Clean House is in its sixth season. How much longer do you see the show running, and how much longer do see yourself being a part of it?
I have to tell you, Clean House is an anomaly in the both the makeover and reality television genres. Our numbers and ratings continue to climb, and there is continued interest in the show. I would have to say that we are still continuing to find our legs, and, with the network's permission, I see it going on for another five years. Some makeover shows have crashed and burned, because they were kind of based on a fad, like, say Queer Eye. Queer Eye was a great show - a fantastic show - but it's kind of this really hip, trendy idea, like "we have a queer eye, and we'll decorate your place." How long can that idea drive a show? But then you have a show like Extreme Home Makeover, a show that absolutely shot for the moon and accomplished it. As a result, what else can you really do in the makeover genre? You will see new shows pop up here and there, especially on HGTV, because that is their business, but at the end of the day it is truly reinventing the wheel.

Our show is truly one of the only shows that takes what I call a voyeuristic view at people's obsession with clutter. The executive producer on our show doesn't even like makeover shows. She's from COPS. So, all of a sudden you have this absolutely fresh voice going, "We just want to get in there and shoot it in a very photojournalistic style, and really tell the homeowner's story." I always say that the real star is not us. It's not even the homeowners! It's the clutter. I think for that reason alone, our show is going to continue to pave the way in the genre.

As far as my involvement, I am on contract until April 2008. This will be my third renewal, and of course the network wants me to stay, since it has been so difficult to put together a strong team. But I think, like anyone, I will consider my options at that point. Chances are good that I will continue to do Clean House, since I love the show so much, and I love the people on the show, but I will know in April.

With all of the television shows you have done, including Clean House, do you still work with private homeowners?
I do, for two reasons. One, private clients are my R&D. I am very selective, and I take on maybe one or two projects a year. Right now I have two, but they have been going on for maybe two years. With Clean House, the rooms we make over happen in a day, and we are really asking the homeowners to wrap their mind around something that I would typically take eighteen months to do with a private client - it's really the distilled version of what I do in real life.

What do you do to unwind when you are not working?
Well, I love to travel, which is hard since we have been shooting straight for the last two years. But I did manage to make it Barcelona and Paris in April, and I spent a week in each of those cities. And I love, love, love cooking, and food. I'm a huge, huge, huge fan of food. My family has had five restaurants, so I grew up around food, and I absolutely love it. I cook a lot of Mediterranean-style food. I can actually chop for an hour and go into my zone. And I have two dogs, a pitbull and a terrier-dalmatian mix. So I spend a lot of time with them. They keep me busy!

How often do you recognized when you are walking down the street? What types of people approach you in public?
Well, I do get recognized quite a bit. In L.A., I think everyone is sort of jaded. It's more like they kind of look at me and wonder who I am, and they think they know me, but they are probably never going to actually say anything to me. But you know it happens. When I am on the road, I get recognized a lot, by people from all walks of life. I seem to be big with people in the young business professional demographic, as well as with moms. Moms just love me. I get a lot of fan mail. I probably get close to a thousand emails a week from what seem to be mostly moms, telling me things like "you're adorable, you're cute" and I really, really love that stuff. And I do respond to all my emails. The number one question people ask me about Clean House is "Do people really live like that? Do they really have that much clutter?" And it's totally true - they really do. I think that is the thing that shocks most people. On the other side of that, and why I think our show resonates so much with viewers, is that we're a nation of clutter. Research indicates that two thirds of the country suffers from clutter, on some level - whether it is a junk drawer or an entire storage unit full of stuff they have had for 20 years. From a television standpoint, viewers are just shocked, like "Okay, maybe I have a messy bedroom, but really, how can these people live like this?"

