Our HGTV Story, Part One: How to Get on HGTV

Way back in the dark ages, before I read blogs or the invention of Pinterest (hey, I warned you it was the dark ages), my husband and I “starred” in our own episode of a show on HGTV called ‘Rip + Renew.’  It was an incredibly wonderful time in our lives, before we knew such things like what it was like to live in the NICU or insert NG tubes or have to face really hard things.  It was back when the focus of our energy was our house and our careers, before we discovered what was truly important thanks to our sweet little Noodle.

When people hear that we were on HGTV, the most obvious question we get asked is: “how did you get on the show?”  Don’t worry, I’ll answer the second most asked question later… can you guess what it is?

Let’s start the story by rewinding four years.  :: bluuuurrrrp ::

{that’s my time machine, just in case you didn’t know.}

Like most mamas expecting their first born, I was happily preparing for our little peanut’s arrival by browsing ideas for her nursery.  Since we were in the dark ages I was left to my own devices of patching together ideas from my favorite channel ever* — HGTV.  While on their website, I noticed in  upper right corner, in teeny tiny letters, the words “Be On HGTV.”  Of course I was curious and clicked through.

Tip #1 for getting on HGTV: don’t assume they aren’t in your area.  Check out the link, read the show descriptions, and you might find a match!

Surprisingly, they listed shows that were casting in our area.  Rip + Renew was looking for homeowners who wanted to add “architectural interest” to a featured room.  I wasn’t sure if we needed architectural interest, but I DID know our living room was horrible and had to be fixed– STAT– before the baby arrived.

Without thinking anything of it, I applied.  The very next day I received a voicemail from the producer. 

I was sure it was a hoax.
 
I was sure it was a friend pulling my leg.
 
But I hadn’t told any friends I’d applied, and 12 hours is a short amount of time to pull off a hoax email about this type of thing.

I was sure that even if it wasn’t a hoax or a funny friend, we’d NEVER get picked.

Turns out, they liked my application for a very specific reason.  Which leads me to Tip #2 when looking to get on a reality show: have a story.  Apparently being pregnant was enough of a hook to entice them to want to meet us.  The bad news was they didn’t want to film our living room.  They were thinking of either the nursery or the sunroom.  The good news was we had an interview scheduled the following week, and we decided to go through with it and give them a chance to see how badly we needed our living room renovated.

The interview came and went.  They taped our living room, soon-to-be nursery, and sunroom.   

Tip #3: pay attention to what the producers are looking for, and work it!  We knew they wanted a story and to add architechtural interest.  As they taped us in each room, we described our needs, how it impacts the baby, and our ideas of what they could do (without being pushy, of course).  We were friendly and open to suggestions– you really do need to be flexible, and for this show they were looking for homeowners that were easy to work with.  This wasn’t one of those “homeowner-zilla” shows, where you get to be cranky.

Thankfully.  Because while being 7 months pregnant could make a gal kinda prickly I certainly could not pull off an attitude like that on tv!

The ball was in their court– there wasn’t much else we could do.  It was time to wait for a phone call with the verdict: would be make it on the show?  if so, what room would they tackle?  AND, with my due date rapidly approaching, would it happen before the baby arrived?!

* except Bravo, ahem.
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