Whanganui-raised Todd Edlin and his Danish wife Anne Kristina won Nybyggerne - a Danish renovation reality show similar to The Block - in April. Source: TV2.DK
The Kiwi winner of a Block-style reality TV show in Denmark included a backyard Hobbit bolthole as a nod to his New Zealand roots.
And he says it probably helped his family win.
Whanganui-raised Todd Edlin and his Danish wife Anne Kristine won the third season of Nybyggerne — aDanish renovation reality show similar to The Block — in April.
Todd, Anne and Lily celebrate after being announced as the winners of Nybyggerne, a Denmark building renovation show based on The Block. Photo/Instagram
The pair, both 30, along with their daughter Lily, 3, competed against three other couples while turning bare concrete houses into homes over 10 weeks.
Viewers chose Edlin and Kristine as the winners during a live finale — meaning they get to keep their house, worth around $700,000.
Edlin, who met Kristine in New Zealand and moved to Denmark with her eight years ago, believes the inclusion of a mini Hobbit house for their daughter may have helped them win.
"I kind of had to (build it)," he says. "It had grass on the roof and everything. (Viewers) loved the idea of a Hobbit house ... they know all about (Lord of the Rings)."
Filmed in Kristine's hometown of Aalborg, Edlin told the Herald they entered the competition shortly after moving there to buy their own home.
"We'd moved to Anne's hometown, and we were always going to look to buy, and this programme popped up. We couldn't really buy a house when we were trying to win a house ... our whole lives got put on hold," he says.
"It's much better to win a house, right?"
It was their first time renovating a house together, which required them to paint each room, lay down flooring, build two toilets and a kitchen, then decorate them.
The operated on an average of four hours sleep each night, and relied on friends and family to help take care of their daughter.
"It's really amazing how much you could push yourself to achieve in that situation," Edlin says. "I knew roughly how to do it, but I haven't done it before."
Compared to New Zealand homes, Denmark buildings needed to be much warmer, he says.
"It needs to be way warmer here (with) 600mm thick walls," he says. "When they build their houses, it's more like an environment."
Anne and Todd were the only couple with a child to compete on Nybyggerne. Photo/Facebook
He believes their personalities — and that he stood out — also helped them win.
"The fact that I was a kiwi bought something a bit different. Maybe they'd never seen a kiwi on TV before," he says.
"I'm probably the first New Zealand winner of a Danish reality show — to my knowledge."
