They came, they renovated, they conquered.
Sydney Lorence and her mother, Michelle Mueller, wrapped up their run on HGTV’s “Battle on the Beach” with a $50,000 grand prize and a newfound confidence in what they can accomplish.
The seven-episode series set in South Carolina premiered on HGTV on June 1. The show, also on HBO Max, featured three two-person teams competing to flip a rental home with a $100,000 budget.
Each team was paired with an expert mentor. Mueller and Lorence’s mentor was longtime host of ABC’s “Extreme Home Makeover” Ty Pennington.
After seven weeks of renovation work, Mueller said hearing their names called as the winners did not register for a few seconds. Then, she felt a rush of emotions.
“We worked so hard for seven weeks waiting for that moment but preparing ourselves for a potential loss,” she said. “Hearing our names called out was absolutely mind-blowing. We were so elated that the small-town women from Nebraska had proven themselves worthy, but yet sad for the friends we had made over the course of the seven weeks. They worked just as hard and were wanting their names to be called out just as badly as we were.”
Going into the finale, the duo did not know what to expect, as every team was talented.
“We were proud of what we did and told ourselves win or lose, we could go home with our heads held high,” Mueller said. “But I did text the family the night before the finale and asked them if they would still be proud of us if we lost. We had some stiff competition and never felt like we had it in the bag.”
Mueller had seen other competitors’ homes during the partner-swap section of the show, so she knew they had each created beautiful spaces.
“We knew we had made a beautiful home and did the most we could with the time and budget, but had started to think, ‘We may not pull this out,’ she said. “Everyone was pretty even when it came to the weekly room challenges.”
Lorence said discovering they won felt unreal, and she was incredibly shocked and proud. At the same time, she felt a sense of guilt because they knew how much the other teams also wanted to win.
“I went into [the show] thinking we would win no doubt, but as we got further along, I got super nervous we wouldn’t pull it out,” she said. “The other teams were also very, very talented.”
After returning home, Mueller found the experience stayed with her in more ways than one.
“When I got home from [the show], for weeks every night I had dreams of not finishing something or needing to finish something,” Mueller said. “Then, I’d wake up thinking, ‘Oh, the show’s over, I don’t have to do that.’”
Post-filming, Lorence said knowing she would appear on national television was both surreal and intimidating, especially because cameras captured many emotional moments. She was also nervous to see how she would be portrayed in the final edit.
Watching the episodes as they aired was a wild and weird experience, according to Lorence. An entire week was edited down to just a couple of minutes, taking into account commercials, the other teams and judging.
Mueller said she hates seeing herself on camera, but watching the show wasn’t as bad as she anticipated, and the editors did well
Since the show, the Seward duo has received plenty of support from their hometown. Lorence, who recently moved back to Seward, said she could not believe how many people watched and supported them throughout the show.
“We got stopped everywhere and congratulated,” she said. “It’s amazing and weird, and I couldn’t ask for a better community. Makes me all the more happy that we decided to move back.”
What comes next is still up for determination. Mueller and Lorence may open their own business together, but they are in the early stages of deciding how that might look.
Whatever comes next, the experience has left the mother and daughter with more confidence in themselves and their abilities.
“The one thing that I think we can both agree on is that this win and the experiences we had has given us the self-confidence to believe in our abilities and that we can achieve great things,” Mueller said. “Whether that is in the way of design, content creation, motherhood, real estate or something totally different, we can do it. The best part is knowing that all along the way we will have each other to lean on.”
