Season 1
House of Dreams is an American reality competition television series created by Rob Grader and produced by Granada for A&E Networks in which 16 contestants combine forces to build a dream house - although only one of them can win it.
The series aired in the USA on A&E from 5 January to 29 March, 2004. There are 13 hour-long episodes in the series, which is hosted by Cheers star George Wendt.
House of Dreams premiered in South Africa on DStv's The Home Channel on Monday 4 August 2008, at 12h00.
Repeats
Tuesdays: 16h00
Thursdays: 20h00
Fridays: 08h00
Synopsis
In the great American tradition of the communal barn-raising and homesteading, House of Dreams brings together a community of 16 individuals who will combine forces to plan, design, build, decorate a dream home.
Catch is, only one will end up owning it.
This is a less a story about the home, and more a tale of the people who have come together to build it.
Among the cast, a microcosm of today's America: A Harvard/Yale grad turned professional juggler; a currently homeless/once chart-topping record producer; a lawyer; a single mom; a divorcee; a finance man turned teacher for high risk kids who wants to win the house for one of his students; a retired schoolteacher; a grandpa who nursed his sick wife for 25 years then discovered new love upon her death - with a man; a policeman; a waiter - ranging in age from 26 to 67.
Each one with his/her unique motivation, the Dream Builders have set aside their regular lives for two months to vie for a new home built with their own hands.
They will not only be working together, but will set up camp together - a small tent village in the pristine woods of Osceola County, near Orlando, Florida, secluded and far away from the comforts of home. The house itself will reside in Harmony, Florida, near Orlando.
The challenge before the "Dream Builders" is great: hard work and hard living. The pay-off, even greater: pride, accomplishment, and the keys to a new life.
Week by week, the field of builders will be narrowed. The question will be answered: Who will become the owner of the house they have all worked so hard to build?
Contestants
Amy (32) - dainty Southern belle from Mobile, Alabama
Flor (35) - attorney from New York
Jared (35) - record producer from Philadelphia
Jim (41) - cater-waiter from New York
John (35) - single father from Miami
Lisa (42) - single, unemployed mother of three
Mark (37) - writer from Chicago
Matt (26) - teen worker from Edison, New Jersey
Mike (26) - bartender from Massachusetts
Naomi (33) - photographer/pillowmaker from Ohio
Patricia (39) - real estate broker from Los Angeles
Rochelle (36) - single mother from Evanston, Illinois
Sherrill (67) - widower from Spokane who lost his wife of 39 years
Tony (34) - husband and father of two
Viveca (37) - circus juggler
Wanda (42) - photographer from San Gabriel, California