The eighth season of

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

reality television Reality television is a genre of television programming that documents purportedly unscripted real-life situations, often starring unfamiliar people rather than professional actors. Reality television emerged as a distinct genre in the early 19 ...

series ''

House Rules House rules are unofficial modifications to official game rules adopted by individual groups of players. House rules may include the removal or alteration of existing rules, or the addition of new rules. Such modifications are common in board g ...

'', also known as ''House Rules: High Stakes'', began airing on 6 April 2020. The series is produced by the team who created the Seven reality show ''

My Kitchen Rules ''My Kitchen Rules'' (often abbreviated as ''MKR'') is an Australian competitive cooking game show broadcast on the Seven Network since 2010. The show is currently hosted and judged by chef Manu Feildel, who has appeared in every season of the s ...

''. This season will be hosted by former judge

Jamie Durie Jamie Paul Durie OAM (born 3 June 1970) is an Australian horticulturalist and landscape designer, furniture designer, television host, television producer, and author of eleven books on landscape architecture, garden design and lifestyle. He is ...

and Abbey Way. Applications for Season 8 opened early in November 2018 and was confirmed in the seventh seasons grand final on the House Rules official network seven website. In July 2019, after seven seasons,

Johanna Griggs Johanna Leigh Griggs (born 17 October 1973) is an Australian television presenter and former competitive swimmer. She won a bronze medal at the 1990 Commonwealth Games. Griggs has been at the Seven Network since 1993 where she joined S ...

announced she would not be returning as series host. In September 2019, Wendy Moore announced she would not be returning as series judge. On 23 October 2019, the series was officially renewed for an eighth season which will be titled "House Rules: High Stakes" and for the first time will include eight teams, as well with the announcement of two new judges, interior designer Kyly Clarke and home builder Saul Myers,

Laurence Llewelyn-Bowen Laurence Roderick Llewelyn-Bowen (; born 11 March 1965) is an English interior designer and television personality best known for appearing on the BBC programme '' Changing Rooms''. Name He is sometimes credited as "Laurence Llewelyn", and th ...

will retain his role as judge, however

will become the new series host, along with new co-host Abbey Gelmi. It was announced in October 2020 that this would be the last season. This season of ''House Rules'' consisted of new teams renovating each other's homes and further challenges for an ultimate prize of $100,000.

Format changes

*Elimination rounds – This season will begin with eight teams. However, over two rounds, two teams will be eliminated. Each round will consist of renovating one half of a Gold Coast penthouse per round. The lowest scoring team from each round will be eliminated, whilst the other six will receive a spot in the competition. *Interior renovations: **Team scoring – For the first time during the interior renovation rounds, each team will also score each other's rooms, which will be combined into the average score from all teams. **Elimination – This is the first season to have a double elimination during interior renovations. **Round winners – The team who scores the highest after each house renovation receives $10,000 to keep personally. *Exterior renovations - For the first time, this season will not include any exterior or gardens renovations. *Grand final - for the first time, not the two but four remaining teams will fight it out in the grand final.

Contestant teams

Elimination history

Competition details

Elimination rounds: Gold Coast penthouse

Round 1

* Episode 1 to 3 * Airdate — 6 to 8 April * Description — In the first of two eliminations challenges, the teams had to renovate a zone in the first half of a 1970s Gold Coast penthouse within 7 days. It was intended that the losing team in this challenge would be eliminated, but due to a team withdrawing from the competition during this round, there will be no elimination after the round is complete, however the highest scoring team will be fast tracked to the interior renovations. ;Notes *Due to Carly & Andrew withdrawing from the competition, their two rooms had to be given to two teams, one room each, these rooms would now count as pass/fail rooms, if they pass the team receives 5 points, if they fail they receive nothing. The teams are: **Laith & George decided to take on the Master Bedroom. The room was judged as a fail and they did not receive 5 extra points. **Kayne & Aimee decided to take on the Open Study. The room was judged as a pass and they did receive 5 extra points.

Round 2

* Episode 4 to 6 * Airdate — 9 to 13 April * Description — In the second of two eliminations challenges, the teams had to renovate a zone in The second half of a 1970s Gold Coast Penthouse within 7 days. The lowest scoring team at the end of this round will be eliminated. **''previous winner's advantage: Tanya & Dave'' — fast tracked to interior renovation rounds **''previous runners-up advantage: Kimmy & Rhi'' — allocating the zones to the teams

Interior Renovation

The six teams traveled around the country to completely renovate each other's home. Every week, one team handed over their house to their opponents for a complete interior transformation. A set of rules from the owners were given to the teams known as the 'House Rules' which needed to be followed to gain high scores from the judges and the homeowner team.

Victoria: Kayne & Aimee

* Episodes 7 to 9 * Airdate — 14 to 20 April * Description — Teams headed to Kayne & Aimee's home in

Cranbourne, Victoria Cranbourne () is a city in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, 43 km south-east of Melbourne's Central Business District, located within the City of Casey local government area. Cranbourne recorded a population of 21,281 at the 2021 census. ...

for the first renovation. The highest scoring team will receive $10,000 to keep personally.

