How long do show participants have to keep quiet?
Where have we seen that fabulous host before? And — gasp! — what kind of lying is going on?
Stay tuned to find out what the cameras don't show you on HGTV's "My Lottery Dream Home."
During the first season of "My Lottery Dream Home," the show had a difficult
time with casting because production had trouble finding lottery winners who would
agree to appear on the series. As host David Bromstad revealed to The Wrap -
"It just started out so slow. It took a year for each of the first two episodes just to cast. So,
it was a lot of being on hold — 'Oooh, we have one! Ooops, sorry, we don't'"
However, Executive Mike Krupat of the show's production company, 7Beyond Productions,
revealed to Media Week that once the show became a hit,
it became easier to find willing participants. Additionally, he explained -
"Lottery winners don't really need the exposure and they don't need the money to participate."
The premiere episode of "My Lottery Dream Home" features a couple who had won $180
million in the California Mega Millions lottery. You would think that there'd be more big winners
in the series' future, but it turns out that few of the show's winners reported earnings
this enormous. Host David Bromstad told the Los Angeles Times that the earnings of the
show's winners typically range from around $1 to $4 million. The couple who appeared on the
first episode, are, as of this video, the show's biggest winners to date.
Rick and Lori Knudsen paid $5.5 million for their 16,000 square-foot stunner,
and after purchasing more property around the house, the entire compound was listed
for sale at a whopping $26 million, as shared by The Wall Street Journal in 2018.
While we're not sure how much time clients spend with the HGTV hosts on other shows,
when it comes to "My Lottery Dream Home," they spend quite a lot of time
hanging out with the likable David Bromstad.
In addition to searching for his dream home, Anthony Colligan, who won $2 million by way
of the Louisiana Lottery Powerball, spent time with Bromstad and the HGTV crew in New Orleans
and introduced Bromstad to New Orleans cuisine. As Colligan revealed to The Acadiana Advocate -
"I had to teach David how to suck on some crawfish heads.
He loved the crawfish, but he's not too keen on sucking on the heads."
For Bromstad, he's said that spending time with his clients makes his job
easier, telling AOL in 2016 -
"I'll get the most possible information out of them as
I can. That's probably the hardest part, honestly,
is trying to figure out their style and showing them things that keep us viewer-conscious."
"You know exactly what I want." "I know, I'm good right?"
From the audience's perspective, shopping for a dream home with HGTV's David Bromstad
certainly looks like it's a blast, and as it turns out, it really is.
Lottery winner Anthony Colligan told The Acadiana Advocate about his experience with David, saying -
"My time with David was great. Look, I haven't laughed and met genuine, good people like that
in a long time. David was hilarious. Everything that comes out of his mouth is just funny."
In an interview with WGN Radio, Bromstad explained how he's always been his true self on camera
and that he is truly excited for his clients — regardless of how much they've won, saying:
"Of course, I'm excited for them. They just won a bunch of money. It's a life-changing moment."
While it may seem that the majority of the lottery winners we see on "My Lottery Dream
Home" are fresh off their lottery win, it turns out that many times winners will
appear on the show after having had a bit of time to decide what exactly to do with
their newfound earnings. As Bromstad said in an interview with The New York Times -
"A lot of winners get financial advisers and think it through before they call me.
They know I'm going to give them great deals and show them exactly what they want to see."
As for how much clients typically spend, Bromstad said -
"It all depends on how much money they've just won.
Some people are living paycheck to paycheck and they're pretty smart."
He explained that these winners tend to be savvy,
making sure they make wise decisions and don't get carried away by their winnings.
While appearing on "My Lottery Dream Home" has got to be a lot of fun,
it's also a lot of work, and includes a few very long days of filming.
When Brian and Tuk Kutz filmed their episode, filming each day took as much as six hours,
according to HeraldNet. Rhonda Meath of Minnesota shared with local publication The Lowdown that
when she and her husband, Joe, filmed their episode, they filmed for nine hours a day,
for four days. However, since the couple filmed their segment back in 2014 for
the show's first season, it's likely the process has been streamlined since then.
While the days are long, Meath said she enjoyed the experience very much and noted -
"I was surprised how easy it was, how friendly and accommodating everyone was."
David Bromstad spends a good amount of time with his clients to get to know exactly what they're
looking for in their dream home. But in most cases, they really don't know what they want.
