Heavy/HGTV/YouTube Brian and Mika Kleinschmidt
HGTV’s “100 Day Dream Home” stars Brian and Mika Kleinschmidt just announced their new competition series, “100 Day Hotel Challenge”. To promote the new series, the couple appeared on the Monday, February 19 episode of “The Jennifer Hudson Show” to talk about going head-to-head against their spouse in the new show.
While on “The Jennifer Hudson Show”, Brian revealed that he had an interesting tie to host Hudson, who first rose to fame in 2004 while competing on season 3 of “American Idol”, in which she placed 7th overall. “We both auditioned for ‘American Idol’ the same year, you just happened to get a little bit further than I did,” Brian told Hudson, whose jaw dropped upon hearing the news.
“He can sing, I will give him that,” Mika said of her husband’s vocal ability.
Brian Kleinschmidt Explains How He Ended Up on HGTV
During the interview, Hudson went on to ask, “How did you go from ‘American Idol’ to HGTV and building homes in 100 days?”
“It was my backup plan,” Brian joked, adding, “I mean, I always loved to sing but really loved volunteering for Habitat for Humanity and that’s kind of where I fell in love with new construction and helping people out. One thing kind of led to another and here we are in season 5 of our show.”
One detour along his career path led Brian to another reality television show, as he appeared on season 15 of “The Amazing Race” in 2009. Brian competed alongside his then-wife, beauty queen Ericka Dunlap, who won the title of Miss America in 2004. The pair came in third overall in their season, and sometime after airing, they split up, with Brian eventually marrying Mika in 2015.
Mika then shared one of her favorite aspects of the couple’s “100 Day Dream Home” work. Although she has to check for gray hairs as a result of the stress the undertaking puts on her, Mika said, “It’s nerve-wracking but you know what? I think we like the challenge and we really enjoy working with the families. I think that’s the most important for us. It just keeps you on your toes. You have to be able to problem solve on the fly.”
“It’s a lot of hard work and a lot of praying,” Brian added.
‘The Jennifer Hudson Show’ Kicks Off HGTV Week
The Kleinschmidts’ appearance on “The Jennifer Hudson Show” was the first in an entire week of HGTV stars stopping by the program for what Hudson is calling HGTV Week.
In a February 18 Instagram post, “The Jennifer Hudson Show” shared a look at the full slate of HGTV Week guests, which includes “Home Town” stars Erin and Ben Napier, “Fix My Flip” star Page Turner, “Married to Real Estate” stars Mike Jackson and Egypt Sherrod, “Down Home Fab” stars Cole and Chelsea DeBoer, “Lil Jon Wants to Do What?” host and rapper Lil Jon, “Property Brothers” stars Drew and Jonathan Scott, and “Fixer to Fabulous” co-hosts Dave and Jenny Marrs.