what was it like being on HGTV's TINY HOUSE HUNTERS?
We’ve been getting heaps of questions about our experience on HGTV’s Tiny House Hunters and some friendly harassment of Adam’s “truck stop” shower solution and “Choose yo battles, Shuga!” And folks have told us, “Ya’ll are crazy! I would’ve picked the other one!”
We wanted to share the experience with you. It was one full of surprises and not what we expected at all. We signed up for a brand spankin’ #nuventure without having a clue what we were really getting ourselves into.
Take a peek into our Tiny House Hunters experience. Here goes!
What was your most embarrassing moment while filming you were hoping wouldn’t make the final cut?
That’s easy! The very first scene.
The first morning of filming, we met the crew at a campsite. We’ve never been on TV before and had no idea how things go.
For the first scene, our producer placed us in front of the lake. Then she handed us a cast iron skillet, eggs, bacon, and a metal grate. The grate was intended to put the skillet on over the fire. Then, she said, “Now, build a fire, make breakfast, and talk about New Zealand.”
“Okay! Lights, camera, ACTION.” Then, the crew fell silent, the camera was rolling, and all eyes were on us.
Cricket. Cricket. Blink, blink. We stood there like two deer in headlights.
What she didn’t realize is asking the Nuberns to make a fire is a tall order, without the breakfast or talking requests.
To understand the complexity of this, you have to first understand how we function as a couple. First, Adam and I are pretty outdoorsy and camp all the time. We even lived out of a tent for five months together when road tripping the US. However, we each have streaks of competiveness. Over the years, we’ve learned to build campfires in silence.
We approach building fires differently. I start with the teepee. Adam starts with the box. So if the fire being built isn’t successful, the other person always has critiques to give. Did I mention we were competitive? So after years of the fire causing arguments and snapping at each other with “I got it! No- I got it!” silence and giving each other space has become our golden ticket to enjoying the campfire.
So, we were already being tested with the first request.
Second, how were we going to build this fire? There wasn’t a fire pit. We were standing on flat, pine-needle covered ground. Thoughts started racing in our heads. "Where’s the kindling? We don't want to catch the whole forest on fire! How are we logistically going to lay this metal grate over the fire to cook the bacon?” Adam's mom was with the crew motioning to us, "Rocks! Rocks! Make a fire ring!" Well, we didn’t have time to talk it out. The camera was rolling and New Zealand was our topic.
Oh, New Zealand. Where do we start talking about New Zealand? We were there for five months with so much to say. Where do we begin?
My coping mechanism with the overload of requests was finding the path of least resistance. So I stood there and just started talking. Adam followed suit and started sniffing for some fat lighter to get this fire going.
What a bomb! The scene failed with patchy conversation of me talking and talking and then asking Adam questions without a reply. He wasn’t hearing me. He was focused on not looking like an idiot in front of our Colorado friends and getting this fire built right.
Sounds like thrilling entertainment, eh?
First scene: FAIL.
I guess the editors knew how bad it was, so they tossed it! Whew! Thankfully that never saw the light of day! You can only see snippits of the campsite in the very first 20 seconds of the show.
