HGTV hostess Beth Stern doesn’t kid herself. She knows she owes her TV career to her controversial hubby, shock jock Howard Stern.
“With me, that’s really why I’m anyone,” the statuesque blonde told the Track. “It sounds so self-deprecating, but I appreciate that I’m able to do what I’m doing because he brought notice to me. I owe it all to him.”
But let’s give Beth some props for making her makeover show, “Mom Caves,” into a hit for the home-renovation channel. Each week Beth, designer Matt Muenster and their crew surprise a lucky lady, custom designing and building her ultimate “mom cave.”
So what exactly makes a mom cave?
“It’s a place where she wants to spend time by herself, but she should feel comfortable with friends and family,” Stern told the Track. “It’s unique to her taste, colors she loves, with decor she feels good in.”
Beth and her design team have created everything from Hawaiian-inspired bedrooms to Tuscan kitchens for moms in need of caves.
“What is so different about our show is that I’m able to spend time with (the mom), and I get to know her. We go for shopping trips to see what she loves, and I’m in constant contact with my design team,” Stern said. “They create the space around what she loves. ….These are women who don’t give themselves one minute, so we provide a magical space for them to feel good.”
When she’s not busy renovating houses for other ladies, Beth chills out in her own version of a mom cave, which she refers to as “Girl Town.”
“In our home, we have Man Town and Girl Town,” said Beth. “And then we have the master bedroom.”
So does Howard, who recently joined the judging panel on “America’s Got Talent,” bring his outrageous on-air persona home to Beth?
“No,” she said. “After spending this amount of time with me, do you think I would be married to that crazy guy? He’s brilliant on the air, but once he’s off the radio he comes home and he’s my husband. And he’s really gentle.”
New episodes of “Mom Caves” premiere at 8:30 p.m. May 12.
And speaking of TV makeovers, DIY Channel host Josh Temple never guessed his ambush-style home makeover show, “House Crashers,” would make him Mr. Popularity. But now the licensed contractor/improv actor gets propositioned for home construction projects everywhere he goes. Literally, everywhere.
“All the time,” Temple told the Track. “I had just done Detroit, and I was in the airport coming back. I was in the men’s room, at the urinal. And a pilot right next to me goes, ‘I can’t believe I’m going to tell my wife where I finally met you.’ I said, ‘Forgive me if I don’t shake your hand!’”
The show originated as a spinoff of “Yard Crashers” and features Josh stalking a big-box home improvement store in search of everyday folks who are attempting small tasks, like fixing a leaky faucet. He then follows them home with a crew of pros, and transforms a room in their home in just three days.
One of Josh’s most successful ambushes took place in Greater Boston a couple years ago.