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'Trading Spaces' Heats up with a New Carpenter
« on: Jul 3rd, 2003, 10:30am » |
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'Trading Spaces' Heats up Summer with a New Carpenter
By Kate O'Hare
LOS ANGELES (Zap2it.com) - Anyone who's caught the last couple of new episodes of TLC's Saturday-night home-redecorating hit "Trading Spaces" knows there's a fresh face under the awning of the show's famous traveling tool truck, joining familiar woodworkers Amy Wynn Pastor and Ty Pennington.
Come Sunday, July 6, at 7 p.m. ET, with the premiere of "Trading Spaces: Family," the new guy becomes a permanent fixture.
Bachelor Carter Oosterhouse, 26, lit up the Internet with his first appearance, but the dark-haired, dimpled West Hollywood resident -- who plays basketball and rugby in his spare time -- tries not to pay too much attention. And that includes the Web site Television Without Pity, which entitled its recap of his first episode, "Carter the Unstoppable Sex Machine."
"Oh, my gosh," says Oosterhouse (pronounce the "Ooster" as "Oh-ster"). "That used to be the name of a band. Oh, my gosh, that is so funny. People say the funniest things online. That's why I've chosen not to really look online anymore, as far as the message boards and stuff. It can get a little out of hand."
A graduate of Central Michigan College, Oosterhouse, the youngest of four children, isn't just a pretty face (although that has earned him some modeling jobs and TV commercials). At 11, he began learning from the carpenter next door and worked in carpentry and construction throughout school.
There may also be something in his genes, as older brothers Todd and Tyler are carpenters.
"I love carpentry," he says, "and I love building things. It's kind of a tight budget myself, but (on the show) there is an ample amount of tools to work with, and it's always building different stuff."
Then there is the side of Oosterhouse that came to Los Angeles to be a successful actor.
"Also, there's the fact of the exposure," he says. "It's good exposure for myself to get on TV and get out there. So, with both of those factored in, it was totally a win-win situation."
Luckily for Oosterhouse, his desires coincided with a need to expand the "Trading Spaces" roster, especially with the addition of the spin-off show. It adds 'tweens and teens into the mix of homeowners seeking to redo each other's rooms in two days, with a $1,000 budget and the help of a designer. Paige Davis continues as host of the original show, with Joe Farrell stepping in on "Family."
"Nobody seems burned out on the show," says Roger Marmet, TLC's senior vice president and general manager. "We're doing 120, 60 that will premiere on Saturday night, and 60 that will premiere on Sunday.
"One of the reasons we're doing the family twist is not to put yet another of the same thing out there. The families and the jeopardy and the conflict between the teens and 'tweens and their parents adds a whole other dimension of entertainment and fun."
Oosterhouse agrees. "I love working with kids. There's never a dull moment. They're always entertaining. They're a source of new life. People forget all about the cameras with the kids around. It makes the parents more open.
"It makes the designers, the carpenter, myself, open up more than before."
In his brief appearances thus far on the show, Oosterhouse's personality seems more like the laid-back, quiet humor of Pastor than the slapstick escapades of Pennington, who has become a toolbelt-wearing sex symbol.
"Ty is pretty laid-back," Marmet says, "but just more of a prankster or a jokester. He's got an easygoing but more energized attitude."
"When I came in," Oosterhouse says, "to tell you the truth, I was very nervous, as if you weren't able to tell from the first episode. But within that, they just wanted to have somebody that counters Ty's humor, that was a little bit more easygoing, still humorous and still fun and witty, but at the same time didn't do all the crazy antics that Ty does."
As for the designers, Oosterhouse cites Frank Bielec and Edward Walker as the one's he's bonded with most so far.
"Frank is really easy to work with. He's a big teddy bear. He's very nice, as well as Edward, who is very genuine. Those two, I think, I've had the easiest time to work with, because when I stepped in, they were the mentors with me, instead of 'We're all business here.' They helped me along within the show and within the episodes that I've worked on."
Oosterhouse has also learned how to deal with the designers. "I don't really get too much into the designers' ideas. As far as designs go, I've learned my lesson just to keep my mouth zipped and build what they tell me to build."
And to those who said that he spent too much time pushing his hair out of his eyes in his early appearances, Oosterhouse pleads nerves and says, "I got a haircut after the second episode. So there might be a bit in the second episode, but not nearly so much in the third."
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