Ty Pennington. That name has become synonymous with “hottie” in most girls’ vocabularies around the country. The beautiful specimen of a man is known as the carpenter on the hit television series, “Trading Spaces.” Some people may say that they enjoy the show for the decorating ideas, but the underlying message is that the show has become more popular with women because of him.
The lovable, goofy carpenter graced the people of Fairfield with his presence at the local Borders on Tuesday, Oct. 28, 2003. Literally hundreds of women of all ages showed up in hoards just to catch a glimpse. Fairfield was the first stop on his tour to promote his new book “Ty’s Tricks.”
Upon entering the room, Pennington had a huge smile on his face, and appeared to be enthused with the turnout of the crowd.
“He’s cute, but I thought he’d be taller in person,” said Emily Mis ’05.
He then climbed on the table and made the atmosphere even more comfortable by telling a couple of jokes.
“It’s great to see everybody out, I haven’t seen everyone since the last family reunion,” Pennington joked.
Flashes on cameras went off nonstop as the hunk-of-a-carpenter stood tabletop and addressed his crowd. He demonstrated how to make what he called “the flush light” which was made out of a “master plunger”.
“I make crap look craptastic,” said Pennington.
Pennington went on to answer questions from the crowd. Never without a smile on his face, he answered the questions with an attitude that was a mix between seriousness and humor.
“I would like a show where I switch places with the designers,” Pennington said. “I’d really like to see Doug trying to build things in his leather pants.”
After the demonstration, it was time for the book signing. Over 450 people, mostly women, were lined up just for the opportunity to talk to him for literally a few seconds.
“There will be a make-out booth later,” Pennington joked about the constant strew of questions regarding his relationship status.
During the book signing, I had the advantage of talking to Drea, his manager. With this, came the opportunity to delve a little deeper into Ty Pennington as a person. Pennington lives in Venice, California, where he enjoys surfing, playing soccer, and making music in his one man band called Barney.
“He hasn’t changed at all,” said Drea. “He says it’s the greatest job- building stuff on camera and getting to be a ham. He still loves being on the show.”
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