The Renovators

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.

The teams finally left the warehouse for their houses, but not before learning that when they returned they would need to present their renovation plans, and the team judged to have the most profitable blueprint would be awarded a $10k Bunnings Gift Card. Walking round their respective properties the teams realised the gargantuan task that lay ahead of them, but attacked their renovations with enthusiasm. Once the presentations were done back at the warehouse, the judges announced Jason H’s Green Team as the winner, giving them a massive early advantage in the competition.

At the Warehouse the contestants are introduced to respected Australian Interior Designer, Greg Natale who will be the guest judge for a special coffee table challenge. In their teams the contestants must design a table, using a specific material, to compliment a White Room decorated by Greg. The coffee table that is deemed most original and well suited to Greg’s room wins a working bee on their house, where all the contestants pitch in and renovate for the day. The losing team faces an elimination challenge. The teams design and construct their coffee tables in a tense five hours. Back at the Warehouse they reveal their designs and Greg decides the winner – The Shop team!

The Sixties Suburban Team find themself in a Real Estate Stress Test elimination after losing the Coffee Table Challenge. ‘Team Chris and Tina’ is up against ‘Team Nathan and Joanne’ to guess the market value of a house in Caboolture, QLD. The unfortunate losers, Nathan and Joanne go head to head in round two creating renovation plans on scale models of the same house. With one hour to complete the plans the house deemed most profitable wins. Nathan’s plans get him through and Joanne must hand back the keys to The Sixties Suburban. Back at The Shop the rest of the contestants are happy to see Chris, Tina and Nathan.

There are no challenges! The contestants have some time off so they can relax and soak up the expertise of the judges with a How To masterclass. They see a funky modern bath room, designed by Peter, become a reality with the help of Barry; Robyn takes them through a decorating session, working with the theme of romance; and Peter visits an old style Bungalow home with architecturally designed renovations, sympathetically and cleverly mixing old and new styles.

With Jo eliminated, the remaining members of the Sixties Suburban team competed in a Brick It Wall Challenge to see who would get the keys and take over as head renovator, with an overjoyed Tina taking a surprise win. Contestants then competed in a White Room Challenge, voting on a theme of French chic. They would have five hours to complete their rooms, which would then be judged by French design expert Helen Hargreaves. With a $10k prize up for grabs, the competition was fierce, but despite a valiant performance from the Fibro Cottage team they couldn’t stop Peter's Half-Done House crew taking the win and the valuable prize.