While You Were Out

***While You Were Out*** is an American reality television series that aired on TLC. The series originally ran from 2002 to 2006.

The premise was similar to *Trading Spaces*, but adds a suspenseful gimmick by keeping the entire redecoration a secret from the homeowner. Additionally, this series openly showed the conflict between the cast, crew and homeowners. While family friendly in nature, these conflicts sometimes devolved into bitter arguments, and revealed many personality quirks of both the cast and guests.

In 2019, it was revived by TLC in a collaboration with HGTV.

## Premise

The series would normally begin with an individual who sets up a friend or family member with a surprise room decoration. A typical example of an episode would be a wife who wants to surprise her husband by having the living room redone. The person being set up is sent out of the house for two days on a phony premise, such as a vacation. While the person is out, the friend or family member redecorates one room in the house with the help of a designer, though gardens have also been made over. The makeover's budget was $1,000, later raised to $1500, and then $2000.

To come up with a design, the designers and homeowners work within a 32-hour time frame by shopping for supplies and redecorating the selected area. While the redesign is in progress, a "secret shooter" trails the person who was sent out of the house and tapes an interview with the unsuspecting person, with the footage later being used to quiz the spouse, friend or relative at home. The person who set up the individual will win a prize that further enhances the décor of the room, as long they answered correctly. At the end of the show, the person being surprised returns home to the redecoration, and their reaction is recorded. The surprised person is then quizzed for the opportunity to win a further prize.

There were some occasions where the individual being surprised disliked the redesign of the home. The most infamous episode was when the homeowner returned to find his deck with a hole in it, subsequently launching a tirade while his wife wept; this was Teresa Strasser's final episode.

## Cast

### Original run (2002-06)

#### Hosts

* Evan Farmer (seasons 2-4)
* Teresa Strasser (season 1, episodes 11-60)
* Anna Bocci (season 1, episodes 1-10)

#### Designers

* John Bruce (decorator) (seasons 1-4)
* Chayse Dacoda (seasons 1-4)
* Nadia Geller (seasons 2-4)
* Lauren Lake (season 1)
* Mark Montano (seasons 2-4)
* Christy Schlesinger (season 1)
* Stephen Saint-Onge (seasons 1-2)

#### Landscape designers

* Peter BonSey (season 1)
* Mayita Dinos (season 1)

#### Carpenters

* Ali Barone (seasons 2-3)
* Jason Cameron (seasons 2-4)
* Andrew Dan-Jumbo (seasons 1-4)
* Troy Dunn (season 1)
* Jennifer Ann Halpern (season 1)
* Adrienne Haitz (season 1)
* Jaqui Jameson (season 1)
* Leslie Segrete (seasons 1-4)

### Revival (2019)

The revival series included designers from *Trading Spaces* and various HGTV and DIY Network shows, who work in teams of two. The teams are as follows:

#### TLC

* Carter Oosterhouse and Sabrina Soto
* Doug Wilson and Kahi Lee
* Frank Bielec and Vern Yip
* Hildi Santo-Tomas and Ty Pennington

#### HGTV/DIY Network

* Bristol and Aubrey Marunde (*Flip or Flop Vegas*)
* David Visentin and Hilary Farr (*Love It or List It*)
* Karen E. Laine and Mina Starsiak (*Good Bones*)
* Nicole Curtis (*Rehab Addict*) and Rob "Vanilla Ice" Van Winkle (*The Vanilla Ice Project*)

#### Carpenters

* Eric Griffin
* Jordon Thompson

## Episodes

Main article: *List of While You Were Out episodes*

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