When competing in a show like House Rules, where you’re constantly on your feet navigating a construction site, you’d expect the weight to be falling off.
In contestant Lisa’s case, however, it’s quite the opposite. The South Australian flight attendant, who’s competing alongside her husband Andy, admits she’s piled on the kilograms thanks to the stress and pressures of the show.
Here, she tells TV WEEK just how much the competition has affected her.
Lisa’s stress levels are through the roof (Image: Channel Seven).
Last week, you were in tears when trying to put together the bathroom as part of Mikaela and Eliza’s renovation. What was going on?
I think it was just a culmination of exhaustion, missing home and busting ourselves to do the best we can. I just had a moment, and I needed to cry. It was a build-up of everything.
You’ve admitted to feeling “out of your league”. Why is that?
We came into House Rules thinking we would be OK, and that we had an eye for design. But it’s taking us a bit longer to grasp the rules of what to do and what not to do. It’s intimidating; we definitely felt the other teams had many more ideas.
Lisa says it’s taken them “longer” to grasp what to do on the show (Image: Channel Seven).
Were you tempted to pack up and leave the show?
There are moments where you think, ‘What are we doing here?’ When the judges don’t like our designs, it’s really hard. It’s defeat after defeat.
Has the stress taken a toll?
This time last year, I was getting ready to get married. I think I was 10kg lighter. On House Rules, you eat whatever you can. If there’s a sausage roll, you eat it! You do whatever you can to get through the week – it’s quick, and means we can focus on our designs. It’s not ideal. Because I’ve put on weight, I don’t feel myself.
House Rules airs Monday to Wednesday, 7.30pm, and Sunday, 7pm, Channel Seven.
