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HGTV star Ty Pennington is well-known for his early work on shows including “Trading Spaces” and “Extreme Makeover: Home Edition”. In a February 21 Instagram post, Pennington looked back on his career, writing “Not to be cheesy but feeling super grateful for this life 🙌🏼 It’s been 24 years of working in TV and I’m so lucky to do it alongside friends that feel like family! ‘Hashtag blessed’… but really tho 🙏🏼🤍,” in the caption.
Pennington spoke with Heavy on March 6 and opened up about the early days of his career and what it has been like getting to renovate homes on screen for a living for over two decades.
Ty Pennington Never Thought ‘Trading Spaces’ Would Blow Up
“I think it was just the beginning of 2001 and ‘Trading Spaces’ came along and at the time I had no idea what I was really on. ‘What is this show?’ Because we did a pilot, they were doing a pilot north of Atlanta, that was really on the outskirts, and everybody had real Southern accents. And so when I first went there I was like ‘Oh my god, what is this show, Redneck Remodeling?’ because everybody from the production company was from Tennessee,” Pennington told Heavy about his first TV job. “But then getting on the show I just realized how much fun it was, but I didn’t realize how quickly it was going to gain popularity. It went from 0 to 5 million. And for a show that was on at 4 o’clock in the afternoon, so many people tuned into it.”
Pennington then went on to talk about the job he is most known for, ABC’s smash hit “Extreme Makeover: Home Edition”, which won Pennington multiple Emmy Awards. Looking back now, Pennington can’t believe he and the team pulled off all of their on-screen projects, saying, “‘Extreme Makeover’ is a whole other thing. That’s like the Everest of television renovation shows. You can’t build a house in 7 days, yet we did it in 6, you know? It’s just insane. It’s funny, I was talking to a couple producers from ‘Rock the Block’, because it was a real tough challenge this year on ‘Rock the Block’, and I said ‘Yeah, remember, I was on a show where we built a house in less than a week, it’s insane!’”
Looking back on his entire career, Pennington added, “I’ve had a crazy, incredible 24 years on television, but it’s not just on the television. We’re actually sweating and bleeding and crying most of the time for these shows. So it was physically and emotionally draining but those are the sort of things that you love. You don’t want things that are easy. I feel like I’m still the same human, but the body just takes it a little different than it used to, but that’s time.”
Ty Pennington Gets to Flex His Acting Chops in New Caesars Slots Commercials
In addition to looking back on the early days in his career, Pennington also spoke with Heavy about one of his latest projects, a partnership with Casesars Slots for its free-to-play mobile app. Pennington had the opportunity to act in multiple commercials for the app, and told Heavy, “What’s great about the teams I worked with is they know I’m creative and it’s usually better if they leave a little bit of room for me to add a little bit of my own Ty-isms. And I love when they come up with an idea like ‘Look we just want you to read this Christmas list, and just do what you do.’ […] I love doing those because they’re short and they’re entertaining and for somebody who has a short attention span that’s what I do best.”
In addition to the commercials, Pennington is working with Caesars Slots to award one lucky player $2,500 in Caesars Rewards each week.
“I just love anytime there’s a chance to win. That’s what it’s all about, I guess, everybody gets a chance. It’s the year of the Dragon, I’m a Dragon. So I’m hoping this is going to be a lucky year not only for me, but for some lucky winner,” Pennington told Heavy.
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