New South Wales: Laith & George

* Episodes 10 to 12 * Airdate — 21 to 27 April * Description — Teams headed to Laith & George's home in

Sydney, New South Wales Sydney ( ) is the capital city of the state of New South Wales, and the most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Sydney Harbour and extends about towards the Blue Mountains ...

for the second renovation. The highest scoring team will receive $10,000 to keep personally. **''previous winner's advantage: Kimmy & Rhi'' — allocating the zones to the teams **''Previous loser's disadvantage: Tanya & Dave'' — Camping in a tent during the renovation.

Western Australia: Tanya & Dave

* Episodes 13 to 15 * Airdate — 28 April to 4 May * Description — Teams headed to Tanya & Dave's 's home in

Perth, Western Australia Perth is the capital and largest city of the Australian state of Western Australia. It is the fourth most populous city in Australia and Oceania, with a population of 2.1 million (80% of the state) living in Greater Perth in 2020. Perth is ...

for the third renovation. The highest scoring team will receive $10,000 to keep personally. Three of the bedrooms belong to their children; Luke, eight years old; Ben, six years old and Emily, four years old. **''previous winner's advantage: Kimmy & Rhi'' — allocating the zones to the teams **''Previous loser's disadvantage: Tamara & Rhys'' — Camping in a tent during the renovation.

Queensland: Tamara & Rhys

* Episodes 16 to 19 * Airdate — 5 to 11 May * Description — Teams headed to Tamara & Rhys's home in

Brisbane, Queensland Brisbane ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the states and territories of Australia, Australian state of Queensland, and the list of cities in Australia by population, third-most populous city in Australia and Oceania, with a populati ...

for the fourth renovation. The highest scoring team will receive $10,000 to keep personally. **''previous winner's advantage: Kayne & Aimee'' — allocating the zones to the teams **''Previous loser's disadvantage: Lenore & Bradley'' — Camping in a tent during the renovation. ;Notes *Even though both Laith & George and Kimmy & Rhi received the same score, only one team could win this round, so the winner was decided by the scores given by the teams, Kimmy & Rhi received 8's from all teams however Laith & George received three 8's and a 9, meaning the 9 being the higher score they won this round.

New South Wales: Lenore & Bradley

* Episodes 20 to 23 * Airdate — 17 to 25 May * Description — Teams headed to Lenore & Bradley's home in

Greystanes, New South Wales Greystanes is a suburb in Greater Western Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. Greystanes is located 25 kilometres west of the Sydney central business district in the local government area of Cumberland Council. Founded in the late 1790s, Grey ...

for the fifth renovation. The highest scoring team will receive $10,000 to keep personally. **''previous winner's advantage: Laith & George'' — allocating the zones to the teams **''Previous loser's disadvantage: Kayne & Aimee'' — Camping in a tent during the renovation.

Tasmania: Kimmy & Rhi

* Episodes 24 to 27 * Airdate — 26 May to 1 June * Description — Teams headed to Kimmy & Rhi's home in

Launceston, Tasmania Launceston () or () is a city in the north of Tasmania, Australia, at the confluence of the North Esk and South Esk rivers where they become the Tamar River (kanamaluka). As of 2021, Launceston has a population of 87,645. Material was copied ...

for the sixth and final interior renovation. The highest scoring team will receive $10,000 to keep personally. The two lowest scoring teams overall will be eliminated. **''previous winner's advantage: Tamara & Rhys'' — allocating the zones to the teams **''Previous loser's disadvantage: Kayne & Aimee'' — Camping in a tent during the renovation. ;Notes *Although Kimmy & Rhi were the highest scoring team in the previous week, they do not participate in the renovation of their own home, therefore the allocation of team zones was given to the second-highest scoring team.

Grand Final

* Episode 28 to 30 * Airdate — 2 to 7 June * Description — The four remaining teams will, for the first time in history, be renovating for charity. They have now been given only four days to construct a Nano-Homes freight house with no demolition required for a man named Lionel who has lost his home due to circumstances beyond his control. The winner at the end will be determined by points and will receive a grand prize of $100,000. **''previous winner's advantage: Kimmy & Rhi'' — allocating their own zone

Ratings

; Colour key: : – Highest number of viewers/nightly rank during the season : – Lowest number of viewers/nightly rank during the season

Notes

*{{note label, Note1, a, a Ratings data used is from

OzTAM OzTAM is an Australian audience measurement research firm that collects and markets television ratings data. It is jointly owned by the Seven Network, the Nine Network and Network Ten, and is the official source of television ratings data for al ...

and represents the live and same day average viewership from the 5 largest Australian metropolitan centres (Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Perth and Adelaide).

References

2020 Australian television seasons