Category — Lifestyle Channels

Hers might be “an extraordinary world of private jets, super yachts, fast cars and VIP luxury” but Labor MP Kelvin Thompson wonders when Victorian taxpayers will get their share of Tamara Ecclestone’s billion dollar limelight.  His comments were made in the context of the Australian Grand Prix weekend, which kicked off today and remains somewhat controversial, with many questioning the benefit of the $50 million price tag.  I’m sure we will all feel better about that investment once we see how hard Tamara is working.  As the show’s blurb tells us, “despite her wealth she’s determined to succeed in her own right”.

Tamara Ecclestone: Billion $$ is showing on Lifestyle YOU. You can still catch repeats of the first episode, with the second screening on Monday at 9.30pm.

This year appears to be the year of the design reality show, and Lifestyle have gone one better and launched a stand-alone home and design entertainment channel called Lifestyle Home.

Design Star is one show you can watch on this channel.

The premise of the show is twelve designers compete in an elimination type competition to become the Design Star.

However, the bizarre thing about the show is the prize is not  cash to start up your own design company, but your own TV show.

This did make me a bit cynical about the actual “design talent” on the show. However the casting of the contestants is great, with a mix of personalities, and styles. In fact they have more charisma than the host and judges of the show.

Vern Yip, Candice Olsen and Genevieve Gorder all remind me of home shopping hosts. They just have one expression and energy level, with not a lot of repartee between them.

Also there is no wit nor do we get to see them deliberating about how they reached their decisions.

Even their own personal style is more low end. They are no Kelly Wearstler, or Jonathan Adler from Bravo’s iconic Top Design.

Despite all this the show is a lot of fun, and this is because of the challenges and the dynamic between the contestants.

In the first episode the designers have to pair up with another contestant to design a bedroom space for them in a small white space. The budget is $500, and they have to shop at a Chinese store.

Some of the results are amazing, others are tragic, particularly Julie’s goose feather rug. “But it was meant to be conceptual” she wails.

Obviously certain contestants get more airtime than others. Watch out for Nina, Tom, and Michael.

If you like design shows this one is definitely worth a look see.

Design Star Series 5 premieres on Lifestyle Home Sunday 6 March at 8.30pm.

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.