If you are struggling to get on the property ladder and fear a life of being a serial renter, would you put yourself through the trauma of appearing on national television every week competing against other people for the chance to win a free apartment that you have designed yourself?
That's the intriguing concept of Channel 4's new eight episode show called The Big Interiors Battle which has just finished airing but can currently be seen in its entirety on All4 catch-up service.
Presenter AJ Odudu and award-winning architect Dara Huang were searching for the next big interior designer by pitting eight hopefuls against each other, competing to transform an apartment each for the chance to actually win it and own it mortgage-free.
READ MORE: Wales' Home of the Year: Winning property owner didn't know if he'd live to see it finished
The eight empty apartments were blank canvases and waiting for eight people to give them a unique interior design. They were based in the Eyewitness Works in Sheffield, a massive former industrial building being renovated, revived and converted into luxury apartments by company Capital & Centric.
Each week, the contestants were given a new room to design, meeting the brief set by host AJ and then judged by Dara, with the pressure on to design with panache and unique detailing to stand out from the competition. Then came the dramatic TV moment - each contestant walked the lonely corridor to their front door to see if their key card would let them back in. If so, they could continue in the competition.
For Welsh contestant Jamie Dibble, from Bridgend but currently living in Cardiff, it was the worst part of the experience but the chance of owning his own home as the ultimate reward kept him focussed.
Jamie says: "It was literally as terrifying as it looked on TV! We were all separated, in our own apartments waiting to have our turn at the door to see if we had got through to the next episode, and that wait felt like forever. I am so glad that week one was bedroom week because I took a nap every time because I couldn't handle the wait, so I just had to sleep it off whilst waiting for my turn!
"And then you go to the door and your heart is literally in your throat it is so intense and overwhelming and so scary but there was such elation every time I got a green light to go through to the next week, and then the realisation that you have to do it all again and to fight as hard as you did last week."
From a background of designing for serviced accommodation via his own company called DeDdesigns with business partners Linda and Hannah set up 18 months ago, Jamie had experience of specific design elements but was keen to grab the opportunity to express his creativity, try out ideas and also ensure there was subtle homage paid to the apartment's stunning former industrial building.
He says: "Choosing the limewash was important to me because it would have been a painting method they would have used when that building was originally built all those years ago.
"The slate worktops in the kitchen and the backsplash - I chose that because I'm a Welsh boy and slate is in our blood almost, but more than that that very traditional material to use on rooftops of a building of that age, so every single detail I had worked to make sure it was exactly what I wanted.
"All the rooms have got such an emotional value to me now but the second bedroom I love because of how unexpected the colour I used is - I'd stuck to all the neutrals and then I just went BAM there's some burgundy! That was really fun to me.
"I loved completing the hallway because that was so considered. I used the Persian rug in the hallway with the deep red as almost like a little bit of a teaser as what to expect in the second bedroom and the grid system of the photographs that I put on the wall from floor to ceiling was a reference to my sliding mirrored door that I'd created in the second bedroom.
"Even my choice of paint in the hallway, I didn't use a limewash but I did use Farrow and Ball's shade called Lime White so the pigment was a very traditional limewash pigment to reference what you were going to experience in the other rooms when you'd go into them."
Facing the feedback from Dara every week in front of the other contestants Jamie says was nerve-wracking and sometimes hard, having a room that you had worked so hard to create being analysed and criticised, and one aspect that came up about Jamie's designs was storage, especially in the main bedroom, but he explains his designs in his apartment were very much based on his personal needs.
He says: "I got feedback every week about not enough storage, so I do wish I communicated a bit more my decisions for that. Another huge element of why I applied to the show is that I have fibromyalgia and have been dealing with that for a few years, so it was really important to me to design a home for myself that met my needs.
"So on the bedroom week the lack of storage in there was on purpose because of my fibromyalgia - I struggle so bad with pain in the nights I really looked at this room and I thought 'right, let's strip it back and get rid of all the secondary uses a bedroom has an let's look at what I needed for me'.
"I needed it to be a really calm and relaxing space that I can retreat to and heal and feel better in, and so I really wanted to not think about the storage element, not thinking about the 'getting ready' element of the day, and make it do what I needed it to do and do it well."
Another subtle but important element of Jamie's design was in the bathroom, where he added a bench on the shower because he suffers with so much pain in the morning that just that extra detail he felt would really have helped him in his day-to-day life if he had won the flat.
It's an area of interior design that Jamie wants to expand into and champion - that functional design to assist people with disabilities can also be part of overall beautiful interior design, that the two are not mutually exclusive.
He says: "Function always, always overrides the style and beauty of items for people who need that for assisted living - but that really doesn't need to be the case. It's an area I want to shine a light on because nobody is talking about it and it's a huge issue for so many people and I think it's got a lot of scope.
"There's so much you can do with design and it's so achievable, for example the majority of the lights in my house are all wi-fi connected so I just ask Google to turn the lights on to whatever setting I want and that frees my hands because my hands freeze up towards the end of the day so turning a lamp on with the switch underneath the shade is not ideal.
"And it's those little things that are affordable and achievable that makes such a big difference to people's lives who have a disability - it's that kind of thing that I'd love to start talking about."
Jamie made it through to the final of the competition but lost out to mum of two Tara Rodrigues, but he couldn't be happier and feels he has made friends for life, with the eight contestants bound together by their shared experience that only they can understand.
Jamie says: "Watching these kind of programmes I am the first person who thinks it's not true, it's just TV but meeting them all was like an instant family. You create this strong link with them all and I couldn't imagine doing it with anyone other than those seven people. They are amazing people and annoyingly super amazing designers so you couldn't even phone it in for a little while, you literally had to slay every single week because you were up against such good talent. We are in daily contact still, all of us still talk all the time.
"Seeing Tara's confidence build over the weeks was almost tangible and each week saw her confidence develop, it was truly amazing to watch. The last week, the final, I got the red light but my instant reaction wasn't 'oh crude, I've lost', it was 'Oh My God Tara has won', I was so happy for her that is honestly how I felt.
"Don't get me wrong, winning would have changed my life completely, I just keep thinking back that for Tara and her girls - this is just an incredible opportunity for all three of them. I don't want to belittle what it would have meant to me because it would have meant the world but I just think I don't know if I could have walked into that apartment after winning and felt as good about it."
But it was hard for Jamie to hand back the key card and walk away from the apartment that had been his world for so long, that he'd toiled over, and that had brought out the best of his design skill, but most importantly he had designed around what he needed to live more comfortably with his condition.
He says: "I just hope that someone who moves into that apartment loves it as much as I did. I have no idea what the future looks like for that apartment, if it did get sold. I'd be so interested a year down the line to go back and speak to the owners and say, 'how did the elements that I chose for my life work for you?' It would be really interesting to know."
But Jamie is looking forward to an exciting future now and not dwelling on 'what if' with the business expanding into residential and commercial work as well serviced accommodation, but he will always be grateful for the confidence the show has given him.
He says: "It has taught me to say yes to every opportunity that comes along. So the best thing I can say to anyone who is thinking about doing something like this show is no one else is going to champion you but you - you need to be your biggest supporter and you need to tell yourself I'm going to do it and I'm amazing because why would anyone else say that about you if you don't think that about yourself."
All eight episodes of The Big Interiors Battle are currently available to view on Channel 4's All4 free to view catch up service. And if you don't want to miss out on any property, interiors and renovation stories in the future sign up to the property newsletter here.
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