When Shaz learnt that the prize money on My Reno Rules had jumped from $100k to $1 million for the winners and $250,000 for second place, she says it didn’t change how she planned to compete – but it definitely changed the mood for some others.
“In House 2 it never changed,” interior designer Shaz, 34, tells TV WEEK. “We were always the best of friends and still are. But in House 1 it got more heated.”
While tensions simmer between Emma and Michelle and Julia and Nathan next door, Shaz and her husband, landscape project manager Mitch, found them-selves growing even closer to their housemates, Franky and Isaac, helping each other wherever they could.
That support even extended across the street to neighbour Emma, who was struggling and considering walking away from the show entirely.
“I remember sitting at lunch with Emma and she was quite upset,” Shaz recalls. “I gave her a pep talk and said: ‘You can do this. I know you can do this.’”
As relationships around them were tested, Shaz says she and Mitch stayed focused on why they signed up in the first place – their 13-year-old son, Lenny. Shaz and Mitch had only been together a few months when they discovered they were expecting. Shaz became a mum at just 21 and admits it was far from easy. “I wouldn’t recommend it,” she says. “I had a really rough pregnancy, and I had Lenny a month early.”
Still, what began as a tricky chapter turned into the life she always wanted.
“I was lucky that it turns out Mitch and I are soul mates,” Shaz laughs.
But as for expanding the family, she says they are happy exactly as they are.
“I have type 1 diabetes and a couple of other medical conditions, so it’s not worth having another one, for my health,” she explains.
“We are very happy, the three of us.”
My Reno Rules airs Tuesdays at 7.30pm on Channel Seven and 7Plus.
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