Hello, Superstars! The competition is heating up, and I am the last girl celebrity standing! Yay! Bode and I are in the final four, and our competitors are Max/Kristi, Julio/Brandi and Lisa/David. Since we only have four teams left, the competition changes from two events to three events before the obstacle course.
Thank you all for your encouragement and your good wishes! I feel them all the way over here! Wish you could all be here cheering us on! But you are, in spirit. And for those of you who sent scrutiny about last week's episode — ouch! One thing you may not know is that ...
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Another day in paradise. I'm sitting on our balcony again, listening to the rush of the wind (perhaps the wind never stops here), the occasional sound of hammering of nails, trying to get comfortable. It seems that no position is without pain. Today's pain is my left groin muscle. Owwww!
There are many clouds in the sky today, but they are moving at a rapid pace, revealing sun every few minutes. Below me, hotel staff is cleaning the pools with a large machine that is traveling along the pool's bottom surface. It reminds me of those ...
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Paige Hemmis with Bode Miller
In this new series of TVGuide.com celebrity blog entries, Extreme Makeover: Home Edition's Paige Hemmis shares an inside look at her run on ABC's The Superstars, premiering Tuesday, June 23, at 8 pm/ET.
Usually, I write to you while I'm building a house for a family on Extreme Makeover: Home Edition. This time, my location is a bit more glamorous — the Bahamas! But my television experience is not glamorous in the least. It consists of hard work, both mentally and physically, and many of us are ...
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Meeeeoooooowwwww! Ty, Michael, Ed, Paul and I traveled only a short distance to this week's destination, Phelan, Calif., to meet the largest family we have ever helped. There were at least 130 members of the Almquist family, although they are not the traditional family "members." I'll give you a hint - lions, tigers and reptiles, OH MY!
Joel Almquist (the Dad) has always been involved in the wildlife community, helping care for and raise many large animals that otherwise would not have a home. When he married Chemaine, he shared ...
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Last June, a small town in Kansas experienced a devastating loss. While the entire town was going about their daily lives, the unthinkable happened. The town of Chapman was torn apart by a tornado — a phenomenon that the citizens of this town were all but certain this could never occur. Chapman is located in a valley, and experts had predicted that it was near impossible to ever be hit by a tornado. Unfortunately, those experts were wrong.
This week the design team (Ty, Michael, Paul, Ed and Rib) built a house for the Tutwiler family. This is an amazing family who has experienced more tragedy in their young lives than most people will experience their entire lifetimes. Dad, who's only 25 years old, was shot about a year ago while ...
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What do you think of when you think of a blessed life? Is it having a tremendous amount of fortune or fame? Is it being in love? Is it having close family and friends in your life? Or how about having two special needs children and a dilapidated house? How about being born with cerebral palsy and left in a trashcan to die?
Well, that is what the families that we helped this week consider a blessing. This week we helped both the Martirez family and the Malek family in St. Louis, Missouri. They both have had difficult situations given to them, yet they feel that they are among the most blessed people in the world. This week, we considered ourselves blessed ...
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This year we at Extreme Makeover: Home Edition are celebrating heroes. Many of these heroes are ordinary people doing extraordinary things. Some are people you may pass every day in the street, and never know the amazing things that they have accomplished. Well, this week we are celebrating the heroism of a 10-year-old boy and his incredible family that stands behind him every single day.
Job McCully is no ordinary 10-year-old. He in an inspiration to everyone around him, and even those who have simply heard his story but have never met him. He is a fighter, and a constant reminder to everyone to never give up. Little Job has survived leukemia, a bone marrow transplant, a coma, a double lung transplant, and is currently fighting an infection that could be life threatening. Through all of this, however, he has stayed strong and kept a smile on his face all while inspiring those around him. He is constantly worried about everyone else but himself, continuously giving praise, support and encouragement to those who need it most. Even when his grandmother went through breast cancer, he was there by her side encouraging her not to give up and letting her know, through his own experience, that she could beat cancer just as he did. AT TEN YEARS OLD! It's amazing when you think about your own life — how may people have you affected over the years? And could you continue to do that while simply fighting to survive?
If Job's situation wasn't hard enough ...
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It's been six seasons of Extreme Makeover: Home Edition! Can you believe it? It seems like just yesterday that we came together with a crazy idea of remodeling a house in a week. We started small with additions and improvements, and have grown to truly live up to our name EXTREME! We've been to all 50 states and even spent some extra time in the places that needed help the most after Katrina. It's been an amazing opportunity to be a part of it, and thanks to our wonderful viewers, the team is back in action for another season. Not many people know this, but we receive about a thousand applications a day from deserving families. We wish we could take care of ALL of themand hopefully we will stay around season after season to build more and more families homes.
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This week was all about heroes - in every sense of the word. From the firefighters and rescue workers who worked tirelessly after Katrina hit, to those moms, dads and grandmothers who returned home to help rebuild a destroyed land. Our show was a tribute and thank you to these heroes, and heroes everywhere who change our lives, never rest even when times are tough, who aim so high despite danger, and who ultimately allow freedom to survive simply by "doing." For the final show of the season, and to finish off our 50 state tour, we ended up in the great state of Louisiana. New Orleans is the home of jazz and many great musicians of our time, and also home of one of the most devastating natural disasters in our country. As so many people fled the area when Katrina hit, there were so many heroes that stayed back and stepped up when others needed them. One such family was the Usea family, who lost so much during the storm. Instead of focusing on their loss, however, they continued t...
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Life is precious. Life can change in an instant and it did for this familytwo years ago. The story of the Giunta family this week hit me so hardwhile we were there just outside of Boston, Massachusetts, and now it hitsme again as I reflect on this family. It is a story of hope, of faith, ofloyalty and a story of life - changing in an instant.Last week, in my hometown of Los Angeles, CA, I was involved in a seriouscar accident. A drunk driver hit my friend's car in which I was apassenger. I was trapped in the car and had to be removed with some prettyheavy machinery. My friend was ok, and I, thankfully, was not harmed toobadly. I had to spend some time in the hospital. I have two fractured ribs,a broken wrist, and bruises everywhere. I was extremely lucky. Noteveryone who gets in a car accident this bad is able to walk away and PaulGiunta is a perfect example of this. Two years ago, on the day that Paul'swife, Renee, gave birth to their first daughter, Paul was driving their twoboys ...
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