Handyman Superstar Challenge

In this first episode of the second annual Handyman Superstar Challenge, this year’s ten finalists face the toughest season yet! Picked for their skill, knowledge and on-air potential, every contestant will have to prove they have what it takes by facing each judge individually. Three tough challenges for three even tougher judges means the pressure’s on. Forced to live together but compete against each other, this year’s handymen, and women, will have to step it up to claim their place in the competition. The contestant who doesn’t measure up in all three areas of skill, will be forced to leave their luxury loft, almost as soon as they arrived.

Our nine remaining contestants now have the chance to show their creative side. Like last season, today our contestants will have to build something functional and creative. Faced with a massive pile of old, broken, tired and wood-based junk, they will have to conceive and build – in only 3 short hours – the most impressive item they can dream up. This year the contestants will have to face not one, but two daily challenges – the second being an on-camera screen test. Today’s task – a three-minute interview with HGTV’s very own celebrity ‘Junk Brothers’. It’s re-claimed materials and the contestants will have to salvage more than just wood – they’ll have to save themselves from elimination!

Now down to eight, our contestants will be paired up into four teams of two in a test of skill, creativity and floatability! Given just the basics and a few odd materials, each team must build a floating vessel that must float and support their weight. Planned and executed properly it shouldn’t take more than a few hours. Our judges will be standing dock side to see if our sailors will sink or swim and they’ll still have to 'present' and 'defend' their work, as part of their TV-challenge, to our panel of judges. The two dockers that disappoint– that’s right, two – will have to duck out of the competition.

With six contestants left, this episode tests the purest of handyman skills, instincts, and knowledge with the handyman obstacle course – not just a race against time but also a revealing look at how the finalists execute standard handyman tasks under pressure. After this grueling course, our contestants will ready themselves for their on camera 'RANT': a challenge that tests their ability to wax- passionately and poetically on a handyman-related subject. How well can our contestants talk the talk and walk the walk like all good TV-hosts do? Unfortunately, the contestant who blows this round of competition clearly doesn’t know what it takes well enough to stick around.

Only five contestants remain. It’s time to get serious and put our handy group to some real work. Today, our finalists will have to build an actual wall, out of actual drywall, complete with a window and a door, in just four short hours. And while they may think themselves to be bona fide builders, there’s still the TV-challenge to contend with; this week tests our contestant’s ability to hold their own while hosting an ‘Ask A Handyman' segment. Needless to say, based on how their construction skills, play for the judges and the camera, the least capable craftsman won’t be getting a call-back.

This episode takes our final four contestants to one of the city’s largest lumber yards to prove just how well they can work from a plan. Greeted by a few disguised diagrams– their task today is to create and construct a made to measure piece of furniture. With a warehouse worth of materials to choose from, our guys and gal have a mere sixty minutes to select whatever supplies they’ll need to build their piece. After their short but sweet shopping spree our contestants move into two intense hours of execution. Post-build, they’ll also 'present' to camera by leading a how-to segment showing our judges just how-to work with wood. But by the end, one more contestant will be asked to leave their lumber and the competition.