Michael wins The Renovators
South Australian builder, Michael Lynch, has won The Renovators -but could the winner-take-all prize leave fans feeling let down?
- Published by David Knox
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South Australian builder, Michael Lynch, has won The Renovators.
The 27-year-old, who was the keyholder for the Fibro Cottage in Blacktown, saw his property sell for $440,000 -a profit of $68,012.
Lynch bettered the profit of the Inner City Terrace in Glebe, which sold for $925,000, and a $25,732 profit. Carpenter Luke Pollock looked set to take out the title before the auction of the Fibro Cottage went above its profit margin.
As the series winner, Lynch takes the profit from all six houses, which was rounded up to a cool $100,000.
But the money was well short of the digits TEN trumpeted at the series launch when there was speculation it could reach half a million dollars. This was because several of the houses failed to reach their profit margin, determined by the original purchase price plus the renovation budget.
The final sales were:
Fibro Cottage $440,000. Profit $68,012
Inner City Terrace $925,000. Profit $25,732
WeatherBoard $575,000. Profit $1,145.
Half Done House $770,000 (Under profit of $802,083)
Sixties suburban $730,000 (Under profit of $758,194)
The Shop $700,000 (Under profit of $713,676)
The finale included lots of long faces (and a few pixellated ones too) which mirrored the drama of The Block when several sales failed to meet expectations.
The judges were especially creative in turning the negatives into positives, telling renovators they had done well to see the properties sold.
The winner-take-all prize could leave fans feeling let down, as some of their favourites walk away empty handed.
But the win for Lynch will be sweet. $100,000 matches the cash prize of several other reality shows including the mega-hit MasterChef.
“It’s an amazing feeling and an absolute privilege, having first made it to the top six then being named Australia’s Best Renovator. After months of hardcore renovating on the show, I’ve still got my very own home renovation that’s been waiting for me, so I’ll be pouring all my prize money into that,” said Lynch.
Judge Robyn Holt added, “Michael is such a delightful young man with a wonderful skill and work ethic – a thorough winner in all ways. His natural curiosity and quick uptake on new skills was a pleasure to watch and mentor throughout the whole programme. I can see a very bright future for Michael. A well deserved winner!”
The edited finale, which had originally been promised as a live finale, tried to pass itself off as a single night’s event by swinging from auction to auction. In reality they had been staged across three nights a fortnight ago.
Despite lacklustre ratings, TEN has promised the show by Shine Australia will return in 2012.
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- Tagged with MasterChef Australia, The Block, The Renovators
30 Responses
we loved the show & are suffering withdrawals!! there do need to be some changes for next year (spend less time & money on the challenges and more time & money on the houses – fewer white rooms, more challenges that are progressing the house) but don’t want to have couples. it finished too quickly. dropping to the final 6 in a matter of days. overall we are very much fans of the show.
the winning prize should be bigger, too – the network should match the profit made and that is the prize pool.
Loved the show and over the weeks discovered all my friends were watching it as well. I think next time it should go to the final two and I don’t want a family team. I do hope that we get to see work on each of the houses and what decisions get made and when. The work ethic, the design decisions, the different choices made for each house were excellent. I loved it that houses that many would consider only land value were used. I hope next time they put in a sustainable option. And, I loved Michael and thought he was the absolute winner. Well done.
@ Sasha Sorak. I ‘m like you Sasha. I dont know what to do at 7.30pm anymore. I watched every episode of Masterchef and when Renovators started I said No I’m not going to get sucked into this one as well. Problem was I did get sucked in and watched every episode of that too. Apart from the fact the rules kept changing to suit the night or contestant or whatever I really enjoyed Renovators. I hope it comes back.
I’m so happy for Michael! More importantly, I’m glad arrogant Luke didn’t win! 😀 I do feel bad for Peter, though, I thought his house looked like one of the best (particularly the bathroom) and it’s quite disappointing he didn’t even meet the profit point. 🙁
@ Smith & Reserved
1. Who claimed the auction was live? Bit hard when they sold the properties a couple of weeks ago.
2. How was this a ‘pretend’ auction ?
Well done to Michael, hope to this back next year.