‘Holmes Family Rescue’ Stars Dish on Season 2 Challenges, ‘Rock the Block’ & More

Michael Holmes (left) and Mike Holmes (middle) and Sherry Holmes (right) in HGTV’s Holmes Family Rescue Season 2

Talk about how the show has grown and the response you’ve been getting from it. 

Mike Holmes: That’s a really great statement. It’s almost 25 years now that I’ve been filming on television. I didn’t think I would get to this time. I thought for sure I’d go back to construction, but in a way I’m doing construction. The wonderful part about this is having my kids working with me all these years. You end up getting better and better. Working together is more fun. This has been a hell of a ride. I’m not quite sure we are ready to get off. 

Sherry Holmes: Yeah, we’re not getting off. Working with family is a huge aspect of the television show. If we fight, don’t get along or don’t talk to each other, it’s all of that. 

Mike: That’s so rare. I think we have more fun working together than we don’t. 

Sherry: We do have a really good time. 

Michael Holmes, Jr.: They say it takes 10,000 hours to master something. The longer we do this the better we become. The more people we surround ourselves with who are experts too. With all of that, we also have more fun. The show has evolved so much with that. 

Sherry: We do work with some amazing trades and products. Our team does get along really well. 

Mike: You’re talking about people from all worlds of constitution that really love what they do. They love to help people and educate people. When you put this all together, it makes for one hell of a television show. 

You also get to share some great family moments. In the first episode, Mike for example, you meet your grandchild for the first time. How is it sharing all that? 

Sherry: I forgot you brought her on site during that first episode! 

Michael: She is a big girl now, but it is fun for me to share that experience and these moments. We’ve been very fortunate. 

Sherry: I have two children, and they happen to be girls. I love the opportunity to expose them to skill trades at such a young age. My daughter has laid vinyl flooring and swung hammers, to an extent. Obviously, everything is safety first, but I want them to know the career opportunities they could potentially have in the future. Having them exposed to this is very important to me. 

Mike: You did not expect that even for yourself. 

Sherry: I didn’t think of it as a job or something I could do. Now it’s a lot more widely acceptable to be a woman in the trades. I didn’t even realize what careers were involved in the trade umbrella. I didn’t know baking for example was a physical trade or makeup, hair cutting, fashion design. There are so many. 

Michael Holmes (left), Mike Holmes (centre), and Sherry Holmes (right) stand ready for demo in Patrick and Stokely’s basement.

What has it been like to put yourself out there as these television personalities and even on social media. Mike, when you cut your hair, it was a topic of conversation. 

Mike: You choose to share your personal life whether it’s online or on the show. You have people tell me they love my hair or hate it. They get so involved. It’s so many opinions, but it’s fun and entertaining to say the least. 

Sherry: I do love razzing you in the comments, too. It’s fun for me too. 

Michael: He had short hair to begin with and went with the hippie hair where it was Hercules, Hercules. He did look like Hercules. 

Sherry: You had longer hair than I did for a while. 

Michael: It was a lot of work and maintenance, and now with two kids I just started buzzing my hair. It’s easier. I’ve been cutting my hair myself. 

What can you say about the stories that we’re going to see? 

Mike: I will say this show is the most real television show you can watch on HGTV or any channel. The families are real, the problems are real. We are real. There are no scripts. Everything just happens as we go in. We figure out a way to help them and fix it. There is so much excitement in this season. 

Sherry: These homeowners were all so wonderful and sweet and deserving. To be able to go in and fix things for them, you really can’t help but think of yourselves as superheroes at the end of the day. 

Michael: For us, there are aspects that we keep interesting. Within renovations, all jobs are different. There are still things we’ve never seen before. These stories are so real and relatable. People at home may have gone through what they are or know someone who has. Just watching us, it’s a feel-good show. There are a lot of good takeaways. We’re having a ton of fun doing it. 

Are there any unique challenges you faced? 

Michael: I will say there was a certain job we did where the contractor convinced the homeowners to remove their interior stairs. I don’t want to give away too much, but my point is every story is different. 

Mike: The homeowner tells the contractor they want this, this and this. The contractor jots it down. He starts the job and then tells the owner they’ll have to do this. Then convinces them to fully remove these sets of stairs and to walk outside the back door to get into the basement from outside. So what do you do in the winter? Wait til you see this. 

Sherry: There are definitely some interesting issues. We also had one of the shows where a contractor ended up leaving these homeowners high and dry where he had a relationship with another on the site. There is a lot of drama. It was a bit of a soap opera. To get to experience some of what you hear and see on television, this is real life. 

Michael: Just when you think you’ve seen it all. 

Mike: We don’t get bored. That is for sure. 

Sherry: That is why I got into construction in the beginning because I don’t want to do the same thing every day. This keeps us on our toes. 

Sherry (left) and Michael (left center) listen to Mike Holmes (right center) thoughts on the ceiling demo.

Mike, I know you’ve done competition shows before. Michael and Sherry, have you thought about teaming up on Rock the Block or other competitions? 

Michael: I’ve thought about it. I’d love to do something like that. Life is busy and the schedule is busy, but there is room for fun and opportunity. If Rock the Block is looking for more fun, we are here. 

Sherry: We’ve had little opportunities on different things, but I think that could be a really good time. I get nervous on a regular basis being on television now, so it would be fun to be pushed past your limits. 

Mike: You’d love working on one of these shows. I’d highly recommend it. 

Do you think you’d be a good team? 

Sherry: Yeah, do you think we’d be a good team? 

Mike: I think so because we’re used to working together already. I do want to say this. I do worry about the rest of the competitors. 

Sherry: I can be really competitive, so it would be interesting to say the very least. 

Mike: I don’t want to go ahead and say we’d win, but I’d say we’d probably win. 

Anything you want to see from your show that you haven’t done yet? 

Michael: I think it’s limitless. I would love to do so much more. After all these years of helping families, I’d like to help families in other ways. We could also continue doing what we are doing. 

Sherry: The idea of helping people around the world is pretty wonderful. We’ve tossed around ideas of travel a little bit. We’ve talked about tiny homes, remote homes, multi-family dwellings with everything going with price points. 

Mike: Kids moving back with parents, parents moving back with kids. 

Sherry: There are always fun opportunities. I hope we can continue pushing boundaries and keep going. 

Michael: The thing about our trade is we can do it anywhere in the world. We’re open to all opportunities. 

Mike: There’s an idea. Holmes Up and Away or Holmes Away. 

Sherry: I tried to pitch a few. 

Michael: We have to keep some things a secret. 

Holmes Family Rescue premiere, June 4, 9/8c, HGTV