‘Battle on the Mountain’: Kim Myles on New HGTV Show’s Rocky Moments & Shocking Twists
The competition is ready to heat up in Breckenridge, Colorado as the Battle on the Mountain gets underway. HGTV’s new series, which premieres Monday, January 22, brings a similar format to the hit Battle on the Beach. In the new show, popular network fixtures Rico León (Rico to the Rescue), Kim Myles (Design Star: Next Gen), and Kim Wolfe (Why The Heck Did I Buy This House?) each week lead teams of married couples in their efforts to leave with the $50,000 cash prize by renovating and transforming a property.
This will be easier said than done with participants challenged to bring up the highest value to their respective homes. They’ll work with coaches in each episode to tackle a particular space including living rooms, bedrooms, bathrooms, and outdoor spaces. Familiar faces from the HGTV universe will judge each project and choose a winner. During the two-hour premiere, Chelsea and Cole DeBoer (Down Home Fab) award the ones they think have the best kitchen and dining room makeover for the first $3,000.
Other judges to come during the season include Egypt Sherrod and Mike Jackson (Married to Real Estate); Jasmine Roth (Help! I Wrecked My House) and Page Turner (Fix My Flip). Viewers will also see appearances by Battle on the Beach mentors Taniya Nayak, Ty Pennington, and Alison Victoria, as well as Cristy Lee (Steal This House) also will present extraordinary challenges that test the stamina of the renovation teams.
Here Myles teases twists and rocky moments to overcome on the mountain.
Jessica McGowan/Getty Images
How did it feel to be asked to participate in the show?
Kim Myles: I was thrilled, mostly because I would be a mentor. So, I wouldn’t be the one to swing the hammer. Seriously though, competition shows are how I came to fame. I won Design Star in 2007. We have seen these competitions for years, but what stood out for me was the location in Breckenridge. This is not the beach. This is 13,000 feet above sea level. It’s gorgeous there but thin on oxygen. The moods are a lot more than hammer swinging. There are a lot of moods and exhaustion. It puts people already under pressure under more pressure. It’s a $50,000 prize. It just ups the stakes, which is quite frankly, fun to watch. I love that it was also couples, and married couples, all unique. When a camera is on them, and they haven’t slept, and there is not a lot of oxygen, it’s a fascinating human experiment. It’s so fun and so different.
That altitude is no joke.
It’s real. I’ll tell you. You hear about altitude sickness. The first day I got there you are to acclimate. But to truly do that, it takes a week or two to acclimate properly. Even taking three steps, you feel like you’ve gone up three flights. It’s already hard enough to have the teams pull off what they have to pull off.
How do you measure up the competition with Rico and Kim?
I love them so deeply. They are great folks. Also, they are proper competitors. I like they showed up and brought their A-game. That was probably hard to do going against the Design Star winner as a mentor, but they didn’t back out. They weren’t scared. I give them props.
You are coaching Lymari and Tony Navarro of Bloomington, Indiana. A longtime married couple with five children. What did you think of their dynamic?
They are a long-time married couple. They do have kids, but they have grandkids. So, while the other teams are busy working on their social media, these two are trying to make a business happen while chasing a grandbaby. I think they bring wisdom and experience and a real sense of context to the situation because they have lived. That made them extra special competitors because they were going against younger couples, younger people who just don’t have the life experience. That was an advantage for them. They had a real sense of what really mattered. What to get worked up over and what to just let pass. That is what stood out, aside from being wildly talented creators, designers, makers, and builders. They also worked well together. They were tough to beat.
Any judges you were particularly excited to see on the show?
All of them. It’s a great lineup of people who truly do know what it takes. They are judging from true experience. They know what went into each one of these renovations. That was truly fun to have them be part of it. The original mentors from Battle on the Beach, Ty Pennington, Alison Victoria, and Taniya Nayak. They came to pass the baton to us, so I was excited to meet them. To me, I’m a massive HGTV fan. These are the people I love and watch. Everyone who showed up and gave their time and brought their different perspectives. It was a proper masterclass.
What can you tease of what we will see in terms of challenges these teams will face?
There are so many unexpected things. Competition shows you know there will be twists and turns. You’re going to have the unexpected. There are some very interesting personalities. Very interesting, some might say challenging personalities. So that in itself is a twist. You normally don’t see that on HGTV. I think again the fact of having the altitude to deal with. That piece truly was another character in the show. That played a huge role. It turned normal things, and normal considerations into massive challenges. There was a weather component, a wild animal component. Bears walking on the set. The challenges were many.
What were some of your pearls of wisdom to your team?
What I told my team is it is about time management. It’s not a sexy pearl of wisdom, but damn it, it is the one. You truly have six weeks to pull this off. It’s so short a window to get this massive lift done. Not just accomplished enough to beat out two other fabulously talented teams with a $50,000 prize. They are managing the budget, and really being able to move fast. That’s one of the things that is an indicator of who takes the competition like this. If you fail fast, it’s about pivoting quickly without losing your mind or having an emotional breakdown. It’s about being mentally strong tough and emotionally resilient. The premiere we are taking on the kitchens and dining room.
Besides Battle on the Mountain, you also just had Battle of the Bling aired where you worked alongside Todrock Hall. Can we expect a Season 2?
I hope so. He is a riot and so much fun. I will always say yes to the offer of running around to snoop in people’s homes who are just over the top. Give me OTT all day. It’s fun to be a voyeur and to see what people do because I love beautiful space, but I’ll tell you what I love even more. Spaces that make you want to gossip. Spaces that make me have an opinion. Why did they? How did they? What was in the water? There are people among us who do not live like the rest of us. And they love it. And it’s so fun to check out. I hope Season 2 is in the works. That would be super fun.
Battle on the Mountain premiere, January 22, 9/8c, HGTV
