New HGTV Show Pays Cash For Home Improvement

by Deidre Woollard (RSS feed)
May 11th 2009 at 8:01PM

These days when even the millionaires don't feel rich, is a $250,000 prize enough incentive for a reality show? It can be if you are facing foreclosure. HGTV's latest show the $250,000 Challenge" offers a smaller prize than many reality shows but you don't have eat any insects to win. The show pits five families in the same neighborhood against each other to compete in a series of home improvement and design challenges. The families who do the best work move on to the next challenge and toward the ultimate goal of earning a newly renovated home and a $250,000 cash prize.

A woman in Sherman Oaks, California, Kelley Alexander, is participating with the hopes of avoiding foreclosure. As a Chicago Tribune article reports, if she loses, she could also lose her home. While other shows in the past have focused on fixing up a house to sell it for more money this show represents an economic shift where most people are renovating with plans to stay in their homes for the long haul. If you have to do it yourself, you may as well get paid for it. The show is hosted by Drew Lachey and starts May 31.

Tags: hgtv, reality show, RealityShow