The Renovators

26 Renovators contestants – the Jacks and Jills of all trades – arrived at the warehouse to be greeted by host Brendan Moar and judges Robyn Holt, Peter Ho and Barry Du Bois. Introduced to six houses from hell, the hopefuls learnt that the first selection would be awarded to the best performer of the first Challenge – which then arrived on the back of a truck. The contestants were given 48 hours to renovate the dilapidated house in question, inside and out. Phil adopted the role of project manager, dividing the troops into their areas of expertise and setting them to work. The house was completed on time, and spectacularly, with the judges giving special mentions to Keenan, Michael, Peter and Natalia. Joanne was judged to have contributed the most overall, giving her first pick of the houses, as she choose the Sixties Suburban.

A new day in the warehouse began with a Basic Skills Challenge – the contestants taking it in turns to hammer in nails. Those bending their nails were eliminated from the first stage of the Challenge, and subsequently whoever missed the nail and hit the wood was also sent to the sidelines. The winners went through to the second round, which involved picking a chair from the storeroom and restoring it. Bob, Christie and Luke made the final round, the White Room Challenge, in which they had to renovate a room and base it around their chair. Luke’s striking monochromatic room secured him the overall win, and he selected the keys to the Inner-City Terrace.

The contestants competed in an Off-Site Challenge, all except for Joanne and Luke, who already held house keys. Split into two Teams – Black and Gold – each worked on renovating houses that carried the same purchase price. Whichever Team was able to add the most value to their house in a day would win their captain (Kathy for the Blacks, Jason H for the Golds) pick of the keys to the remaining houses. The captain of the losing Team would sit out the following Challenge, and have to pick a fellow member to join them. Both Teams produced exceptional results, but the Golds managed to add $30,000 more value to their property. Jason H chose the keys to the Weatherboard, while Kathy selected Bob to join her on the sidelines for the next Challenge.

With another house key up for grabs, the action kicked off with a White Room ‘Car Wars’ Challenge. Teams of three were required to renovate a room based around a car obtained from the wrecker’s yard, incorporating as much of the car into their design as possible. The ideas all showed immense creativity, but it was the Formula One-inspired executive suite produced by Peter, Chris, Lisa, Laura, Tina, Christie and Samantha that won the judges' vote, sending them through to the Basic Skills Challenge. The first round was wallpapering, with Peter, Chris and Lisa the standout performers. The final round saw the trio painting walls, which had to be completed to the judges’ satisfaction. It was a closely fought battle, but Peter narrowly took the win, and selected the keys to the Half-Done House.

With keys for the last two remaining houses up for grabs, the ‘Street Appeal’ Challenge stakes were high. Contestants arrived at the warehouse to find a row full of houses with lifeless facades and dirt yards. Breaking off into pairs and picking houses, the Teams had four hours to transform their property frontage into something appealing to a buyer. With a striking black and white colour scheme, Michael and Fiona were voted the winners by the Challenge’s guest judges – 250 members of the general public. To decide who would get first pick of the remaining keys they competed in a Flat Pack Challenge, won by Michael. He decided to go with the Fibro Cottage, leaving Fiona to take The Shop.

The contestants were informed that a double elimination would be taking place. First they competed in a Basic Skills Challenge, which required estimating the correct length and sawing a replacement table leg, with Barry judging the results. The unsuccessful contestants went through to round 2, a White Room Challenge where the task was to express themselves. As the judging began Phil made a shocking announcement that he would be withdrawing from the competition for personal reasons, leaving only one elimination spot to be decided. The judges gave Christie’s room the nod over Laura's, sending her home. The Renovators’ key holders then took it in turns choosing the renovation teams for their houses.