Ty Pennington got his start in television
in the early 2000s as the designing hunk on
Trading Spaces, and for a while, he was everywhere.
But after releasing several design books and
building an empire, the handyman virtually
disappeared.
Here's why he's been skirting the spotlight.
Battling ADHD
As the host of Extreme Makeover: Home Edition,
Pennington was clearly energetic.
"Put the helmet on Frankie!
You're gonna love it!"
But it wasn't until recently that he confessed
he suffers from ADHD.
Pennington told The Huffington Post,
"I see a psychiatrist…
Medication has helped.
It's something that's worked for me for several
years in small doses."
Candidly expressing how his disorder impacts
all aspects of his life, he told the site,
"It affects the way you communicate…
If you can't pay attention to someone who's
trying to tell you something [...] they think
that you may not even care."
That's a wrap
After an astounding 202 episodes, Extreme
Makeover: Home Edition was officially canceled
by ABC in 2012.
As Pennington told Parade, leaving the show
behind wasn't easy, saying,
"It's something that I'll always be proud
of…
[The show was] my family."
But since then, Pennington says he's relishing
the less-hectic schedule, sharing,
"I'm trying to reconnect with my own family."
Failed 'Revolution'
Pennington attempted to break into daytime
television as part of ABC talk show The Revolution,
which aimed to totally transform a person's
life.
But the show flopped, lasting just six months
in 2012.
Co-host Tim Gunn said the show was doomed
from the start, telling USA Today,
"To be perfectly honest, it was a matter of
too many cooks in the kitchen — too many
ABC executives with too many different points
of view."
86-ing 'On the Menu'
In 2014, Pennington joined TNT to launch On
the Menu, co-starring celebrity chef Emeril
Lagasse.
He told the Wall Street Journal,
"I love food.
My brother's a wine guy so I've been involved
in food a long time."
But despite his passion for the genre, the
show was pulled after just 10 episodes.
Community outreach
Pennington recently teamed up with Sears to
launch the Building Community Together initiative,
which renovates local landmarks to better
serve communities.
Pennington told DoItYourself.com,
"...With Sears Home Services we're employing
over 1,000 people nationwide, which is great…
The impact I think will be pretty phenomenal."
And since 2014, Pennington has been quietly
involved with the Abōd Shelters Foundation,
whose mission is to provide sustainable, quality
housing to areas in need around the world.
Pennington said in a 2016 speech,
"I see a huge unmet need for sustainable,
low-cost housing for families living in poverty
in places like Africa but also here in America
where so many go homeless."
'Trading Spaces' reboot
Pennington credits Trading Spaces with the
entire DIY home renovation boom of the early
2000s.
He told Inspired Living in 2016,
"For the first time we put tools in the homeowners'
hands...and next thing you know, Home Depot
stocks went through the roof...Trading Spaces
changed the face of DIY for sure."
It's no surprise then, that when TLC announced
the return of the series in July 2017, including
longtime host Paige Davis as well as many
of the original designers, Pennington was
also on board.
Pennington teased his return to the series
with a late-2017 post, writing, "In a world
where space is traded..."
Here's hoping Pennington's return to his TV
roots may also serve as a jumpstart for his
career.
And he's ready for it.
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