When it comes to his new show, 37-year-old billionaire businessman Adrian Portelli is putting his money where his mouth is. Best known for his enthusiastic bidding on auction day of TV hit The Block, he’s about to take part in his own new renovation reality program My Reno Rules. He’s purchased two rundown 1970s houses side-by-side in the Melbourne suburb of Bulleen, which four teams will be competing to make over into modern dream homes. He’s also ponying up the prize money the teams are hoping to win.
“I’d rather invest my own money just to show that I am serious about it,” says Portelli, speaking on the phone from Dubai. “I do believe in the show and I’m willing to invest my money.”
My Reno Rules tweaks the traditional home renovation genre that has found such an avid fan base with viewers – and breaking records as the biggest giveaway in Australian television history with the two homes up for grabs once finished.
“I always had this idea where, unlike other shows, unfortunately the viewers are brought along this journey where they’re watching these homes be transformed,” says Portelli. “Everyone gets an emotional attachment to these homes, then they go to auction and fetch millions of dollars and they’re out of reach to most Australian families. So I thought, why not put a little twist on it and give these houses away when we’re finished? How cool would it be, people sitting in their living rooms tuning in and potentially watching what could be their home that they win.”
Another familiar face for the show is Love it or List it Australia co-host and former The Block judge Neale Whitaker. The design expert appears alongside interior stylist Julia Green and buyers’ agent Simon Cohen to assess the rooms. He was not only flattered to be invited to be on the judging team, but was also a fan of giving away the homes.
“That’s pretty life changing,” says Whitaker. “The timing also feels spot on for a show like this, when everyone is so conscious of the cost of living. The idea of houses being there to be won, rather than going to auction, is a great twist. It takes the renovation reality genre into a whole new direction.”
Another innovation is that for the four teams renovating, two will be working on different rooms within the same house each week, having to come to an agreement on which areas they will tackle and how the money allocated for renovations will be divided.
“They’re fighting over budget, they’re fighting over who gets what rooms,” says Portelli. “It all gets very tense because someone getting a kitchen over a lounge room could be the difference between winning the series or not.”
Whitaker believes audiences will want to tune in to watch Portelli as a larger on-screen presence than they’ve ever seen him before. “I think people are interested in the whole sort of phenomenon that is Adrian Portelli and his role in the show,” says Whitaker.
Portelli admits that joining the series to monitor the progress of the homes alongside My Reno Rules host Dr Chris Brown isn’t something he would have been cut out for earlier in his career.
“I’ve had a lot of experience with my line of work being in front of the camera – at the start it didn’t come naturally. If this was my first time, I reckon Channel Seven would have replaced me in an instant! So I have a lot of respect watching Chris Brown in action.”
Whitaker is fully aware My Reno Rules will likely garner comparisons to The Block, but doesn’t see them as competitors.
“There’s room for more than one renovation reality show in Australia,” says Whitaker. “The Block is an extraordinary juggernaut, it’s been around for the best part of two decades. I think it’s nice to see a new, young show with significant differences enter the arena. Of course, people are going to draw comparisons between My Reno Rules and The Block, that’s inevitable, but I don’t think it’s a case of one or the other, I think it’s a case of let’s have both.”
My Reno Rules premieres at 7.30pm on Tuesday, April 21, on Seven.
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Disclaimer : This story is auto aggregated by a computer programme and has not been created or edited by DOWNTHENEWS. Publisher: www.smh.com.au