When you are working with a homeowner on the show, or with private clients, are there times when they want something that you just think will look absolutely heinous?
Well, yeah. There are. I do have clients who, I swear, I am not sure why they hired me, since they are just basically going to tell me what they want and what they think should happen. And I think that my instincts are to really honor that, and at the same time remind them that I am a partner with them, like their "design coach." It's a partnership to create the best environment possible. When you have a teammate, you treat everyone equally and respect their opinions. But at the end of the day, it's their house, and they have to live there - if they want a citrus-orange-colored, high-gloss floor, then, well, that's what they're going to get! My job is just to work around that. Something that I have learned in my career is that design is not an absolute - it's much like beauty, in that it is completely in the eyes of the beholder. And hey - when this person walks in their house and what they see inspires them, empowers them, lights them up, excites them, then what can I do to change that? Who am I to say that that shouldn't be used? I think the trick is to integrate it, and make it look the best that it can look.

You also have a line of home furnishings on the Home Shopping Network. What inspired you to create your own line?
Really, it was the demand. From an external standpoint, people asked me, "Where can I buy the stuff that you work with?" And then from an internal standpoint, from a professional standpoint, I realized that as exciting as it is to be on a television show, if it's not driving something else, then it is just that - a television show. Most people would think that would be enough, but for me, personally, there was just a missing opportunity. The personality and celebrity-ness, if you will, that I have developed and created on camera is in itself like an infomercial, or what we call a media driver. It's constantly reinforcing my image and my stamp and my beliefs. So people think, "I like that guy. I want a piece of him." So, we needed to create products that people would have in their homes and that were reminiscent of the work that I do. The key strategy to my line is affordable luxury. Without a doubt, my goal is to create luxurious environments inexpensively.

What do you think you would be doing for a living if you weren't working in design?
Wow! I actually ask that question of my clients! Hmmm, let me think. Well, I have to tell you that I ask my clients what their secret passions are - the ones they never talk about. And in asking that question, I always reference my answer to that question, which would be driving a racecar. Last Sunday, I actually went to the L.A. Motor Speedway and drove eight laps in an Indy 500 car, and got up to 150 miles an hour. It was exhilarating! I really want to go back. So, if I wasn't working in design, I would probably be an Indy 500 driver traveling all over Europe doing races.

Tell us something most people don't know about you.
I really am a blue-collar guy. I have walked the red carpet at the Oscars, I have flown in private jets around the world, I've had carte blanche at all the studios - I feel like I have lived such a privileged life. But at the end of the day what matters most to me is where I came from and who I spend my life with. Probably half of the emails I get from people say, "I wish I could afford you, I know you're working with all the stars," things like that. But, really, if people only knew that the projects I choose, the charities that I work with and the people that I involve in my life are so ... basic. And simple. I think that would be the one thing that people probably, truly, don't know about me.

You mention charities that you work with - what are some of those?
I work with quite a few. I just recently did a huge event for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society, a big silent auction for the owner of the Hurricanes in North Carolina. I work a lot with cancer-related organizations. I have also been very involved with the City of Hope out in California and with Meals on Wheels, with the American Wine and Food Festival with Wolfgang Puck. I have also been involved with the Trevor Project, which is a project designed to counsel at-risk youth, and also Greenpeace and Kids and Pets. All these charities are ones that are really near and dear to me.

Do you have any other projects you are working on?
I am actually in the middle of writing two books right now - I definitely think that being an author is going to be my next career. One book is about people's obsession with clutter - it's kind of like Chicken Soup for the Soul meets the television makeover genre. It's sort of hip and cool, but really gets to the heart of what is going on in the country. The second book is more design-oriented, and addresses design myths.

I am actually also involved with another show on Style, Clean House Comes Clean, which is a behind the scenes look at Clean House. I am a consulting producer on the show, and really inspired it to happen - there's so much of the process and what happens behind the scenes at Clean House that never gets told on our show because we only have an hour.

The network green lit 10 episodes, and we shot all 10. The show actually premiered in August to the second highest ratings at the network for a premiere show, so we're really excited. And getting back into the producing seat, behind the cameras, is really exciting for me. So, yeah, Clean House Comes Clean usually airs after Clean House on Wednesday nights.

On November 7th, we are running two back-to-back shows - one deals with my top five greatest design challenges, and the other deals with the top five most difficult homeowners. So make sure to check that out!

Interviewed by T.D.M., November 2007. For more information on Mark Brunetz and his design work, visit his official site.