TV
Tell us what we can expect from Home Heist.
Colin: "It's the missing link between Extreme Makeover and other makeover shows. We try and do things properly. We have big, big renovations. And it's really high end. Everything is done properly, we're not about sticking egg boxes on the walls. We're not about changing rooms, we're about changing lives! God, I know that sounds cheesy."
How do you select the homes on the show?
Justin "Well we always surprise people on the show. Even if you apply for the show yourself, we can still surprise you. The production team will find out what your hobbies are and then when you are being filmed taking part in that activity, me and Justin will invade the house, find your worst room and stick it in a van. Then in front of all your friends we'll arrive and stick it out for everyone to see. We'll air the dirty laundry for everyone to see! It's a wee bit like Punk'd with paint. We did one recently with a family who were visiting a zoo. We recreated their living room in the tiger enclosure and me and Colin arrived on the back of giant elephants. It's a serious show, but we have fun too."
Do you still get shocked by people's bad homes?
Justin: "Absolutely. We are lucky enough to travel around the world, but let me tell you, bad taste is universal. And thank God, because that means Colin & Justin are going to be in work for a long time. I think the most annoying thing is that in the UK we don't get value for money for our homes, whether we rent it or own it. Most people ignore their space and just put up with everything. If we had that attitude with fashion, we'd wear a red boot on one foot, a yellow boot on the other, a tutu and a builder's helmet and just walk around like that. People know with fashion that what you wear indicates something, but we still don't do that with our homes."
What are your personal pet peeves?
Colin: "Bathroom carpet. People still have bathroom carpet! If you do have it, you must be sure that the men in the house know that their aim is true. If you know what I'm saying. Fabric is absorbent, it holds onto smells, water and pee. Eugh! They are disgusting. Some even have fluffy carpets which hold toe nails and dead skin and things. I have a bit of a bathroom phobia! What is it with bathroom cabinets as well? People in this country always have them and leave them open to share the pills, potions and tampons they are using with guests. We don't want to see your medical history when we come over for dinner!"
You returned to UK screens at Christmas in I'm A Celebrity. Was that a fun six weeks?
Colin: "It was absolutely fantastic. We both loved it. It was like a perverse health spa. We get asked to do lots of things and had turned down I'm A Celeb for a number of years. But we wanted to do it to remind the UK that we were still alive and we both thoroughly enjoyed it. It was horrific and terrific at the same time. I lost 18 pounds in weight, Justin lost 28 pounds. It changed our lives in that respect. But we were lucky in that we didn't have that many crazies in there. There was Kim Woodburn who is clearly deranged, God love her, but other than that they were all great. It bucked a trend in that respect, because they always think the big rows and crazies pull the viewers. But we all got on and it was the second highest-rated series in the show's history."
Are you still in touch with the other celebs?
Justin "Oh totally. We had a reunion recently in Soho. We all went there and most people were there. We are friendly with Gino [D'Acampo], his wife and Sam Fox, who we knew before the show. We caught up with Sabrina [Washington] in Glasgow when she was playing her single. We went to the Snooker Masters with Jimmy White! Can you imagine us at the snooker?! Ronnie Wood was there and it was fabulous. Partying with the Stones. It was incredible. That's the great thing about I'm A Celeb. There's no other way I would ever meet Jimmy White and he turned out to be an unbelievable lovely bloke!"
And Kim...?
Colin "Ah Kim. She's a funny one. You know when you look at toilet cleaner and it says, 'Don't mix these products together or your bog will blow up'? Well I think with Kim's peroxide blonde hair and her cleaning all these toilets, the chemicals have created this crazy creature called Kim Woodburn. She's clearly crazy, she's clearly Bet Lynch on reverse liposuction. I mean our friend Claire Sweeney was on Come Dine With Me with her and she was apparently 'drunk as a skunk' each night."
What did you think to Katie Price during her brief stint in the jungle?
Colin "It's funny because we're not exposed in Canada to the Katie, Pete and Kerry thing. So for us it was interesting to meet her. She'll be remembered and I think she's an icon. What I liked about her was the really dirty discussions we had about really dirty sex that didn't make the programme. She's got a cheeky impish quality. My only criticism of her is that she's always on the defensive because of this world she comes from. She needs to relax a bit more. Relax, girl! The other odd thing is that she's a really pretty girl who gets totally trannied up. And she loves that. She says stuff like, 'Oh I want to be a big drag queen'. It's not someone forcing her, she wants to be the full set, the full caboodle."
What else are you guys up to at the moment?
Justin "We've got more 60 Minute Makover on ITV1 and we're in talks with a few channels about other new shows. But even more exciting than that, even more earth-shattering - Colin & Justin are in pantomime next year! It's a first and we're the Merry Men... typecast again. Starring alongside Jim Davidson - hello! It will be fantastic, I love it. The only disappointment is that it's not Dick Whittington, because we both wanted to use the famous line, '60 miles to London and still no sign of Dick'. It would have been good to try and say that with a straight face. Bu you can find everything that we're up to at colinandjustin.tv. Excuse the cheeky plug!"
Colin and Justin’s Home Heist is on every Wednesday to Friday night at 9pm on The Style Network
