Keith And Evan Reveal What It Was Like To Be Judged On Rock The Block - Exclusive
For Season 3 of HGTV's hit competition series "Rock The Block," four teams of two were invited to renovate identical homes in Charleston, South Carolina. Each week, guest judges select a winning team for a specific portion of the house, and in the upcoming season finale, the overall winning team will be selected. Each of the talented duos have brought their A-game this season as twins Leslie Davis and Lyndsay Lamb of "Unsellable Houses," Dave and Jenny Marrs of "Fixer to Fabulous," Egypt Sherrod and Mike Jackson of "Married to Real Estate," and Keith Bynum and Evan Thomas of "Bargain Block," faced off to impress the judges.
During an exclusive interview with The List, Bynum and Thomas discussed what their experience was like going on the competition. They shared how different "Rock The Block" is from their show, "Bargain Block," and why they found the judging aspect of the show particularly challenging.
Rock The Block was completely outside of their comfort zone
In making their series, "Bargain Block," Keith Bynum and Evan Thomas have become fairly comfortable with being filmed and putting their work out there. Running their business and creating the show had almost become second nature, but coming on "Rock The Block" was a completely new experience. Bynum explained, "In your normal day-to-day job, you have pretty much the set day, and it's very nice and regimented and you know what's going to happen when you wake up. And then, HGTV calls..."
On "Rock The Block," everything was on a much larger scale than the duo were used to. The square footage of the house, their budget, and the production crew were all overwhelming at first. "It was like a little 'Rock The Block' town where there were tons of people. It's a totally different production than our show. There's way more crew members, way more construction people, way more everything," Thomas said.
What the Rock The Block judges were like
Along with the size of the production, the "Bargain Block" couple also had to adjust to the competitive nature of "Rock The Block." Keith Bynum handles most of the design elements on their projects, and he has a strong artistic vision that makes their homes distinct. As Evan Thomas put it, "Our style [is] obviously very different ... he's not going to do anything that's a mass appeal just for the sake of mass appeal. If he has a vision about something, he's going to do that, even if it makes a more specific buyer." Bynum's strong creative direction makes their designs unique and personal for the families who move into their homes. However, on "Rock The Block," where the spaces also had to appeal to judges, it could make things more challenging.
Each week on "Rock The Block," guest judges were invited to evaluate a different portion of the renovation projects. In the judging, Bynum and Thomas' home designs were put up against the other teams to pick a winner. Although they agreed that the judges were quite nice, this was still the most challenging portion of the show for both of them. "For the most part, it was a fun experience. The process was fun. The people were fun, but the judgings were definitely really hard," Thomas said.
What was the hardest week for Keith and Evan on Rock The Block?
The saddest week on "Rock The Block" for Keith Bynum and Evan Thomas was when the master bedroom and bath were judged. Bynum recalled, "We both did have a crying spell on the bedroom bath ... Evan kept saying that we really need to do something as a wow factor for the closet, and I was like, 'No, no, no, no. That's dumb. Like the bathroom and bedroom are great enough.'" But, when the judge came to see the space, they agreed that they should have done more with the closet.
The pair were understandably disappointed, and Bynum felt especially guilty for not doing as his partner had suggested. "They are so much nicer than 'Drag Race,'" Bynum joked about the "Rock The Block" judges. "It's hugely still devastating, though, to stand there and be told, 'Hey, you did mess up,' and really, to be fair to Evan, it was me that screwed that up," Bynum added.
"Rock The Block" Season 3 finale airs Monday, April 4 at 9 p.m. ET/PT on HGTV and streams on discovery+.