HOUSE RULES: HIGH STAKES is ready to roll… with new faces and game-changing challenges.
WATCH: First look at House Rules: High Stakes
The new season of HOUSE RULES begins in 2020 with HOUSE RULES: HIGH STAKES, and there’s more than a few new twists, turns and faces!
At the helm is internationally awarded designer and former HOUSE RULES judge, Jamie Durie, who will host the show with Seven sport’s television presenter Abbey Way.
There’s also eight new teams from around the country who will battle it out with wallpaper and plaster to transform a penthouse towering 32 stories above the sunny beaches of Queensland’s Gold Coast and impress two brand-new judges.
Joining superstar judge Laurence Llewelyn-Bowen will be two new judges, interior designer and home stylist Kyly Clarke, and prolific Aussie home builder Saul Myers.
Meet the new judges
Kyly Clarke, judge
Interior designer and home stylist Kyly Clarke says joining HOUSE RULES: HIGH STAKES as a judge is a dream come true.
“It ticks so many boxes for me on the work front because I actually get to do two of my favourite things,” Kyly says. “I absolutely love interiors and being creative so being able to spread my message as an interior designer about two things I adore to such a wide audience is very special.”
Here, seven things you you need to know about judge Kyly…
… she gets a kick out of turning a house into a home for her clients.
And adding extra value to its price tag should they ever choose to sell. “I feel providing a beautiful space for them to inhabit is my chance to give back in some way,” she confirms.
… styling is in her genes.
Some of Kyly’s favourite childhood memories are styling her own dance outfits with her mother and helping her dad blueprint an engine on a go-kart and restore old homes, so it’s hardly surprising Kyly enjoys both the technical and aesthetic side of interior designing.
“I started to learn at a young age about colour palettes, scale and how certain things look together,” she confirms. “And that’s really what interiors are on the prosthetic front.”
… she is no stranger to TV.
Kyly first rendezvoused into television at the tender age of eight, appearing in her first commercial. She then embarked on several different careers within the entertainment industry including being a TV presenter for the weather channel before she was asked by a real estate agent if she was a professional stylist when giving him advice on how to style an investment property she was interested in buying.
…she is fully qualified to judge.
Kyly studied interior design at Sydney Design School in 2010. She then launched her own design business, Lyfestyled by Kyly Clarke in 2015 to renovate houses into homes that resonate with their owners. She also founded her own luxurious candle and diffuser collection under the same multi-discipline design company.
… and is a-ok with her co-judges.
Kyly says she is thrilled to be working alongside fellow judges Laurence Llewelyn-Bowen and Saul Myers on HOUSE RULES: HIGH STAKES. And, she hopes this year’s contestants will interpret the rules in their own way. “That’s where the creativity, charisma and charm comes from,” she explains. “Being able to play with the interior space they are working with and turn it into something that plays with the rules.”
… Kyly is the ‘nice’ judge.
Kyly says she is happy to be seen as a “nice” judge who will give positive criticism when it is needed, she hopes her feedback will give the teams the potential to express themselves and show their design talents better the next time around “because there’s always more than one interior design option available to them.”
… and a working co-parenting mum.
Kyly lives in Sydney with her daughter Kelsey Lee, four, who she co-parents with Kelsey Lee’s father, Michael Clarke. When Kyly is not busy designing homes for her clients she can be found at the gym or whipping up a scrumptious meal in her kitchen.
Saul Myers, judge and resident builder
Judge and resident builder Saul Myers would willingly hand over the keys to his house to a bunch of strangers. “Only because I know I could change it straight away if need be,” Saul laughs. “But that is what is so exciting about this competition, you get pushed into avenues that you would never normally explore if you did those renovations yourself.”
Being a builder by trade and Home Beautiful’s renovation expert, Saul Myers likes nothing more than getting on the tools himself and flipping homes. Here’s what else you need to know about new judge, Saul Meyers …
… he is the House to Home Beautiful expert.
Saul recently completed a Home Beautiful web series House to Home Beautiful where he renovated his entire four-bedroom holiday house in North Avoca, NSW. So he knows exactly what this year’s teams need to do to transform each other’s houses.
“They have to look outside the box of their own room and really think about the project that they are taking on from start to finish before they even begin knocking down what’s already there,” he says.
“Things such as the room orientation and being able to manipulate the space they are working with to change its volume, mood and flow all need to be considered.”
… and a veteran builder.
Saul has been in the building industry since he was 18 and has travelled throughout Europe building high end mansions for his clients. He was the site supervisor of a government housing scheme that renovated houses for the indigenous population on Bickerton Island in the Northern Territory from 2011 to 2013.
… he knows exactly what the contestants are lacking.
Saul admits this year’s contestants can sometimes miss the mark with their limited building skills, but he appreciates they are all jumping outside of their comfort zones and are starting to design and construct handcrafted pieces that haven’t just been plucked off the shelves at the shops.
“They are creating memories rather than just stacking up a room with store bought objects and then painting its walls and putting carpet down,” he says.
… but is a straight-shooting judge.
Excited to work alongside his esteemed fellow judges, Laurence LlewelynBowen and Kyly Clarke, Saul hopes his “practical, no nonsense advice,” will spur on this year’s teams to do the best renovations we have seen in the eight seasons of HOUSE RULES so far.
… he is a Sydney-sider and dad.
Saul lives on Sydney’s Northern Beaches with his five-year-old son Brooklyn who started school this year. He also co-owns a gym with friends which specialises in full body strength and conditioning.
Kyly Clarke and Saul Myers will join fellow judge Laurence LlewelynBowen, along with interior design queen and mentor Carolyn Burns-McCrave, host Jaimie Durie, co-host Abbey Way and the eight new contestants in HOUSE RULES: HIGH STAKES.
HOUSE RULES: HIGH STAKES starts April on Seven.
