Aussie reality TV stars Jess Eva and Norm Hogan are absolutely fizzing that their renovation show Budget Battlers is being shown in New Zealand.
“We’re just so grateful!” exclaims Jess.
“When we found out the programme was going to screen here, I said to Normie, ‘We’ve got to come and tell people about the show’, because the cost-of-living crisis in New Zealand is similar to in Australia. “We’ve got to shout it from the rooftops that no matter if you’ve got five bucks or 100 bucks, you can do something to make your space a little bit nicer!”
Aotearoa is a special place for both Jess, a radio host, and Norm, a builder.
“My best friends in the world live in Auckland,” Jess points out. “Plus, my parents holidayed here around about nine months before I was born, so I always say I was conceive in New Zealand!”
The down-to-earth pair won hearts with their sense of humour and relentless banter during season 14 of The Block Australia in 2018, when they walked away with $209,000 in profit.
“We came last, but we still made money,” admits Norm with a grin.
It all started with a DIY kitchen
After their stint on The Block, the idea for Budget Battlers came from Jess renovating their kitchen for just $400. Armed with spray paint, tile paint and $8 grout, she proved you truly can transform your home on a budget.
“I said to Normie, ‘I think this is what we should do.’ We pretty much realigned our entire lives and went for it.”
They literally put everything on the line for Budget Battlers, selling the family home to finance the pilot for the show alongside a production company.
“For us, even if it didn’t work out, we’d wouldn’t have minded,” says Jess. “We give everything a crack! We aren’t the sort of people who want to look back and think, ‘We shoulda done that.’”
However, it took a while for their gamble to pay off. Two and a half years went by between filming the pilot and the rest of the series, during which time, the pair, who share children Fred, 11, and Matilda, eight, decided to separate.
Jess shares, “We sat down at the backyard and I said, ‘I don’t want to lose you.’ He was like, ‘Yeah, I don’t want to lose you either’. But we were hurting, so we decided to be best friends instead. “I’m not going to pretend it was easy – that’s weird, vagina-candle stuff! – but we’re amicable now. I’m going to find him a girlfriend in season two.”
Adds Norm, “You’ll notice that we got along much better in the rest of the series than we do in episode one!”
They still share their home in Sydney but have their own bedrooms.
“I’m in Victoria for a week or two every couple of weeks to help look after my parents,” explains Norm.
“But when I’m in Sydney, I stay with Jess and the kids.”
Real reno, real love
Luckily, in 2023, Budget Battlers was picked up by a TV network and together with volunteers, Jess and Norm got to transform another three homes for $10,000 each in five days. It’s the tightest budget ever seen on Australian TV, but that was important to Jess and Norm.
“Normie and I come from pretty humble beginnings,” admits Jess.
“My family didn’t have electricity until we were 18 – not because we were hippies, but because we were poor. “All our mates watch reno shows and they’re very entertaining, but we can’t bloody afford anything that’s on them. So we were excited to make a reno show people can afford to do.”
Norm is hoping the show will be more relatable to Kiwi families too.
“We want to show people that you can actually do stuff on a lot lower budget,” says Norm.
“You don’t have to have the expensive stone and you don’t have to have the flashiest appliances. I keep saying paint is the best thing. You can change your house with even just a slight change of colour and freshen up a room. Paint’s the cheapest way to go and it really makes a difference.” Jess says what the series lacks in cash, they make up for with heart.
“When people walk into their home, it’s not like you’ve just paid some contractor,” she explains. “It’s made with love, honesty and volunteers, and people who want good. You just feel it – it’s been built with love, generosity and kindness.”
And most importantly, it’s 100% real. Recalls Norm, “One night, we didn’t know how we were going to get some tiling done, and some tilers knocked on the door and asked, ‘Do you need a hand?’ And we were like, ‘Bloody oath!’” Even the couple’s children got stuck in and lent a hand.
“Sometimes we were so low on labourers, we had to get the kids involved,” smiles Jess.
“They really saved the day on a few things!”
Budget Battlers screens 7.30pm Mondays on Three and streams on ThreeNow.
