Category — Jamie Durie

Personally I think the after shot is better, and there is a six pack in there somewhere.

The Daily Telegraph reports Top Design is unlikely to be picked up for a second series. This is a pity as it got caught in the slipstream of The Block.

If it was screening now it may have had an opportunity to find an audience.

Anyway Jamie is being paid big bucks by Nine and apparently he is coming to Australia next month to discuss his future with the network.

Source and photo: Daily Telegraph

On my Foxtel channel’s the Lifestyle ones are the ones that get a serious workout. Lifestyle for Come Dine With Me Australia, Lifestyle You for extremely schlocky reality TV, and Lifestyle Food for fantastic cooking shows which Injera reviews on her blog.

Now they have just launched another one on Tuesday called LifeStyle HOME.

As you can guess from the title the shows will be about property and home entertainment. There are already shows that I will definitely fitting into my already full reality TV schedule.

The first one is Design Star series 5 from reality TV guru Mark Burnett. This premieres on Sunday 6 March at 8.30pm. This show has twelve up and coming designers who are split into teams and must each week navigate their way through design challenges.

The first challenge for the teams is to turn a white box bedroom inspired by a fellow designer, but they only have a $500 budget and must find all their items in an Asian market.

A review of this show will be up on the blog in the next couple of days.

Also it will be interesting to see how similar this is with Top Design and our very own Channel Nine Top Design Australia (currently in production). The Australian version is to be hosted by Jamie Durie.

Speaking of Jamie, there could be no Lifestyle Home channel without one of his shows. On Sunday March 6 at 7.30pm his show the The Outdoor Room With Jamie Durie will premiere.  This is his US series where he and his team transform outdoor spaces into “outdoor rooms”.

One of the other shows to premiere this Saturday night at 7.30pm is May The Best House Win. This is a British show where four proud homeowners of the UK’s interesting and unusual homes open their homes to each other, and they are judged by each other. They are competing for a 1000 pound prize.

They judge on interior design, homeliness, comfort, the hospitality on offer and the overall viewing experience.

Other shows will be A Place In The Sun, Homes Under The Hammer, Celebrity Fantasy Homes and Carter Can. Also there are exclusive new series Dear Genevieve, Renovation Realities and Tommy’s Fix Your House for Free.

For the home design junkies this channel is going to become compulsive viewing.

The channel doesn’t have its own website so just look at the Lifestyle Channel one for info. Nor does it have a twitter account, however @lifestyle is keeping the world updated on what is happening on this new channel.

Ok so Jamie Durie might not look like this anymore but if you want to be involved in a reality show with him and think you have a bit of flair with design and renovation well this could be your opportunity. Channel Nine are currently looking for contestants for their new show Top Design.

The show to be hosted by Jamie Durie and is hopefully based on the US version of the show. Please note I said that about Nine’s other design show Home Made and I was wrong…. The difference already is that the Australian version will consider amateurs people that are not currently working in the field, unlike the US version where they all work in some sort of design field.

Channel Nine is on the call-out for contestants from all walks of life “who have the passion, flair and skills for home makeovers and renovation.”

Over several weeks these everyday design enthusiasts will face a series of elimination challengers to create visual masterpieces in this  makeover program, with the series winner taking home a major cash prize.

Do you think you or someone you know has what it takes to create a renovation masterpiece that will have Australia talking? Simply go to ninemsn.com.au/topdesign and apply now. Applications close Friday, February 18, 2011.

Channel Nine launched their 2011 line-up this week, The Block and Farmer Wants a Wife will be back, but they have also have announced a new production called Top Design.

Jamie Durie will be host. The official blurb is “he will be searching the country to find people from all walks of life who are passionate about design and renovation. They will then be put to the test to create a masterpiece in this exciting new make over show.”

Now reality TV savants will know there was a fabulous US show on Arena which was about interior designers battling it out each week in different challenges to be crowned Top Designer. It was all rather fabulous and high end, and Injera Rufus did some amazing recaps on the show.

So I am curious to know whether Channel Nine have bought the rights to the show from Bravo TV, and are making their own special version that they think will appeal to the Australian audience.

This does not look very similar at all.

Channel Nine has not had a lot of success recently with design shows. HomeMade was one of the turkeys of 2009, this was meant to be a design show but there was too much of Renovation Rescue in it. But host David Heimann was good, as were the judges.

The Block this year has rated well and this was meant to be a renovation show, but was a lot more about design.

So hopefully next year The Block will focus more on renovation and Top Design is going to be strictly design.

Channel Nine must be hoping to unearth some amateur design talent like Masterchef  Australia did with cooking, so you never know the show could be interesting, as usual it will depend on the casting.