‘My Lottery Dream Home’ brings holiday extravagance to HGTV
Rich with cheer: Deck the halls with lots of money this Friday, Dec. 11, as “My Lottery Dream Home: Holiday Extravaganza” hits HGTV in its series debut — or at least the appearance of lots of money, anyway. Known for taking recent lottery winners on house hunts for all types of homes, ranging from sensible to extravagant in the yearround hit series “My Lottery Dream Home,” David Bromstad is moving into the realm of holiday-themed happiness this month. While he plans to keep all of the glitz and glam of the regular series’ episodes, Bromstad is making a change bigger than just a simple redecoration: “Holiday Extravaganza” will be working on a more realistic, everyday budget than its mother show.
Teaming up with non-lottery-winners this time around, Bromstad is bringing multimillion-dollar class to families on a modest budget. From transforming an average living room into a magical forest of evergreen Christmas trees to setting a dream table scape for the holiday feast of a lifetime, this TV host is sure to go out of his way to create charming fantasy spaces that will make these families the envy of all of their neighbors.
“Holiday Extravaganza” joins “Surprising Santa Claus,” “You’ll Be Home for Christmas,” “Holiday Crafters Gone Wild” and Broadway superstar James Monroe Iglehart’s “Biggest Little Christmas Showdown” as a part of HGTV’s holiday lineup this year, so viewers can delight in all the network’s glitter, garland and good times starting as early as Nov. 20 on the network.
So, why not flip over to HGTV and see if you can smell the holiday treats through the screen as David Bromstad rocks the holidays like a millionaire in “My Lottery Dream Home: Holiday Extravaganza,” airing Friday, Dec. 11.
From door to more: Hark! The herald teams will sing during the upcoming holiday special series “The Christmas Caroler Challenge,” airing Friday, Dec. 11, on CW. Back by popular demand following its first season last year, this competition series puts a new spin on an old tradition.
Taking its cues and inspiration from popular competition series such as “American Idol” and NBC’s smash hit “The Voice,” the premise of “The Christmas Caroler Challenge” is a simple one: performance groups are judged by a panel on their stage presence and unique take on well-known Christmas songs. Beginning the season with everyone’s favorite audition phase (which last season lasted two episodes), the series filters through the competition rather quickly: the top 10 loses two of the least popular acts to become the top eight and, from there, six semifinalists become three finalists and one winner is chosen from among them — sounds a bit like the song “The 12 Days of Christmas,” no?
Featuring everything from harmonies to a cappella baselines and even beat-boxing, “The Christmas Caroler Challenge” is co-hosted once again by TV personality Dean Cain (“Masters of Illusion”) and Laura McKenzie (“Marie”). All of Season 1’s panelists will be returning to the show, including INXS bassist Garry Beers, Mikalah Gordon (“Gone Country”) and Brandon Rogers (“Valley Peaks”), even though the series itself will only last a mere three episodes (making it only half the number of the first season). Try not to get too disappointed, however, as each Season 2 episode will run for two hours of Agrade entertainment.
So, tune in — get it? — to CW on Friday, Dec. 11, and catch some musical magic this holiday season with “The Christmas Caroler Challenge.”
Spilling the tea: Tea, rosé, eggnog ... whatever the seasonal beverage, these ladies are spilling it! Season 13 of “The Real Housewives of Atlanta” premieres Sunday, Dec. 6, on Bravo, and the gossip within all of us couldn’t be more excited if we tried.
Having wrapped up its 12th season with three virtual reunion episodes during the month of May, the Housewives — Kandi Burruss, Cynthia Bailey, NeNe Leakes, Kenya Moore, Yovanna Momplaisir, Porsha Williams and Eva Marcille — left us with Cynthia and Kenya stepping back to take a better look at their relationship (as Porsha and Kenya had also done in the episode prior), Yovanna dropping some serious news on the rest of the ladies and, of course, NeNe, who got so mad during the virtual tapings that she closed her laptop and disappeared from the show. This leads me to our next bit of news: there will be a few peaches missing from Georgia in Season 13.
Yup, you guessed it, NeNe is a no-no from now on. The soon-to-be-53-yearold reality star — and one of the RHOA original cast members — has had enough of the shade for now and will not be returning for the hit show’s newest season. Similarly, Eva has also announced a departure from the show, but as we know, when one door closes, another opens, and singer/actress Drew Sidora (“Step Up,” 2006) has just moved to Atlanta from L.A. to join the ladies as the city’s newest Housewife.
From Housewives lost and gained to pandemic weddings, child support quarrels and the ongoing battle for justice for Breonna Taylor and the Black Lives Matter movement, there is plenty to see in this series’ newest season — not that we ever doubted there would be enough drama to keep us going.
So, as stated in the trailer, “keep your mask and your wig on tight, boo,” because Season 13 of “The Real Housewives of Atlanta” begins Sunday, Dec. 6, on Bravo.