Ask the Builder

The Mansion Reality TV Show

By Tim Carter
©1993-2009 Tim Carter

Summary: Guess who was on a reality tv show? Yes, believe it or not, yours truly! Among reality tv shows, this one no doubt raises the bar with respect to the prize someone will win. You will not believe what is being given away!

Are you a reality television junkie? If so, then you might want to watch me on a new series called The Mansion. I was fortunate to be cast as one of three judges who were responsible for critiquing the work efforts of eight young people who were contestants in this intense reality television show.

Here it is! This is what the back of the house looked like the night of the finale. Look to the left and you can see the red carpet!

This very unique reality show was filmed right here in Cincinnati, OH where I live. Filming started the last two weeks of July and the final filming happened the first week of September, 2004. The first episode aired on TBS the Superstation on October 2, 2004.

Eight young contestants worked together on various renovation projects during the filming of the show. They were picked from a nationwide search earlier in the summer. Here is the coolest part: One of these contestants is going to win the Mansion and the four acres of ground it sits on at the end of November, 2004! This house is probably worth in the neighborhood of $750,000, so one of the eight people is going to have a heck of a payday soon. Who picks the winner? You do at the conclusion of the seventh episode one month from now.

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The experience was fun as I have never seen what it is like to be a part of a large television show. I have been on live national television before and on live large-market newscasts, but never was I surrounded by so many cameramen, sound technicians, field directors, producers, associate producers, grips, etc.! There were nearly 40 people behind the scenes to make the show happen.

The Reality of Reality TV

Each episode of The Mansion is one hour long. There are about 17 minutes of commercials so you actually only see 43 minutes of programming each week. At the minimum there are 28 hours of tape that has to be boiled down to these 43 minutes. In some instances there was over 100 hours of tape!

Mark and I are having some fun at the party after the taping was completed. Mark asked me for some tips to help him install baseboard at his own home.

Let's talk about just the judgement aspect of the show. Each time the other two judges and I looked at a completed project with the contestant who was foreman, we inspected and talked with that contestant for usually an hour.

In the three episodes that have aired so far, the amount of time allocated to the three judges is about 2, perhaps 3 minutes. Vast amounts of what I and the other two judges said is not making it to the airwaves. I am not upset, but I feel you should know I was constantly pointing out errors and deficiencies in the work. Only time will tell how the tape editors and show producers portray me, and so far it ain't talkin'!

The amount of time spent taping just the judgment part of each episode stretched anywhere from 4 hours to 6.5 hours. Yes! I am talking about that part of the show from where you see the host Mark blow the airhorn to the point where he was handing out checks after we three judges decided what we were to give each episode.

The Finale

It was very cool to be part of the taping of the final episode where the winner was revealed. The friends and family of the contestants were invited as well as Tom, Cassandra and myself - the three judges. All of us were assembled in a large heated tent that had a giant flat-screen TV so we could see in real time what was happening at each segment.

Some things never change....... Need I say more about the imbibing 3 Amigos?

As contestants were eliminated, they came to watch the rest of the taping in the tent with us. I must tell you it was very uncomfortable watching the show amidst the family and friends. It was very tense as Mark was about to announce who did not make it to the next level. You could hear the gasps and groans escape from the family and friends as each of the contestants were eliminated. I could have skipped that part thank you very much.

The after party was very fun. Those contestants who were eliminated didn't seem to mind too much. There was plenty of laughter and good times to be had by all. The liquid refreshments were flowing, and as you can see, it didn't take long for certain individuals to get comfortable!

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