Part remodeling, part relationship counseling, the outspoken home designer branches out to his second reality show for the network.
Bravo has found the perfect vehicle for Flipping Out star, Jeff Lewis, with his new home remodeling series, Interior Therapy, which combines both his talent for remodeling with his tendency to pick out what’s wrong with people.
Lewis and longtime assistant, Jenni Pulos, appeared Saturday at Bravo’s TCA presentation in Pasadena and here’s five things they revealed about the new series.
1. It’s both home design and therapy show rolled into one. “It’s conflict by design,” executive producer Andrew Hoegl describes the series, which places Jeff and Jenni in clients' homes for both a remodel and a hard look at their relationships. “We were looking for people who have a problem that’s centered around their space.”
2. The client isn’t totally out of the loop. Unlike other remodeling shows, it sounds like these clients won’t be going away for several days to a big reveal at the end of the episode without having some say. “I try to keep them as involved as possible without ruining the surprise. I prefer a client to be very involved,” says Lewis.
3. Housekeeper Zoila stars also. “Does she want to be there? No. Does she eat all day long at Craft service? Yes,” Lewis jokes. He says the housekeeper helps in the beginning of the process to pack up, organize and clean before the remodeling happens. She also comes in to clean and set up before the clients return to see their homes at the end of the process.
4. There’s some investment in these clients’ lives. “We got really emotionally involved,” Pulos says of the clients they work with. At the same time, Jeff is clear that doesn’t mean he ends up liking everyone they work with. “We spend so much time with these people. It’s not always about the paycheck -- which is why I did this,” he says. He then adds, “I sometimes hated them, wanted them dead, and wanted to go to the neighbors and see what I could do there.”
5. Things don’t always go as planned. “We don’t always finish,” Lewis says. He says we’ll definitely see the real side of home remodeling shows in that they don’t always finish the job in the time allotted.
