Although he’s best known for his daring interior designs, Laurence Llewelyn-Bowen’s most recent project proved how adventurous he truly is.
He made a name for himself as the flamboyant star of the BBC’s iconic makeover show Changing Rooms where his daring designs delighted countless couples— and scarred a few for life! Initially airing from 1996 to 2004 before being briefly revived in 2021, Changing Rooms is considered a precursor to the various home improvement shows still on TV — many of which Laurence is still presenting. More recently, he appeared on Netflix’s Celebrity Bear Hunt, where he had to evade capture by adventurer Bear Grylls.
While 60-year-old Laurence - who has been married to wife Jackie for 35 years - was the second celeb to leave the show, he came away with his fair share of near-death experiences after almost drowning during one challenge.
He chats to Closer about his Bear Hunt stint, his famous pals including King Charles and Queen Camilla, and reveals which celeb homes he’d love to get his expert hands on.
Celebrity Bear Hunt was your first reality show of this sort… any more in the pipeline?
First and last! My wife is adamant, but not quite as adamant as I am, that I'm never doing that again. It was an absolutely marvellous thing to do, and as 60th birthday presents to yourself go, quite spectacular and unforgettable. I was in Tesco the other night at exactly the moment where all the builders stop in to buy their tea. They kept coming up to me and saying things like, “Oh my God, I've been watching you on Bear Hunt, I always thought you were a total prat, but I really like you now.” I'm slightly concerned because I'm not sure I'm ready to move away from my ‘King prat’ status. I'm not happy about being accepted and popular, I always liked being the one that people didn't really know how to react to. Judging by everyone's reaction, I think I've shown that us 60-year-olds are not to be written off. Obviously, it's going to end appallingly badly, but we can still roll up our sleeves and drown for entertainment!
Do you wish Holly Willoughby got a bit more stuck in?
Oh God no! I couldn't bear the idea. There’s a point where she looked a little bit sweaty, and it nearly broke my heart. She was there as this incandescent icon of perma-glam. Let's face it, Bear’s not much to look at, bless him.
Do you ever watch other home makeover shows, like Stacey Solomon’s Sort Your Life Out?
No, that's not design, is it? That's someone folding people's underpants. I'm very involved in Interior Design Masters, and it has just been announced that Outrageous Homes is coming back this year, and I'm very proud of that show. So, I'm definitely engaged in a lot of the home zones. It's like I'm having my own little mini-Renaissance. I've been taken out of the crypt and revived.
Which celebrity’s house would you love to revamp?
I keep dropping very unsubtle hints about Harry Styles, because I know he's bought something quite near me in the Cotswolds. We look like an egg that split, albeit I've been cryogenically preserved 60 years older than him. I think we would make sweet, sweet interior design music together. The epoch defining interiors I would create for him! Actually, why don't you lock me in Stacy Solomon's Pickle Cottage, and I'll show her what real interiors look like. I could be the creature that drags Stacey Solomonaway from folding knickers and painting everything grey!
How are things between you and King Charles— did you get a Christmas card?
We did! We didn't get one of the cards that are as thick as table mats that arrive with a footman, ours is a bit more middle ranking. I love having the King in the Cotswolds, I think it's absolutely marvellous. Everyone's so obsessed about the other end of the Cotswolds with the Clarksons and the Beckhams and the cows, but actually our end is fabulous. It's us, the King and Jilly Cooper. What more could you want?
Next month you’ll be speaking at The Ideal Home Show…
I’m doing more than just speaking! I want to bring interior credentials back to the exhibition. It’s been quiet for a couple of years, and people have been turning up and getting their free mop and fu**ing off again. I want to shake them up a bit. For years, the show was all about the house of the future, and they used to get overthinking architects to design things. What I've done is create what I believe is the absolute mic drop trend for the next two years and deliberately proving that it can happen in a relatively small area. It's very much there to inspire, to shock, and certainly to get your aesthetic juices flowing!