‘Rock the Block’: Ty Pennington Dishes on Season 3’s ‘Incredibly Difficult Competition’
Q&A
Ty Pennington has seen it all when it comes to home renovation shows, from Trading Spaces to Extreme Makeover: Home Edition, Battle on the Beach to, right now, Rock the Block, currently in its third season on HGTV and Discovery+. Pennington returns to host as four pairs of HGTV superstars go head-to-head in a battle for neighborhood supremacy.
The rules are simple: Each team gets the same amount of time and money to completely renovate identical houses in South Carolina. If their home has the highest appraisal value at the end of the season, the street is named in their honor! With only the kitchens completed, the competitors still have a way to go before Charleston buyers can attend an open house.
Ahead of the latest episode on March 7, the host chatted with TV Insider about exciting guest judges, new challenges, how Rock is unique and more.
You’ve hosted and worked on plenty of these kinds of series in the past. What makes Rock the Block different? I think what makes this show so compelling is that you see the process of what it takes to really transform a space. And considering these are all identical layouts, you see four completely different visual versions of what a beautiful home should look like. I think it just defines how we’re all different, how we all have different tastes and styles. And that’s what I love about it: One person may go with a lot more white, while another team might bring in a dark, luxurious color on the cabinets, and then it goes all the way down to the finishes and which one should we choose and all of the above.
The other really compelling thing about this show is the family connection, because you’re either married, you are siblings, you’re partners—you’re in this more than just for a competition. You have a family, you have a business you’re running, you have all this other stuff going on. And so, the stress of real life never really slows while you’re also doing this incredibly difficult competition.
Given that each pair features at least one HGTV personality (stars of Unsellable Houses, Fixer to Fabulous, Bargain Block, and Married to Real Estate), is it more difficult to judge their work when they have more experience? Well, yeah. With experience comes confidence, and with confidence comes stubbornness! But that’s the beauty of it. A lot of these guys are so experienced and seasoned that it is really interesting for me, just being the host instead of being a competitor, [to see] that nobody really likes to be critiqued, even by your peers. [I enjoy] watching these guys get judged by somebody else who’s also very good at what they do. It can go two ways: You can really respect the opinion or you could be like, “Well, that’s just not the way I see it.”
But that’s also part of the allure of the show because if you are gonna judge, you have to explain why you did or didn’t like it. I think it’s great, even for people like myself or seasoned designers. You can see a different perspective. So you rethink: “Oh, maybe I do need to open up my mind instead of always thinking this way.”
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What was it like working with guest judges Jonathan and Jordan Knight from New Kids on the Block (and Farmhouse Fixer) in the season premiere? It was great because there’s so many fan crushes. I mean, the twins [Unsellable Houses‘ Leslie Lamb and Lyndsay Lamb], like, probably have every album of New Kids on the Block and saw them on tour repeatedly, so it was great to see everybody freak out over having these guest judges.
They’re passionate about design and they have very real opinions of what they think is good design as well. So it’s just interesting to get a take from somebody who not only does huge renovations in the Northeast but also [brings] such a diverse background.
Each team has six weeks and a total budget of $225,000 to complete their houses—seven days for each room. For those less knowledgeable, is that time frame and budget typical for most renovations? It really all depends on where, what time of year, what weather you’re dealing with…. There’s so many variables that come into play, but it’s safe to say that the budget and the timeline are a little bit strained in the sense that it’s not a lot. It’s enough to make a really big change, but there’s not a lot of time.
You have to remember, too, we go through some challenges with things like the pandemic and getting materials, etc. So all of that plays into whether or not we can get it done on budget and on time. And, let’s just face it, it’s Murphy’s Law. Whenever you take on a project, if something can go wrong, most likely it will go wrong. And that’s why it’s so fun to watch because there’s gonna be a struggle.
While the teams are focusing on design, they also have to make decisions keeping in mind their house’s future appraisal. What extra challenge does that bring? As a creative designer, designing a space that you like, maybe that you’re gonna live in, is one thing. But designing a space that has to sell to a certain market, you really have to keep things conservative enough that someone’s gonna come in and say, “Oh, yeah, I could move in here right now.” And so you have to realize, you know, black walls in my bedroom may not work because it’s about who’s going to be able to sell it for the most on the block, and not everybody is a fan of having really dark walls in their bedroom.
You have to really judge that area, what the market’s coming for, what people are looking for. And what I think is so great about Rock the Block, too, is they really want to make sure all the designers knew that Charleston aesthetic, that low-country, architectural vibe, and how you can bring some of those elements into the house.
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Anything else you’re excited for viewers to see this season? Look, in this crazy world we live in, considering the struggles we’ve all gone through with the last couple of years, I think what’s also really great about this show is you see four teams—families, if you will—from completely different backgrounds, from completely different parts of the country, all competing. But at the same time, they end up having a bond that’s just so incredible to watch because they’re competing against each other, but they’re also laughing and having the best time of their lives teaching each other.
We’re building a community that we’re eventually gonna sell for people to live in, but the experience of building that community is pretty awesome because you really see what it’s like for people to live next to each other while they’re creating at the same time—having fun and doing some of their best work, something they can be proud of for the rest of their life.
That being said, surviving it is half the battle, but you learn so much about yourself and you also learn just how talented your neighbors are. I think that’s really important that we get to see so many different perspectives. Every one of these teams rocked it so hard. I can’t wait for everyone to see every single episode and especially the finale.
Rock the Block, Season 3, Mondays, 9/8c, HGTV & Discovery+
