The Messy Battle On The Beach Fail That Left Mina Starsiak Hawk Confused
It's not unusual for designers to come up with bad ideas on renovation competition shows. One particular episode of "Battle on the Beach," for example, left celebrity judges Mina Starsiak Hawk of "Good Bones" and Mike Holmes of "Holmes on Homes" scratching their heads. On "Battling the Kids' Rooms" (Season 1, Episode 5), contestants Kerry and David Kersh took the beach theme a little too seriously, creating a room with a particularly messy feature: an indoor sandbox.
Upon seeing the sandbox where a trundle bed would normally be, Starsiak Hawk covered her mouth and exclaimed, "Oh my God ... you didn't ... never in a million years." Holmes agreed with his fellow judge, adding, "I'm not a fan of that ... doesn't make sense to me."
The sandbox had been built to slide under the bed, and Kersh's mentor Taniya Nayak from "Restaurant Impossible" explained to the judges that it had been a matter of contention. Originally, the sandbox had been planned to run the entire length of the room along the wall, but because Kerry was adamant she wanted to include it, the compromise was to make it smaller and easy to store away under the bed(s).
Even the contestants debated the idea
While the sandbox feature certainly left "Battle on the Beach" judges Mina Starsiak Hawk and Mike Holmes confused, it turns out the idea met with some resistance from one of the contestants, too. It was originally Kerry Kersh's idea; an idea her husband, and co-contestant, David, wasn't quite on board with. Kerry reasoned there are days when it's cold and rainy on the beach, but you still want kids to have things to do while stuck inside, so why not bring the beach — and sand — to them?
For the room's design, Kerry suggested, "What if we blow this wall out, and ... we bring sand in here," to which David replied, "Excuse me ... what?" David reiterated his skepticism later on in the episode, noting there would be sand everywhere in the room, not just the sandbox.
Mentor Taniya Nayak was also left speechless when told of the plan, stating to the camera, "Girlfriend wants to put a sandbox in this kids' room. What?" Nayak also did try a few more times to change Kerry's mind, but she was adamant about the room addition, though she admitted to the camera, "Nobody wants the sandbox."
The design for active kids did win some praise
While the feasibility and logic behind Kerry Kersh's sandbox idea may have left some on "Battle on the Beach" confused, the room she and David Kersh designed did win them praise. As Mina Starsiak Hawk noted, "I think that the theme you guys went with worked. You definitely stuck with it; it's cohesive." Along with the sandbox, the activities theme Kerry envisioned also included a small climbing wall and a bed made in the shape of a rowboat. "All the kids in the world are gonna wanna sleep in that bed," said Mike Holmes.
Throughout the episode, and despite push-back, Kerry remained confident in her idea(s) and felt the sandbox was worth the risk, stating she hasn't gotten anywhere in her life without being a risk-taker. Before building even began, she asked the viewer, "I mean, who doesn't want a sandbox in their room?"
Well, apparently not Mike Holmes or Mina Starsiak Hawk.