a reason why they needed this money.”

Since Lachey has also been on the competitor side of the reality show world, he adds that his own experience helped him to bond with the cast members.
“I can definitely empathize: the pressure of being judged on something after a very short amount of time, and not really knowing exactly what you’re doing,” says Lachey.
“I think [the contestants] felt a little bit more comfortable with me because they know I’ve been through it.”

As for his own home improvement projects, Lachey says he does it all, though he’s really not a fan of grouting and tiling. And while originally he was a “read the instructions first” kind of guy, he says: “at this point, I feel pretty confident that I can just kind of wing it.”

And what’s next for the reality show pro? More reality, of course. “Hopefully, second season of ‘HGTV’s $250,000 Challenge,’” says Lachey.

“My lips to God’s ears.”

Drew Lachey Straps on Tool Belt for $250,000 Challenge

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May 29, 2009 03:31 PM ET
Joyce Eng

Drew Lachey

Drew Lachey is a triple threat: He can sing, dance (ballroom!) and... design your house? "I've always been into the home-improvement side of things. My wife and I have never had a designer," Lachey tells TVGuide.com. "If you walked in, you could probably tell." The former Dancing with the Stars champ will impart some of his decorating wisdom as host of the new HGTV reality series $250,000 Challenge (premieres Sunday at 10 pm/ET), which pits five neighborhood families against each other in weekly do-it-yourself remodeling challenges for the titular cash prize. See what else Lachey had to say about his new gig, helping his brother out around the house and why he wanted Shawn Johnson to win Dancing.

TVGuide.com: What drew you to this? Have you always been into interior decorating?
Drew Lachey: Well, when you say interior decorating, it doesn't sound very masculine! [Laughs] I've been doing this since I was around 20 years old — when I bought my first house in Cincinnati — and I just learned as I went. I have friends in Cincinnati who are contractors, pipe-fitters and stuff, and they really exposed me to that world. Then I did a one-episode spot last year on another HGTV show [Summer Showdown] and I expressed that this was something I enjoyed doing in my own life.

TVGuide.com: How is this different from the glut of home-improvement shows out there?
Lachey: I think it's dissimilar in more ways than they are similar. On other shows, they have [professionals] renovating. Here, the reins are given completely over to the families. They're also competing against other people on the street who are doing the exact same thing. Plus, you have five families, so you can see all the different tastes and styles.

TVGuide.com: There's been talk that the show reflects our grim economic times.
Lachey: Definitely. It's $250,000 for somebody who might have their home about to be foreclosed on or has student loans coming out their ears. Every one of these families has their own story about why they needed this money. For the family that won, it really is going to transform their lives. For everybody that's involved, they walked away with a new set of skills, confidence to be able to tackle things in their own home, and not to mention at least one room that was transformed. It was a win-win for everyone, including me.

TVGuide.com: The first episode is about repurposing. What's your favorite thing that you've repurposed?
Lachey: Hmm... that's a good question. Our old kitchen table from our first house in Ohio is my desk now. I go to the Rose Bowl flea market and find things, like filing cabinets, an old card catalog thing from a library. I have an old church pew in my foyer. There are a bunch of things.

TVGuide.com: Do you feel like you missed your calling?
Lachey: [Laughs] Not at all! I don't do it every day, so it's still fun for me. If it were [my job], I'd be like, "Ugh." You'd never do a thing in your own house because you do everyone else's. I get to balance different aspects of my life — be a performer and do Broadway or ballroom dancing — but at the end of day, I can come home and strap on a tool belt.

TVGuide.com: We saw you on Newlyweds helping Nick out a few times. My favorite was when you used a forklift to get something over the balcony.
Lachey: Yeah, there were a couple of those! We had to use a forklift to get arcade games up, a ladder across a hill to drag up a corner piece that wouldn't fit in the door. If it worked, it was my idea. If it didn't, it was Nick's idea! He's actually evolved into getting an interior decorator, but if he needs something done in the garage, I can do it.

TVGuide.com: I saw that you wanted Shawn to win Dancing with the Stars. Are you no longer cheering for Cheryl?
Lachey: [Laughs] Oh my God! They asked, "What celebrity do you want to win?" Well, I didn't know Cheryl was going up against Shawn. I thought Gilles was going up against her. Of course, I always want Cheryl to do well, but being a celebrity who has competed, I understand what they're going through. Shawn, being 17 and going through that, really kind of endeared her to me — not to mention, I really enjoyed the power in the way she danced.

TVGuide.com: A lot of people loved when you temporarily co-hosted the show and want you there full-time in some capacity. Would you come back?
Lachey: If Samantha [Harris] gets pregnant again, I'll come back! I think the show works well the way it is. Two men hosting that show, it may be a little too much for people to adapt to. It works better with a man and a woman. But I do have a knowledge that not many people have on the show, and Tom [Bergeron] and I have a great rapport, so I would go back given the right opportunity.

TVGuide.com: You could redecorate the ballroom.
Lachey: Absolutely! It needs a little work. It's looking a little old. They need a whole overhaul, man

HGTV's $250,000 Challenge: Meet the Teams

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Meet the stars of $250,000 Challenge! Episode 1 guest designer Kim Myles poses with Dwight and Grace Yao, Jeff and Elizabell Marquez, Rico and Danica Yovanovich, sisters Kelley and Phyllis Alexander, and Fabian and Lisa Duvernay. The design challenge is hosted by Dancing With the Stars alum Drew Lachey

The Alexander sisters chat with host Drew Lachey. Kelley (center), a single mom, has lived in her home for 19 years and hopes to win the grand prize to save her home from foreclosure.

The Yaos, who've lived in their house for 2 years, get feedback from host Drew Lachey. The couple will use the challenge winnings to pay down their mortgage.

Episode 1 Recap
Watch 250,000 challenge