NFL's Eddie George trying out new turf on 'American Dream Builders'

Eddie George was too busy charging through defenses as an NFL running back to stop and inspect the stadium turf. Now retired, hes turning a critical eye to home building and design as a judge on a new reality television show.

George joins designer Nate Berkus and interior decorator Monica Pedersen on American Dream Builders, debuting Sunday on NBC.

For George, the show is a chance to make use of his college degree, having majored in landscape architecture at Ohio State University, where he won the Heisman Trophy in 1995. He jokes he had no one to discuss his passion with during his nine-year career playing for the Tennessee Titans and Dallas Cowboys.

This opportunity presented itself for me not only to show the talents of a landscape architect, but also to be creative, he said.

After graduating, George opened the Edge Group, a planning and architecture firm with offices in Columbus, Ohio, and Nashville, Tenn. He later earned an MBA from Northwestern University.

Berkus said he had never heard of George before the show because hes not a football fan.

For Dream Builders, Berkus sometimes climbed on the shoulders of George, who is 6-foot-3, to better inspect crown molding in homes they judged.

You can make a room look fabulous, but if you are in there for about five minutes and you notice all of the small things that are wrong, it can go south really fast, George said. One of the things that Ive learned on this show is how to truly go into a space and gauge it for what it is and how much thoughtfulness has gone into it and how the details really speak volumes down to the knobs that you use on the drawers or the counters.

American Dream Builders features 12 contestants divided into two teams to redesign and renovate a home inside and out in a matter of days. Each week, one contestant is eliminated until two reach the finale, where they renovate two Southern California homes while competing for a cash prize. At-home viewers can go online to enter a contest in which the shows winner will renovate their home.

Its interesting to see the contestants react to Eddies judgment week after week because, if they dont get the details right, he notices every time, Berkus said.

Original post:
NFL's Eddie George trying out new turf on 'American Dream Builders'