Culture: Reality TV: Makeover
Mindless destruction garden/house makeover   (-4)  [vote for, against]
This is the opposite of a garden/house makeover show.

I dont know if this would be called a makeunder or what, but in this show a jealous neighbour or poor relative could send the rich family next door away for a weekend retreat while a film crew and a professional team of destroyers, wreckers, vandals and smashers use any means possible to reduce the residents home/garden to a pile of rubble in less than 24 hours, the look on the residents faces when they come home will be worth all the time and effort.
-- Gulherme, Aug 28 2002

Television eats itself. There's a couple of UK TV programmes that are along these lines.

The first has children redecorating the family home. The parents are packed off to a holiday and Ulrika Jonsson goads the kids into making the house an unliveable shithole using primary coloured (or pink) paint and MDF. The parents return, see the results, pretend to be delighted while plotting elaborate punishments for the budding interior designers.

The second was dressed up as an 'experiment.' 10 boys (and in the second show, 10 girls) are left alone in a house for a couple of weeks. Ostensibly, this was to observe the behaviour patterns of individuals and of groups. In reality, the reason you were viewing was so that you could watch agog as the boys drew/painted all over the walls and smashed various objects. [Surprisingly, there was very little swearing, which was somewhat disheartening.]

And no, I can't remember what either programme is called.
-- calum, Aug 28 2002


<mephista>When I was 11, a team of destroyers, wreckers, and smashers used a bulldozer and a front end loader to reduce my family's home to a pile of rubble, to create a fireblock for an out-of-control building fire, keeping it from spreading into a residential area.</mephista>

I can't recommend it.

By the way, they did it in about 45 seconds. Fuck that 24 hour shit.
-- waugsqueke, Aug 29 2002


[UB], in the US, it's "Trading Spaces". I've seen the original series on BBC America(oxymoron) and I can confidently say that the designers here in the states are much more destructive.

Speaking of British-America oxymorons, can someone please tell me why there are British Petroleum gas(petrol) stations in my hometown of Fort Worth, Texas?
-- BinaryCookies, Aug 29 2002


Yes, BC...BP(British Petroleum) bought Mobilgas in the mid-nineties. That was the death knell for the "winged horses" (Mobil's Pegasus logo) on American soil, although in certain markets (Southern California being one of them) you'll still see the Mobil sign being marketed. In Texas, I suppose British Petroleum just enjoys flaunting the BP logo as a way of tweaking our national noses.
-- jurist, Aug 29 2002


Sure can, Mephi. It's meant to indicate an overly serious annotation in an idea not meant to be taken seriously.
-- waugsqueke, Aug 29 2002


I believe that this idea has been baked by the Israelis (How's that for overly serious?).
-- DrBob, Aug 29 2002


I helped knock a house down once - great sendoff for a punk rocker into the Navy, that one was...
I've woiked out the puzzle, Mephista...
//THIS is thE oPposite of A garden/house Makeover show// Clearly, waugsqueke used certain letters of the summary:
Observe:
32: M = (Reciprical of 23)
09: E (32 - 9 = 23 (!))
11: P (11 + 09 = 20 (Reciprical of 02))
02: H (Reciprical of 20)
03: I (3² = 9)
04: S (2 + 3 + 4 = 9)
01: T (3 - 2 = 1 (note the 3 & 2 form 32))
20: A (09 + 11 = 20)
Makes perfect sense
-- thumbwax, Aug 29 2002


Waaay too much time...
-- angel, Aug 29 2002


I think he has a team of elves - a little sweatshop of elves.
-- po, Aug 29 2002


//Waaay too much time...//
Only took 6 minutes
-- thumbwax, Aug 29 2002



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