"And he wants cows." "Yeah I would like to have 200 acres."
"Ah -no nope nope nope. Smaller." "Smaller."
As Bromstad said in an interview with AOL -
"It's hard to fulfill because they're still starry eyed about winning millions of dollars."
So, it turns out that the three very different options his clients are shown help them hone
in on what they really want. Bromstad reported that the oddest request he's received was to find
a house with lots of bathrooms, the only reason being that they were in the exclusive Hamptons of
New York and apparently needed more bathrooms than average based on their location. However, what he
sees most often from his clients is their wanting to purchase a home near family. As Bromstad said -
"A house could be in the middle of nowhere, and they always stay close
to family. That was something that really surprised me. It's all about family."
While what you see on "My Lottery Dream Home" is probably about as realistic as reality TV comes,
there are still some aspects of the series that are fudged. In most cases, the lottery winners
are seeing the homes they tour for the first time. However, there have been a few episodes
over the years where the winner had already been living in their dream home before filming.
For instance, according to The Lowdown in October 2014, Rhonda and Joe Meath were contacted about
appearing in the then-new show about lottery winners shopping for their dream homes.
In reality, the couple had already moved into their new home. At the production crew's request,
the couple had to get creative at times; for example, they'd change outfits when filming
for different scenes to make it look as if the home tours were spread over several days.
Then there's Rick and Lori Knudsen, who appeared on the first episode of "My Lottery Dream Home."
The winners' niece or nephew shared with BuzzFeed that their uncle and
aunt had lived in the mansion for two years prior to the episode's filming
If someone from HGTV contacted you about appearing on one of their shows,
how would you react? Well, it turns out that some of those contacted by the network for this very
reason were in a state of disbelief at first, and even questioned the legitimacy of the call.
For example, when restaurants are selected to be featured in the series,
network representatives call the owners to get their permission and go over various details.
When the owner of Leechburg, Pennsylvania's Moonlight Inn received his phone call about the
network's decision to choose his restaurant to film a scene for an upcoming episode,
co-owner Nico Dongiovanni didn't believe it was for real, saying in an interview with TribLive -
"I thought it was a joke when a producer called me at work.
But I remembered someone in Leechburg winning the lottery."
While David Bromstad is the fun and flashy host of "My Lottery Dream Home," he's also
a regular guy who just so happened to win a reality TV show competition.
In 2006, he was the winner of the first season
of HGTV's "Design Star," an opportunity which catapulted his career as an HGTV host.
That said, he can relate to his clients on the show who come into newfound wealth
from more humble beginnings because he had experienced the same earlier in his career.
"I just kept screaming and screaming,
and I peed my pants -" "Pee your pants?"
"Yes!" "Hey I'd think I'd pee my pants too!"
He told WGN Radio in early 2022 that before his big win in 2006,
he had living from one paycheck to another, and, in July 2021, he told The List -
"I won 'Design Star' and that was my lottery. I'm generally not a very lucky person."
When it comes to reality TV, participants are expected to keep certain things quiet,
as mandated by production. When the Moonlight Inn in Leechburg,
Pennsylvania, was featured in a July 2021 episode of HGTV's "My Lottery Dream Home,"
its owners had to keep the filming a secret for over a month.
In another case, in June 2022, David Bromstad shared with his Instagram followers some pics
of himself standing in front of horror author Steven King's Victorian-style house
in Bangor [BANE-gor], Maine. In the caption, he wrote he was impressed both
by the property and the city itself. While Bromstad didn't respond to questions, WCYY
proposed that it's likely he was in the area to film an episode of his HGTV series. Furthermore,
the outlet explained that whenever filming for an upcoming season of a TV show takes place,
specific locations are kept on the down-low until the news is officially released to the media.
In an interview with The Wrap in 2018,
Bromstad revealed that he rarely tests his luck with the lottery, saying -
"You'd think I would [play the lottery], especially rubbing elbows with all of these
really rich, really lucky people. No, I do not play the lottery.
It's hard for me to spend $30 on a scratcher, or $20, or even $10 on a few scratchers."
And, when it comes to watching the HGTV show he's been hosting since 2015, Bromstad said that,
while he loves his job, he generally doesn't tune in to watch because he doesn't want his mind to
be thinking about work, and he added that, every so often, he will watch an entire episode, but,
other times, he just doesn't like seeing himself on screen.