The Big Interiors Battle Channel Four: Contestants named and first ‘lockout’ in Sheffield reality show

The first episode of The Big Interiors Battle, hosted By AJ Odudu, hit the screens last night, with a flat on Sheffield’s Eyewitness Works development near Devonshire Green at the centre of a show. The winner gets to keep one of the £250,000 flats in a former cutlery factory, a prize described by developer Capital and Centric as ‘life-changing’. And all the action takes place in the building.

Last night saw the introduction of the eight contestants – and the first ‘lock out’.

AJ Odudu introduced contestants in Sheffield development

Contestants were Jordan Paul, 23, from Birmingham. fresh out of university and living with his mum; and Tara Rodrigues, 37, from London, who trained as a solicitor and rents a flat with her daughters.

Actor John Jack, 41, from Glasgow. was also among the contestants; along with Claire Horn, 45 who lives with her boyfriend in Devon and runs an upcycled furniture business; and Polish born Patrycja Koziara, 21, from Hatfield. is an interior designer and architect who lives with her parents.

Claire Noble, 31, from Bainbridge, Northern Ireland was introduced as a mural artist, and former aerospace worker and kickboxer Justine Guillermou, 28, from London, runs an interiors business specialising in optical illusions. Jamie Dibble, 33, from Cardiff is a fine art graduate, who also studied to be an art and design teacher only to realise that teaching was not his dream.

Tim Heatley and Adam Higgins from Capital and Centric said they could find eight great designers, or have eight flats they can’t sell, as each contestant puts together the interior of a flat they have been allocated in the development

Each was given the chance to design their dream bedrooms last night. Architect and judge, Dara Huang, was looking at space around the bed, lighting, and storage. Each contestant got £1,500 for the basic fit out and £2,000 for fixtures and fittings.

In the end, the first ‘lock out’ was Claire H. for a design combining muted colours, oversized headboard and monochrome feature wallpaper, based on Japanese and Scandinavian design. Judge Dara said: “I didn’t feel it was uniquely hers. It didn’t feel personal enough.”