The Big Interiors Battle: The Final

AJ Odudu is one of Britain’s hardest-working presenters – as well as The Big Interiors Battle, she’s currently hosting The Greatest Auction, and will soon be fronting ITV2’s revived version of Big Brother.

So, it would be understandable if she spent most of her time living out of suitcases and barely had time to decorate her own home, but it seems she has managed to put her own mark on her place.

She says: “I’d describe my interior style as bright, bold and quite retro, in parts. I’ve got a bright orange hallway carpet, orange settees. All of my walls are white, but there’s lots of pops of colour and lots of texture.

“My dream bedroom is actually an area of contention to this day because I always change my mind. Sometimes I want it really dark and moody and then sometimes I want it really bright and bold, and I want to wake up to lots of plants. Currently my bedroom has a lot of earthy tones, it’s green and I love nature. I always want to bring the outside in.”

It’s one of the reasons she’s been the perfect presenter for The Big Interiors Battle, which reaches its final tonight.

If you missed the early weeks, the idea is that each designer has been given a key card to an apartment that they then makeover, one room at the time. At the end of each episode, the one who fails to impress judge Dara Huang finds that their key card turns red and they are locked out of the contest and the property.

Those who were successful, would get a green light and move a step closer to getting to keep the apartment, which is worth an impressive £250,000.

As regular viewers will tell you, it’s a very tense process. AJ says: “It’s scary, they’re waiting such a long time to see whether those lights turn green for them to enter or red for them to leave. There’s a lot of tears and tension, as you can imagine. I’m just so glad that I didn’t have to break the news to them, that it was just left to the door!”

Now, we’ve reached the grand final and just two designers remain to face their last challenge – transforming the hallway.

That might initially seem like a bit of an anti-climax, especially if your hallway is just a place to hang coats and let the mail pile up, but judge Dara Huang believes it’s actually one of the most difficult spaces to get right, as it needs to be welcoming, practical and set a tone for the rest of the home.

As the entrance spaces start to take shape, one hopeful is playing it relatively safe when it comes to alterations, while the other is making significant changes that affect every room – but with just three days to complete the challenge, have they bitten off more than they can chew?

We’ll find out at the end of the episode, as we discover who has been locked out and who has been given the green light to move into their new place.