The new Designer Guys -- like their fawned-over predecessors Steve Sabados and Chris Hyndman -- are gorgeous men-about-town.
But that's where the similarities end.
The new amigos -- Allen Chan, Anwar Mukhayesh and Matt Davis -- are more than mere "decorators." Armed with engineering and architecture degrees from Columbia, Western and the University of Toronto, these three thirtysomethings are the design world's real McCoy. They're the type who rip down and reconstruct.
And they promise their new show will be a harder-core, hands-on version of the original Designer Guys' template: beauteous men with flair walking audiences through home makeovers, but with meatier material and walls galore crashing down.
"It isn't a pillow-fluffing show," explains Davis. "We're trying to give it depth."
Adds Mukhayesh, who has been chums with Davis for 10 years, it's a fresh approach to an incredibly successful design-show concept. "The show's getting a lot more weight," he adds. "We're trying to explore why design decisions are made, what drives and motivates designers and people when they deal with design on their own."
For seven years, Chan, Mukhayesh and Davis have run their own design company, Precipice Studios, which has tackled big projects such as Toronto's funky sPaHa and Lobby restaurants, the new Cosmopolitan Hotel, as well as the Manhattan digs of Wallpaper magazine.
Mary Darling, the executive producer of Designer Guys on HGTV, admits they struggled long and hard to find replacements for the original twosome -- men who had that same easy charm and instant likeability of Sabados and Hyndman. And after many months and nearly 500 auditions, she thinks they have found a winning combination with these three -- and more.
"We knew it was going to be hard to recast when we'd found the perfect guys with Steven and Chris," says Darling of Westwind Pictures.
"It's like trying to recast The Odd Couple. But these three guys are notably different, a bit more serious. And they're really up-and-comers in the industry overall. We liked, too, the fact that there are three of them. It was like, okay, we can go forward with the extension of this brand and hopefully not have the constant comparisons back to our old show."
With the fourth season now in production, the Designer Guys have been reborn. But on this go-round they're multi-ethnic metrosexuals who -- gasp -- all have girlfriends! "Yup, we're all straight," laughs Mukhayesh.
"The viewers are going to have to decide what our different styles and personalities are," says Davis. "We're just three really good friends, who happen to be straight and we love design."
Darling says the fact "that they're beautiful men doesn't hurt. They're also partners who have worked together for years, who care about each other. And they're culturally diverse. We think it's time for television to show the faces of the people who live in this country."
Unlike Sabados and Hyndman, who could often be found sipping martinis in the high-society charity circuit, these three are more likely to be seen in a hockey arena and, afterward, sipping Heinekens at a midtown pub with their mates.
Where Sabados and Hyndman are almost impossibly perfect with their Botoxed (read sweat-less) armpits, their 100-watt white teeth, manicured fingernails, and their Hugo Boss and Prada outfits, Chan, Mukayesh and Davis are, well, simply more macho. They dress funky. They get invited to all the A-list parties in town, but they're all sports buffs who wield a mean hockey stick as well as a glue gun.
Sabados and Hyndman, who are regularly mobbed by middle-aged women, have two new shows under their belt, the home makeover program Design Rivals on HGTV and the fashion makeover show So Chic on Life Network.
Ten years ago, Mukhayesh and Davis met at the faculty of architecture and landscape at the University of Toronto.
Chan, who has a masters degree in architecture from Columbia University in New York, hooked up with them soon after and the trio became inseparable.
Mukhayesh, who grew up in downtown Toronto, is a partner in Precipice, and owns sPaHa and Toronto's Kensington Kitchen. (It was his family's and he took it over a few years ago.) He's got an engineering degree from London's University of Western Ontario, and is the social animal of the group.
Chan is the scholarly, philosophical one. He grew up in Toronto's suburbs and lectures at U of T.
Davis, a U of T grad, grew up on a farm, in the tiny community of Mount Zion near Pickering, Ont. He's the day-to-day operations guy at Precipice, and is just down-home sweet.
The three travel together, work together, play together. And now do this show, which will shoot 26 episodes and air in the fall of 2005.
The big question is will they have the same star quality that made Sabados and Hyndman household names?
"Will our old fans love these guys?" asks Darling. "I would say they will, but for different reasons. Like Steven and Chris, they're engaging, approachable, smart, beautiful men.
But these three guys are really, really interested in architecture, design, and the beauty of the world around them. They're truly inspired and I think a lot of women love that."
As for the new kids on the block, they say they're just thrilled to have been asked to step up. "We ecstatic!" declares Mukhayesh. "It's a great opportunity."
Davis agrees, adding, "The fact we get to carry on an existing brand for a fourth season and add our three cents is kind of fun. It's a battle to keep my parents off the set right now," smiles the farm boy. "They're so excited."
Gayle MacDonald