New TV show that lets viewers take a peek behind closed doors

Opening up your home to the scrutiny of thousands of armchair critics and having it scored out of 10 by a trio of guests is something that would terrify most of us.

Fortunately for Stuart Ramsay and the team at Yorkshire-based Shiver Productions, there are braver souls who have every reason to show off their properties.

Next week, a posse of proud homeowners will appear on Shiver's latest TV series May the Best House Win, which mimics the winning formula of phenomenally successful cooking contest Come Dine With Me.

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It will run on ITV1 every afternoon from Monday to Friday, with each programme featuring a set of four contestants, who inspect each other's houses.

They mark each other out of 10 for factors including style, interior design, homeliness, hospitality and the overall viewing experience. The winner gets a 1,000 cash prize and the TV viewers get a really good nosey inside some of the nation's most beautiful and quirky places.

The properties range from perfect country cottages to more unconventional projects, including one carried out by an Elvis-mad couple, who have turned their home into a shrine to the king of

rock 'n' roll.

May the Best House Win has been shot in Leeds, Wetherby, Sheffield, Wolverhampton, Brighton and London, but it could soon

go global.

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Shiver, which has produced The 100 Greatest and After They Were Famous programmes, as well as The Lakes from the Kirkstall Road studios in Leeds, believes the format has international potential.

Stuart Ramsay says: "Come Dine with Me has spawned a genre of these types of shows but this one works really well.

"There are different ways of creating a home and everyone has their own ideas, which leads to some heated debate among contestants.

"One contestant shows the other three round their home and then they are allowed to look round alone so they have a rummage and a nosey.

"The guests then asks the host questions."

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He adds: "They're all passionate about their own homes, and we've got everything from pretty to minimalist and arty but what's really surprising is that it's the quirkier, unconventional properties

that seem to be the most popular."

May the Best House Win runs from Monday, February 22, until Friday, February 26, from 1pm-2pm or five days starting on Monday

on ITV1.

The four Yorkshire homeowners battling it out in May The Best House Win

Architect Shayne Niemen lives in a converted Victorian water works in Headingley, Leeds.

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The entire supply of north Leeds' "corporation pop" once flowed through the building's 3ft diameter pipes, but the pit where they lay is now Shayne's snug and sitting room.

He bought the property in 2005 from a developer who had acquired the redundant Yorkshire Water site for new housing.

"They were my clients and they didn't know what to do with the water house and so I offered to buy it," says Shayne, 42, who lives with his partner Sarah and their 18-month old son Charlie.

"I could see it had enormous potential and I love all the features, including the stone columns, though when family and friends saw it at first they thought I was mad.

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"There was green slime on the inside walls it was so damp. "

The grade II listed building was practically derelict and only single storey but Shayne has transformed it into a spacious three-bedroom home with four floors.

"It's a Tardis and that's what I love about it. It's a big surprise when you walk through the door."

He began the conversion by dismantling the pipework, tanking the property to make it damp proof and re-roofing and insulating the building.

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He also created more window openings, which wasn't easy as these were cut out of 2ft thick stone.

The most expensive job was building a small extension to house a utility room, boiler room, cloakroom and garage into the banking behind the house.

"We had to dig the banking out and put in a retaining wall, which was very costly. I think we've probably got the

most expensive extension in Leeds," says Shayne.

The original building now boasts a lower ground floor sitting room and snug, while the ground floor has a galleried area and kitchen. The first floor houses the bedroom and bathroom, while the top floor studio is an office for Shayne and leads out on to a roof garden complete with hot tub.

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One of the biggest issues was getting enough natural light into the Gothic property.

It already had a glazed lantern in the roof, which Shayne restored. He also used glass floors to reflect light down on to the lower levels linking each area with a glass staircase.

Shayne, who runs Niemen Architects, in Leeds, says: "It took us 15 months to convert and it cost more than I anticipated but it's wonderful to live in."

Ann Roberts and her husband Norman live in a Grade II listed barn conversion in the village of Thorner, near Leeds.

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They bought the 14th-century property from a developer, but designed the interior themselves and moved in three years ago.

"The developer did all the external work and then we did everything inside ourselves from the floors upwards," says Ann.

Norman is a trained cabinet maker and their son runs the family furniture-making business, which specialises in kitchens and fitted furniture.

This makes the couple a formidable home-making double act. She does the designing and he organises the making.

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The barn now has a large open-plan living space, three bedrooms, three bathrooms and a cosy snug.

"It's perfect for us. The idea was to downsize from a large family home to something more manageable," says Ann.

Freelance management consultant Alex Hewitt lives in a detached Victorian home in Wetherby.

Alex and her husband Andy bought the property just over two years ago after relocating from London.

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"It was a lovely family home but it needed updating," says Alex, who took three months off work to redecorate.

This was no mean feat as the house has five bedrooms and three bathrooms.

"I didn't have any contacts up here and I didn't know of any shops so I relied on the Yellow Pages and the internet," says Alex, who has two children George, five, and Oscar, one.

"I was lucky to find Joanne Jackson in Linton who made all the curtains for me and helped me design them," says Alex.

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"We more or less had to start from scratch with the furniture, too, as our house in London was smaller and our stuff looked like doll's furniture in here."

As well as an ornate formal sitting room and opulent master bedroom, she has created a large playroom for her sons.

"I painted everything white including the fireplace and floorboards, which people were horrified at, but with some colourful blinds and all the colourful toys it works really well," says Alex.

A friend described the house as a "glamorous mansion", though taking part in the TV programme led her to redecorate one area.

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"Ben Huckerby said the house didn't flow because the hallway wasn't glamorous enough and he was right.,

"I've just redecorated with some Zoffany wallpaper he recommended," says Alex.

Interior designer Ben Huckerby lives in a city centre apartment in Leeds.

Ben has designed many of Leeds's top bars and clubs, as well as a castle near Huddersfield that was voted Britain's Best Home.

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Naturally, his own home reflects his expertise and his flamboyant personal style.

The property is rented, which means that Ben has had to be even more creative when decorating. Fortunately, his landlord didn't mind him putting up some Vivienne Westwood wallpaper, which is the latest of many incarnations for the flat, which he regularly revamps.

He has also incorporated some ingenious storage solutions including garden centre trays that slide under the low bed.

He describes the decor as "classically modern and homely".

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