Discovery Channel Canada seeks Ottawa’s Worst Handymen

Edited by Peter Tremblay

OTTAWA - The hit Discovery Channel series Canada’s Worst Handyman is coming to Ottawa in search of the nation’s worst handymen and women for the most ambitious project to date… to flip a house in Ontario.

For the show’s third season, a team of ham-fisted handymen and women will learn the art of handiwork like never before… on an all-too-real Reno project. Working on a house bought with a big flip in mind, the unhandy men and women will have just two weeks to update and upgrade every aspect of the home before the professionals come in to see what value they’ve actually added to the property… if any!

Set to begin filming in January 2008, those who make the cut will be brought to a top secret house chosen specifically to give the sketchy renovators a chance to learn everything they need to know to be half-decent handymen and handywomen. Through revamping the worn-down home for sale, each handyperson will be taught the science of home improvement – why duct tape is not an ideal adhesive for ducts, how using the right tool for the job makes all the difference and the huge impact being just a few inches off can have on a project. They will not only learn how to fix a damp basement, but why it’s damp in the first place. Between duct work and drywall, the renegade renovators will also learn the necessary market skills to flip a house, through in-depth tips from the nation’s experts and practical training.

Proper Television, the company behind the first two seasons of Canada’s Worst Handyman, is shifting the search to Ottawa because there has never been a candidate on the show from the nation’s Capital. To truly represent Canada, Proper Television is making way for Ottawa DIYers who have been hugely underrepresented until now.

“In two seasons of the show, we have not had one handyperson from Ottawa. It just doesn’t add up!” said Andrew Younghusband, the series’ host and writer “Ottawa residents need the skills just as much as other Canadians – and in some cases, that means getting right back to basics before handling a hammer,”

Producers of the show will be in Ottawa this November 2007 to meet with the worst of the worst and fill the spots for Canada’s most specialized DIY training centre: an actual house in need of real repairs. And help for Ottawa wannabe handifolk couldn’t come at a better time, with the hot trend of house flipping and an even hotter real estate market. According to the Canadian Real Estate Association, the average price of a home in Ottawa has gone up more than $20,000 in the last year.

To give your husband, brother, sister, mother, father, neighbour or friend an opportunity to make good on all the bad they have so far inflicted on their families, email your nomination to Canada’s Worst Handyman 3 at handyman@propertelevision.com or call toll-free 1.866.598.2591.

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