This New HGTV Show Was "Basically Like Summer Camp," According to Stars
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HGTV’s latest competition series promises a major showdown. It stars husband-wife team Brian and Mika Kleinschmidt of 100 Day Dream Home—who, after their victories on a few other competition series (namely, Barbie Dreamhouse Challenge and season two of Rock the Block), have been bestowed the title of the network’s “winningest duo.” In 100 Day Hotel Challenge, they’re competing against each other for the first time professionally. Naturally, we spoke with the couple to discover everything about their head-to-head competition, which they say was like “HGTV summer camp.” Plus, we have all of the details on how you can tune in, the possibility of a second season, and more below.
What Is 100 Day Hotel Challenge About?
For the competition, Brian and Mika are each tasked with renovating a dated hotel in Salter Path, North Carolina. With their HGTV star-studded teams, they have a budget of $225,000 to transform the 1950s, family-owned properties into delightful waterside retreats within 100 days.
Brian takes on The Beacon Hotel (formerly known as the Salter Path Inn), while Mika updates The William & Garland Motel. Every part of the renovation is judged by Property Brothers stars Drew and Jonathan Scott. Throughout the six-episode season, the weekly winning team gets $5,000 to donate to their chosen charity. The overall winning spouse gets $50,000 to share with a charity of their choice (plus, bragging rights!).
“It's one thing [when] you're building a dream home for one family, but a hotel, multiple families are going to be able to use that space,” Mika says. “But also [for] the hotel owners, this is their future monetarily. If this doesn't work, they're out of business. So that put a big amount of stress on the decisions that we made to make sure that they don't have to renovate this thing ever again.”
While it is a competition, the series is basically one big passion project. Mika explains: “I feel like HGTV has been very competition-heavy in the last two years. And we've done Rock the Block. We've experienced hardcore competition. I don't want to say cutthroat, but very stressful. With this show, we really wanted to make sure everybody was having fun. Yes, it's competition, but at the end of this, both of the hotels get a major renovation. So, really, they both win.
“It's like where competition meets compassion,” Brian adds.
Which HGTV Stars Compete in 100 Day Hotel Challenge?
The cast is loaded with HGTV favorites. On Mika’s team, there’s Jonathan Knight and Kristina Crestin (Farmhouse Fixer); Galey Alix (Home in a Heartbeat); Grace Mitchell (One of a Kind); Lauren Makk (Urban Oasis); Scott McGillivray (Vacation House Rules); Kim Myles (Battle on the Mountain); and Kim Wolfe (Why The Heck Did I Buy This House?).
Brian’s team is stacked with Bryan and Sarah Baeumler (Renovation Island); Michael Smith Boyd (Luxe for Less); Carmeon Hamilton (Reno My Rental); Mike and Denese Butler (Fix My Frankenhouse); Cristy Lee (Battle on the Mountain); and Poonam Moore (Rico to the Rescue).
“Some of these people we've been watching on HGTV before we even had a show,” Mika says of the star-studded cast. She notes that a few of the duos seen on the show are unexpected. “Some of these people just met for the first time on set and were designing these spaces together,” she adds.
“Which is another challenge within the challenge,” Brian says. “And some of the people we've worked with before and some people we had just met.”
Drew and Jonathan Scott also appear in every episode as the judges. “Working with the Property Brothers, we were always impressed with them and always looked up to them,” Brian says. “But after working with them on this show, we're even more just in awe with those guys. And we worked with Drew before but never Jonathan. It almost feels like you only get one or the other.”
How Can You Watch?
The six-episode season premieres on Tuesday, August 13, at 8 p.m. ET. New episodes air weekly on HGTV and are available to stream on Max on the same day and time.
Will There Be a Season 2?
There’s no official word yet on if we’ll get a second season of the competition series, but Brian and Mika are open to it. “I think that I would go broader,” Mika says. She explains: “We're just now kind of planting the seed on some things for future episodes. And I think commercial spaces are awesome, but I don't think it should be restricted to hotels. It could be something like animal hospitals. I think we can really diversify our portfolio. And then it's fresh, it's fun, and we're learning the whole time.”
“And depending on who won the hotel competition, they may want to rematch,” Brian adds.
“That's a maybe,” Mika notes. “I will say working with all the other talent, it felt like we were at HGTV summer camp.”
While the first season featured many HGTV stars, there are plenty more to tap for another season. And perhaps the featured stars would be game to return for a potential round two. In any case, the Kleinschmidts are glad they were all able to not only renovate the hotels but better the town. “We definitely left it better than what we found it, which was our goal,” Brian says. “We made a huge difference in a small amount of time there.”
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