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 Designer/TV producer Debbie Travis brings her reality show, From The Ground Up with Debbie Travis, back to Global tonight. (Michael Peake/Sun Media) |
Debbie Travis has been described as an interior designer who became a TV personality. But maybe it’s the other way around.
“I rather would be called a TV producer, because I can do that till I’m 100,” said Travis, whose reality show From The Ground Up with Debbie Travis makes its second-season debut tonight on Global.
“I produce many shows and I have about 250 people working in TV. I mean, anybody, to be honest, can choose a vase. But I think what I have done in Canada is change lifestyle programming for the better, been a leader in this genre, and that’s what I’m most proud of. That’s more important than which candle looks best.”
With that in mind, Travis stressed that From The Ground Up is not a decorating show.
“If it were, it would be on HGTV (Home and Garden Television),” said Travis, a native of Britain and former fashion model who became an interior-design guru with TV shows like The Painted House and Debbie Travis’ Facelift.
“This is a network show and I want it to be clever. It’s basically about seeing the wheels turning, and also about having the viewer playing along. When you watch Deal or No Deal, people are saying, ‘Choose that one.’ That’s what good TV is.”
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From The Ground Up has Travis looking for a chief designer for her new brand of condos and homes. She offered assurances that the job is very real, and obviously a dramatic fast-track for anyone’s career.
Unlike other reality shows, the 14 participants are not merely morons off the street. They have design backgrounds ranging from interior to industrial, artistic to architectural.
“This is an elimination show, which is the first time I’ve done this,” said Travis, who gives the participants various tasks — some fussy, some frivolous, some finite, some funny — through the 10-episode run. “It probably is the most gruesome thing to do, to stand there and say, ‘You’re not the right person.’
“It’s not like a job interview where you’ve seen somebody for 10 minutes. They’ve given up their jobs to be there. We did the whole show in seven weeks and they didn’t get paid. So they’ve committed.
“Some reality shows are forced. You can’t just have characters for the sake of it — the bitch, the wimp — because the viewer doesn’t believe it. We’re bored of that. But if you make sure the stakes are high, and it’s real, the audience will follow the hunger.”
Speaking of hunger, Travis was asked if any part of her is hungry for a complete change of scenery, meaning a departure from anything to do with design. What if she were asked to join the cast of The View, for example? Or to be the next host of The Price is Right?
“Television networks call on a weekly basis, which is very nice,” Travis admitted. “If the right project came along, absolutely. But I never really look at the future. I have no talent at all, I really don’t. I surround myself with very positive people and things happen.
“Both my kids are fleeing the nest, so there is more opportunity to do more things. But at the same time, I have worked really hard and I want to kind of enjoy this as well.”
Whether choosing a career path or choosing a paint colour, Debbie Travis’ instincts have proven to be pretty good.