If you haven’t heard about it yet, my wife Nicola and I were selected this past July to star in a new reality TV show called
My RONA Home airing nationally this fall on
City TV. To be eligible to submit an application to audition for the show, applicants were required to be a family with children and to have
never owned a home together.
Our Family Audition Picture from June 2009
After Nicola entered us, on a whim, in early June, we were immediately contacted and interviewed extensively over the following month. On July 13th, 2009 the host of the show, Elissa Lansdell, along with a camera crew and the producer, arrived at our home at 7:35am to tell us, in person, that we had been selected as one of the two couples that would be competing on the show for a chance to WIN our very first home. 
Following 6 weeks of pre-production planning in July & early August, we began filming / building the house. Between August 25th and September 23rd we filmed 9 episodes over 17 days of filming comprised of over 250 hours of labor. On Wednesday, September 23rd, we wrapped the 9th and final building episode (Landscaping & Deck) on a scorching 34 Degree day.
This truly was a once in a lifetime opportunity and an amazing experience we will never forget. With all the blood, sweat & tears behind us, we now wait to see what our fate will be based on the votes of the viewing public.
TEAM YELLOW
(L to R) Aly (Designer), Nicola, James, Greg (General Contractor), Mike (Handyman) Aaron (Drywall Specialist)
Photo from Episode 1: Meet the Families
The show will premiere on Sunday, October 4th, 2009 at 8pm MT/CT or 9pm ET/PT on CityTV in Vancouver, Calgary, Edmonton, Winnipeg & Toronto and will air 10 episodes over the following 10 weeks.
The following is a synopsis of the show from the website:
2 Houses. 2 Families. 2 Teams of Experts. 1 Month. $400,000 each. But there is only one winner and you decide!
Hosted by Elissa Lansdell, My RONA Home follows two families in a competition to see who can best design, construct and decorate a brand new home, in an exciting race against the clock. The winning family, as voted by Citytv viewers, will win their dream home with all the furnishings – a total estimated value of $400,000.
The two families are matched with a team of experts, and they work room-by-room, with a deadline of 30 hours to complete each phase of the work. Both couples have to live in on-site trailer homes and work side by side, 24 hours a day, making the competition fierce and the emotions run high.
In every episode, viewers will have the ultimate say on whether the Blue Team or the Yellow Team will win the home of their dreams. But there is only one winner, and you decide!
Nicola, Maggie, Lyla & I need YOUR help in two ways:
1. We are asking everyone we know to watch the show and to vote each week. Following each episode you will be able to vote on-line once per day for the entire week for that particular episode. This means you can enter up to 7 votes yourself each week. Each week you are voting for just that episode so, basically, you need to vote everyday from now until the finale in December. It is a lot to ask but there is something in it for you too. Each on-line vote you submit enters you into a draw to win a 2010 Ford Flex Limited All-Wheel Drive appearing on the show.
We are the YELLOW TEAM
2. If you’re willing, we ask that you spread the word to everyone you know as every vote counts. Tell your friends, family, colleauges at work, your church family, neighbors and anyone who will listen to watch and vote.
To vote each week, see previous episodes & video clips from the show, read the family bios and to view a photo gallery of both families, go to the My RONA Home website. Commercials for the show have just started airing and the premiere is this coming Sunday (Sunday, October 4th). The series will run every Sunday for the following 10 weeks so we hope you’ll vote everyday each week.
We will try to provide as much information as we can on this blog including relevant links. Feel free to share the link to this blog with your friends. Also, please take a moment to sign our guestbook so we can see how far the word spreads.
If you are a member of Facebook, there is a “support your team” Facebook group / fan page on the My RONA Home website . You can join the fan-page and voice your thoughts about each episode while showing your support for the YELLOW TEAM. This group fanpage is for both teams. We ask our fans to keep their comments positive about the Yellow Team and avoid making negative comments about the Blue Team. There is also another Facebook Fanpage exclusive to the YELLOW TEAM. You can find it by searching under groups for GO YELLOW TEAM.
This means so much to our family and we thank you from the bottom of our hearts, in advance, for supporting us and the show. GO YELLOW!!!
(L to R) Lyla, Nicola, James & Maggie Mooney just after Lyla was born in April 2009
