Dermot Bannon is back on our screens in Dermot Bannon’s Celebrity Super Spaces, where he’ll take a look around some of Ireland’s famous faces’ homes.
We’ve already taken a look through Vogue Williams and Spencer Matthews’ Howth home, Chupi Sweetman’s dazzling family house as well as Ireland rugby star Andrew Porter and music producer Don Mescal’s digs.
While Dermot confesses that he was nervous that no one would want to take part in the series, he also admits that another concern was how it would be perceived during a housing crisis.
“I suppose the premise of the show is about quirky design and quirky things,” he tells VIP Magazine.
“I don’t know where you can go, or what you can do with a house in a housing crisis that isn’t going to raise an eyebrow. I’m an architect, I design houses for a living, it’s what I do. I design housing estates, I design small houses, I design, that’s what I do.
“I go and see houses all the time, I love it, and I think an audience wants to see it, for lots of different reasons, for design, for voyeurism, for whatever their reason is, they enjoy it.”
He confesses that the reaction of the public in the current climate is “something that’s in the back of my mind”.
“My daughter’s 21, and I’m looking at the next five, six years for her, where is she going to end up. I’m not stupid, but again, the realm that I’m in is about design and home design. We have to go to houses.”
He goes on to say that none of the houses they picked were mansions or overly expensive.
“It wasn’t about money; it was about the collection of memories, like Don Mescal’s house. I loved Chupi’s house, they lived on one floor of their house, you know, and her mother lives downstairs, that’s intergenerational living.”
He goes on to say that the show is not about “showing off really expensive houses, and really expensive things”.
“I’d love somebody to suggest to me, how can we make design programs, or how can we make programs about buildings, and not get a reaction that is to do with the housing crisis.
“Every single show that’s on air gets ‘in the middle of a housing crisis, in the middle of the housing crisis’. I really don’t know how to handle that, because I still want to make shows like this, there’s still an appetite for it, people still want to watch it, but you’re going to get shot down, regardless, aren’t you?”
Dermot Bannon’s Celebrity Super Spaces continues tonight on RTÉ One and RTÉ Player.
