HBO Max dropped the trailer for “Ellen’s Next Great Designer” Thursday, revealing just how seriously host Ellen DeGeneres takes furniture design and how seriously the seven makers competing on the series take it, too.
Of course, wouldn’t you if your craft, livelihood and $100,000 were on the line?
Per HBO Max, “In ‘Ellen’s Next Great Designer,’ design aficionado Ellen DeGeneres is giving uniquely talented, up-and-coming furniture designers the chance to push their creativity to the limit. The designers will compete in innovative furniture-making challenges from studios in their hometowns, with DeGeneres appearing in each episode to surprise and delight the contestants and the judges.”
As you’ll see in the trailer above, DeGeneres and her “Ellen’s Next Great Designer” co-host, actor and fellow design enthusiast Scott Foley, do pop up to do those things — but also to make it clear that this competition is no joke. And boy do these furniture designers stop laughing when it’s go-time.
Other “Ellen’s Next Great Designer” judges include interior designer Brigette Romanek and contemporary artist and designer Fernando Mastrangelo.”
They’ll be evaluating the seven contestants competing for the $100,000 prize, including award-winning designers Christina Z. Antonio, Arielle Assouline-Lichten, and Erica Sellers in New York City; Alejandro Artigas in Los Angeles; Mark Grattan in New Hope, PA; Paul Jeffrey in Phoenix, AZ; and Urvi Sharma in Providence, RI, who specialize in using wood, metal, stone, fabric, glass, and other materials for their creations.
The first two episodes of “Ellen’s Next Great Designer” premiere Thursday, April 22 on HBO Max with subsequent episodes of the six-episode season launching weekly.
“Ellen’s Next Great Designer” is produced by A. Smith & Co. Productions and Warner Bros. Unscripted Television in association with Telepictures and A Very Good Production, with DeGeneres, Jeff Kleeman, Arthur Smith, Caroline Baumgard, Ian Mallahan, and Sharalynn Cornwall serving as executive producers.