Extreme makeover home edition

...decided to see what this Extreme Makeover Home Edition was actually like! I was pleasantly surprised... to say the very very least!

*About Extreme Makeover*

Extreme Makeover: Home Edition is produced by Endomol USA. It premiered on 3rd December 2003 on the ABC Network in America. To date (May 2006), there have been three seasons produced and aired on television in America. In the shows first season, it won an Emmy nomination ...
...also bought the rights for Extreme Makeover: Home Edition!

*What is Extreme Makeover?*

Basically... Extreme Makeover is the most extravagant version of Changing Rooms that you could ever get! It doesn't just give one room a facelift but utterly transforms a whole house. Sometimes this includes ripping an entire house down to build a new one and other times this means adding something substantial (in quantity or quality) ... more

I used to see "Extreme Makeover: Home Edition" written on my Sky Digital TV Guide and sigh with disapointment. This is because I always wanted to see "Extreme Makeover", where the experts transform the appearance of people who are dissatisfied with their body and looks! "Grrrr... not the home edition again", I would say to myself! But one lonely evening when there was nothing at all worth watching on those hundreds of channels that Sky offers, I decided to see what this Extreme Makeover Home Edition was actually like! I was pleasantly surprised... to say the very very least!

*About Extreme Makeover*

Extreme Makeover: Home Edition is produced by Endomol USA. It premiered on 3rd December 2003 on the ABC Network in America. To date (May 2006), there have been three seasons produced and aired on television in America. In the shows first season, it won an Emmy nomination for Outstanding Reality Program, and awards for the second season included the People's Choice Award for Favourite Reality Show/Makeover and the Family Television Award for Best Alternative/Reality Program. UKTV Style picked up on this programme's success in America and was the first channel to broadcast it in the UK. Since then, Channel 5 has also bought the rights for Extreme Makeover: Home Edition!

*What is Extreme Makeover?*

Basically... Extreme Makeover is the most extravagant version of Changing Rooms that you could ever get! It doesn't just give one room a facelift but utterly transforms a whole house. Sometimes this includes ripping an entire house down to build a new one and other times this means adding something substantial (in quantity or quality) to the plan of the house- not forgetting completely renovating every room inside the house and revamping the garden and grounds. Whatever happens in an episode, you can always be sure of a dramatic change to the house and consequently to the lives of the family involved. What's more... they do it all in a week!

*Who do they help?*Many families across America send in audition tapes to abc in hope of the Extreme Makeover team visiting them. But one of the best things about this programme is that they don't help people who just fancy a makeover but they help people who really need it. There are 4 examples, which I would like to focus on in this review to show just what Extreme Makeover: Home Edition is all about. These include:

• The Leslie Family moved into a 130 year old house in order to renovate it and turn it into their dream home on 1900 sq feet of land. However, not long before Christmas in 2003, Robin Leslie (Mum) received a horrific phone call revealing that her husband Doug and her eldest son had died in a car crash leaving her with 3 young sons to raise by herself and consequently no time or enough money to restore the house, which was generally unsafe and impractical for her young family to live in.
• The Leomiti-Higgins- a caring couple from California, who adopted 5 kids in order for all the siblings to stay together after the death of their parents despite their lack of space and the financial commitment.
• The Cadigan-Scott family are now only 8 brothers and sisters since the sudden death of their parents. The older siblings have assumed legal guardianship over the younger ones to keep the family together but their living conditions are awful, including some of them sleeping in the garage.

*How does it all work?*Five or six members of the Extreme Makeover design team turn up in a huge bus to a family's house at around 7am. The main presenter Ty Pennington (on product image above) reaches for his megaphone and shouts "good morning" to the chosen family. After a quick tour around the house and living conditions, the family are packed off on holiday, which is usually to the likes of Disneyland or New York. In the meantime, the design team draw-up a plan to fulfil the needs of the family and discuss how they will get the results they want to achieve. The next thing you know, there are 100 contractors filtering onto the site ready to get to work.

If necessary, the first day is usually demolition day to bulldoze parts of or the entire house down, ready to build back up again.

Generally, members of the design team take responsibility for a particular area or room in the house so spend the next days making that idea become a reality. There are usually 1 or 2 members of the design team who take responsibility for buying furniture etc. and general interior design. There is also someone who takes care of the landscaping of the garden and grounds of the house and another for general exterior design. There is of course the usual "Handy Andy" type figure, who is given jobs by everyone to produce carpentry magnificence. There is also someone, who gives direction for the construction of the house and makes sure this is carried out by the builders and other contractors. However, it is not just the design team and paid workers, who make this a reality, as members of the neighbourhood involved and friends lend a hand in jobs such as painting for the house to get finished.

The main presenter Ty Pennington usually has a "secret room", which he works on during the week and nobody else is supposedly allowed to see until the family arrive home. However, when he isn't working on his room, he is usually walking around the site with his megaphone shouting things like "three days to go".

On the last day (day 7), the house should be about ready for all the furniture to be moved in and the finishing touches to be put in place.

*When do the family get to see the house?*

The family are due back to the house at 7pm on day 7. This target is usually met, although sometimes it has to be pushed forward a little in order for everything to be finished. I have seen one episode however, where the house isn't finished until just before midnight (so still in the 7 day range) but the showing to the family has to be postponed until the following morning because it would be so late for the young kids.

