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kevin mccloud© Photo: Getty Images

Grand Designs Kevin McCloud talks heart attacks on show 

Participants have suffered heart attacks while building their dream homes

Emmy Griffiths
TV & Film Editor
January 13, 2021
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Grand Designs presenter Kevin McCloud has opened up about the participants who have actually suffered heart attacks while creating their dream projects on the show, and it sounds very stressful. 

MORE: Meet Grand Designs presenter Kevin McCloud's four children

Kevin said that there had been "two or three" heart attacks during the series so far, telling Stuff: "Each of those men was wanting to build some kind of mausoleum to himself. And each time they regretted it, saying, 'What really matters is my family, my children'. There’s always been that remorse."

WATCH: Kevin McCloud explains the one thing people do wrong on Grand Designs

He also spoke about what frustrates him most in the show, explaining: "It's the compromises that are annoying – when a grand idea gets changed out part-way through, and the build becomes so ordinary, it would never have been considered for the show.

"It really disappoints me when people abandon ideas. I’ve come to recognise key phrases, such as ‘We’re having to cut out costs, so are putting our renewables (sustainable design elements) on hold," he continued.

MORE: Grand Designs star Kevin McCloud talks marriage breakdowns on show

MORE: Why you will never see Grand Designs star Kevin McCloud's own house

MORE: Grand Designs host Kevin McCloud admits he tells people off in the street

"The rest of their architecture is (invariably) quite dull really, and I always think, 'Thanks for telling us, now we've committed two years to following this.'" 

kevin mccloud© Photo: Getty Images

Kevin opened up about the heart attacks on the show

Although we're very curious about Kevin's own home, we won't be seeing it any time soon! Speaking in an interview back in 2010, he told the Daily Mail: "I don’t think I’m a celebrity. If I welcomed people into my lovely home every week in the pages of a magazine they’d soon see how incredibly dull it is.

"It’s important to maintain a bit of mystique," he said. "The more of your private life you put into the public domain, the smaller your private life becomes." 

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