Nate Berkus Tells AD About the American Dream Builders Season Finale

This Sunday, NBC will air the season finale of reality-competition series American Dream Builders. The weekly program, hosted by Nate Berkus, followed 12 talented designers and builders as they redesigned and renovated houses with a variety of architectural styles. The show’s contestants transformed 17 homes, including rundown family cabins, classic California Craftsman residences, and unfinished urban lofts. Now, just two competitors—Jay Riordan and Lukas Machnik—remain. AD caught up with Berkus to find out more about the finalists and the design challenge that will decide their fate.

“For the final week, the designers are tackling beach homes,” Berkus revealed. “We threw in a few surprises to really test what they’re made of.”

When AD asked Berkus for his take on the last two contestants, he shared: “What I love about Jay and Lukas is that they couldn’t be more different. Jay, our builder, has said time and again that he’s not a designer, but throughout this competition he’s proved his mettle. The only question now is, can he pull this off? On the flip side there’s Lukas, who is a triple threat of designer, builder, and artist. But at times we’ve seen him struggle to connect the dots between high design and livability.” It sounds like Berkus and his guest judges, landscape architect Eddie George and interior design expert Monica Pedersen, have a difficult decision ahead.

Watch Nate Berkus reveal Jay’s final designs from this week’s episode.

See the judges’ reactions to Lukas’s latest room makeovers.

American Dream Builders airs Sunday nights at 8/7 central on NBC; nbcom

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