When the family arrive back in a limo and their neighbourhood there to welcome them home, their view of the house is completely blocked by that big Extreme Makeover bus. When they are all ready, Ty shouts "MOVE THAT BUS" (down his megaphone of course). The bus moves and the family are usually astounded at the change in their house- and that's just on the outside!! The design team then run out from the front doors to greet them home and we are treated to a tour around the house with the family and the rollercoaster of emotions.

*What is the house like after?*Using the examples of the families above, I will give a quick summary of the changes in their houses.

• The Leslie family's old and battered house was completely restored to its natural beauty inside and out. It was made completely safe for the family to live in and now they all have their own beds!! Ty's secret room in this episode was the master bedroom, which he made into an ensuite room for Robin with a 4-poster bed and general glamorous decor. The most exciting thing for the children was the back garden. With help from BMX superstar Mat Hoffman, they build a mini playground including a mini-ramp and BMX dirt track. My favourite feature was the shower room, which was made to make it easy for Robin to bathe her young kids all in one go! All they do is walk inside and it is like a programmed car wash so bubbles come out and then they are rinsed!
• The Leomiti-Higgins family's house dramatically changed (well it was a completely different house as the other was bulldozed down) giving each teenager a room of their own. The dining room was made so that they could all sit down together, which couldn't happen before and there is now a huge family room. What's more, everything was made so energy efficiently to decrease bills. They had economy everything and not forgetting solar panels on the roof to get more energy. Ty's secret room on this episode was the master bedroom for the parents. The best thing about this episode was the new cars, which were bought for each teenager.
• The Cadigan-Scott family's house was made very noticeably different on the outside and gets even better on the inside. During the making of the house the $1million budget was soon spent up so roll on a charity event in the community to raise money to finish it off. 1,000ft² was added to the house giving each child their own room. The kitchen (and a year's supply of pizza) is perfect for the family to hang out or watch one of the eight screens on the TV wall!!All with headphones incase you want to watch a different channel! Two showers, seven sinks and a whirlpool are installed in the impressive bathroom and outside a swimming pool and miniature golf course are installed. There was also a reminder of their parents in the form of a skylight. Ty's secret room was a rock'n'roll style room for a male sibling. My favourite bit of this episode was the mortgage being paid off for them!

*Who are the design team?

• Ty Pennington is the main presenter and a carpenter.
• Paul DiMeo is a designer and carpenter.
• Paige Hemmis is a designer and carpenter.
• Tanya McQueen is a designer.
• Michael Moloney is a crazy and funny interior designer and he is often the one with glamorous ideas.
• Ed Sanders is a designer and construction guy, who is from our very own London. Watch out for his Cockney rhyming slang!
• Preston Sharp is mainly an exteriors designer and big ideas guy.
• Eduardo Xol is a landscape designer.
• Daniel Kucan is a designer.
• Tracey Hutson is a designer and is often in charge of shopping and general styles in the house.

*What is my opinion of Extreme Makeover: Home Edition?*I absolutely love it! Every single story really gets me and I end up in tears by the end of it! I could honestly say that happens nearly every episode! The transformations are amazing! It is very hard to describe the actual difference between before and after except that it is amazing! They do the whole works! They don't leave any detail out! One of the good things aswell is that they learn about each person in the family and try and bring out their personality in their room. For example, in the Cadigan-Scott family, one sister wanted to become a firef-ighter so her room had things like ladders, water hydrants, etc. Also, somebody in one episode was a big fan of basketball and so they made them a mini basketball pitch in what used to be the garage! Because of their work alongside other companies, many other things can be achieved outside of the house, e.g. buying cars for them, paying off mortgages, years supply of things, etc. I love this show and I would urge everyone to take a look at the amazing transformations involved as they cannot be captured in writing quite to what they deserve. The design team are fun and it inspires you for your own home. The best thing though is to see the delight and happiness on people's faces, when they realise it is actually their home.

*What is my favourite episode?*

My favourite episode has to be about a little girl called Kassandra. She has battled cancer since 2003 and consequently had to spend a lot of time in hospital. Her Mother had to move to be closer to her daughter in hospital and her Father lost his job because of missing work to look after the rest of the family and battle with her illness aswell. She managed to recover from the cancer but expressed how depressing the hospital was for young children. The main difference in this episode is.... she didn't ask for her home to be madeover. She asked for the hospital rooms to be decorated instead. Her selfless attitude was seen in her audition tape and so they decided to drop in on her and set up contractors to go and redecorate the hospital. However, while the whole family were away doing that, the design team got to work on their house despite them not knowing about it. When she returned in complete happiness about the hospital being made fun for children going through the same thing as she did, the smile on her and her family's face was unmissable. They all had brand new rooms and she had a carousel in her garden!! This episode touched me in particular because of seeing that girl want to help those children and she received a blessing for her selfless attitude.

*Who would like Extreme Makeover?**Anyone who likes home makeover shows

• Anyone who likes to see good things happen to people
• Anyone who likes to see transformations of houses by experts
• Anyone who likes to pick up some ideas or get inspiration
• I think most people would like this show in general.

Who wouldn't like Extreme Makeover?**Anyone who hates home makeover shows*Further information*

• Extreme Makeover: Home Edition lasts 1 hour, it has no regular definite timeslot on UKTV as it always seems to change so you will just have to look out for it. At the moment, it is not being shown on channel 5!
• "Extreme Makeover: Home Edition, how do they do that?" is a show that follows up on each episode showing more behind the scenes footage. There is no regular timetable for this show on UKTV except that it sometime appears and usually after its respective episode.
• There are also DVDs available on Amazon with examples of the amazing things they do.

Thanks for reading:) 

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