Ellen DeGeneres Has a New Furniture Design Competition Series On the Way
Talk show host Ellen DeGeneres is bringing her love of home design to HBO Max. The streaming platform released the first trailer for “Ellen’s Next Great Designer,” DeGeneres’s new furniture design competition series, earlier this week. Actor and fellow design aficionado Scott Foley (“Scandal,” “Felicity”) will serve as host and judge. Renowned interior designer Brigette Romanek and award-winning artist and designer Fernando Mastrangelo also join the series as judges.
The first two episodes of the six-episode series will premiere on Thursday, April 22 with subsequent episodes premiering weekly. The reality series will follow seven talented up-and-coming furniture designers as they push their creativity to the limit and compete in innovative furniture design challenges from their studios in their hometowns. The competition is stiff — and the stakes are high: the winner will walk away with a $100,000 prize.
The contestants competing for the prize are as follows: Christina Z. Antonio (New York City); Arielle Assouline-Lichten (New York City); Erica Sellers (New York City); Alejandro Artigas (Los Angeles, California); Mark Grattan (New Hope, Pennsylvania); Paul Jeffrey (Phoenix, Arizona); and Urvi Sharma (Providence, Rhode Island).
“I have to represent myself, my art — I have to win,” one contestant says in the competitive trailer. “Winning would be pretty life-changing for me,” another contestant adds. “I’m pretty broke in my business right now.” Watch the suspense-filled trailer above.
“Ellen’s Next Great Designer” is not DeGeneres’s first foray into the design space. The comedian previously hosted HGTV’s “Ellen’s Design Challenge” between 2015 and 2016, which followed a similar furniture design competition format. She also launched ED by Ellen, a lifestyle brand with home, fashion, and pet products, in 2015. That same year, DeGeneres released a book, “Home,” that chronicled her love for design and the dozens of homes she’s renovated throughout the years.
“Ellen’s Next Great Designer” premieres on HBO Max on April 22.