For six seasons in a row, HGTV’s most popular stars have competed on the network’s hit show, “Rock the Block.” During each season, the talented duos are given six weeks to transform newly built homes with their customized designs, competing against the other duos in weekly challenges.
Six weeks is a very tight window in which to give any house a total makeover, and the stars appear to be working around the clock on “Rock the Block.” But two couples who’ve competed on the show just revealed they didn’t stick around for the full six weeks of filming.
On August 2, 2025, “100 Day Dream Home” stars Brian and Mika Kleinschmidt spilled the beans while they were guests on a podcast hosted by “Renovation Aloha” stars Tristyn and Kamohai Kalama. Both couples revealed that they left the set regularly to fly back home.
Brian & Mika Kleinschmidt Say Filming ‘Rock the Block’ and Their HGTV Show Was ‘Insane’
The Kleinschmidts won the second season of “Rock the Block” in 2021, but told the Kalamas on their “Aloha & Deals” podcast that they regularly left Atlanta, where the show was filming that year, to head home to Tampa, Florida.
Brian said, “It was during COVID and we were filming season two of our show … We were flying back and forth to Atlanta, filming ‘Rock the Block,’ getting on a redeye, coming home, filming our show for a couple days, back for ‘Rock the Block.’ I was like, ‘Whoa, this is insane.'”
The flight time from Atlanta to Tampa, according to TravelMath, is about an hour, so the Kleinschmidts weren’t too far from home to make weekly trips back. However, the Kalamas revealed that they, too, went home — all the way to Hawaii — while filming season six of “Rock the Block” in Salt Lake City. That’s a much bigger commitment, since the flight from there to Honolulu is over six hours.
“That was literally us,” Kamohai said when hearing about the Kleinschmidts’ commute. “We were filming ‘Rock the Block,’ fly home, film our show for three days, jump back on a plane, fly up, film ‘Rock the Block.’ So, we did that whole thing and it is a lot.”
“So exhausting,” Mika chimed in.
In the past, many HGTV stars who competed on “Rock the Block” have shared that they stayed for the duration of filming and had downtime on the weekends to explore the area. During season two, for instance, HGTV reported that the contestants were staying in rented houses in Atlanta and that competitors Nate Berkus and Jeremiah Brent would bring their kids on the weekends to visit the house they were renovating.
During the third season — filmed in Charleston, South Carolina — HGTV said competitors Dave and Jenny Marrs brought their five kids to Charleston to stay for the full six weeks while their parents worked diligently on their “Rock the Block” house.
Would the Kleinschmidts & Kalamas Do ‘Rock the Block’ Again?
Both couples made it clear that participating on the show was a valuable experience, but they were hesitant about committing to another season. Mika joked that just talking about it might make her run to “a therapy session.”
When Tristyn asked whether the Kleinschmidts would film another season of “Rock the Block,” Brian said, “One of us would probably do it again.”
Tristyn replied, touching Kamohai’s arm, “I feel like we’re the same because I feel like he would do it again right now, in a second.”
“Everyone’s experience is different,” Mika acknowledged. “But the ending of our chapter of that was so epic that I don’t ever think I could top that feeling. It’s like, once you’ve done it, you’ve had that moment, we survived it. I’m like, I don’t read my books backwards and I’m not doing that again. That chapter is done, written.”
Brian then said, “I would do it again. I love competition. Yes, we won the first time, but I’m not scared of losing, so I would do it again.”
Tristyn noted that they were overwhelmed by what a huge production “Rock the Block” is compared to their own show, noting, “The magnitude of that set and how big it is and how much money is put into that production is insane.”
“When we got there, like, our productions are bootstrapped,” she continued. “And then you walk on to ‘Rock the Block’ and you’re like, ‘Holy crap!'”
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HGTV Couples Spill Big ‘Rock the Block’ Filming Secret