Subscriber Exclusive: Brian Morrow designs go small-scale on ‘Table Wars’ reality TV show

Theme park designer Brian Morrow took his large-scale ideas and applied them to the small-scale world of tablescaping on HGTV’s newest show, “Table Wars.”

Following on from Attractions Magazine’s Q&A with Brian, the former SeaWorld creative director shared more about the process of shooting a reality TV show, and what he’s up to next.

After six months of Zoom calls and going through the casting process, were you thrilled to finally be chosen for the show?

They were probably a lot more excited than I was, to be honest. I just found it interesting and compelling. But they were very pleased and excited about the show. Then Martha Stewart became the judge, and so everything starting kicking off from there.

You mentioned not knowing much about how place settings are laid out when you first started filming, and in Episode 1, a couple of contestants were chided for not knowing where the knife goes, or that it should point inward. Was that a bit awkward?

We all thought it was funny we were all there, because we didn’t know how to do it. But they taught us. If you keep watching, there’s an episode where they teach us how to do it.

Were there any other little faux pas you committed during filming?

When I’d climb a ladder with orchids in my mouth, they’re like, “Brian, don’t do that. It’s bad for the flowers.” I’m like, “Yeah, you’re probably right. But I just need to get up there.”

Was there any down-time during shooting, and if so, what did you do during that time?

[We had to stay in] the “bubble.” We had down time and I ran my company from there just fine. If we’re on filming breaks or lunch breaks, I would be on the phone or doing things on my computer. All the other contestants, as well, that was the rule. I’m allowed to have my phone with me, and my computer.

They said, yeah, everybody owns their own companies. They’re all entrepreneurs, like myself, and we had to keep our businesses going, of course, and manage those things. It worked out just fine. It was pretty efficient. I have a good team that works for me now, so they did most of the work.

Did you have to stay somewhere on property through the entire filming process, or could eliminated contestants go home?

This isn’t a live show, it’s all pre-recorded, so when contestants left, they actually went home. But they would stay for about four or five days after they were eliminated because they had to do those interviews you see — soundbites of us talking, and good lighting, sitting comfortably in a really great chair — that’s all filmed after we work all day.

They’ll take us into a room, make us change clothes into our interview outfit, and do interviews about the episode that just happened, or what happened that day. So those contestants that were eliminated would stay for a couple of days just to get all of their exit interviews done.

We would still see them, because we were all staying in the same place, and we actually all became quite good friends, which was really lovely. Everyone was sad to leave, but they weren’t bitter about it. It was like, “Yeah, it was a great time.” Everyone had the same spirit.

They all were kind of there for the same reason, just to see what we could do. That was my motivation.

Can you tell us why you decided to do the “Table Wars” challenge?

Well, I’m not a florist or an event planner. This doesn’t drive my core business forward. But I can make things and create things, and I still have good taste. I have good, original ideas.

I’ve been at this a while — 23 years now — and it’s been, like, 22 years since I’ve worked on my own. For me, it was a chance to reconnect with my 27-year-old self, and do things alone, and really be my own judge and jury, if you will. It did all those things. It was really lovely.

Was there a synergy with other contestants that might lead to working together in the future?

Yes, a thousand percent! We all joked about it, because we shared a common dressing room space together. We were around each other forever, and when we weren’t on camera working, we would just chat. One day we looked around the room and said, “When this is all over, all of us should get together and build an amazing project.”

Everybody said, “Absolutely!” We all had strengths that each other didn’t have, so we were quickly able to identify everyone’s strong points and the best place that they shine, which also allowed us to figure out our competition. We were competitors. We were competing. But we said, when it’s over we have to do work together.

That is something we haven’t done yet, because we’re not allowed to, but once the final episode airs we’re allowed to start intermingling more than we do now.

Give us a few more insights we wouldn’t otherwise know about the experience of filming a reality TV show.

There are people there whose sole job are called “game.” They are literally there to make sure the rules are followed, everybody has equal opportunity, the clock is correct. There’s money on the line and it’s a competition, so there’s people there that are doing nothing but just making sure you’re following the rules.

I also never thought I would find myself in a position of talking to a camera for no reason. They would film us constantly, and sometimes I would be in the big work room and there’d be four cameramen just watching me do something really dumb, like ironing a napkin, and I’m sitting there like, well, I’ll just talk. The cameramen weren’t allowed to talk to us, so I’d just talk to the camera, and have the longest conversations with myself, on camera. It was awkward.

I would name the cameras. There was one I called the “dino camera” because it looked like a big tyrannosaurus rex. He would make his head nod, and move like an animatronic. It looked like a little character, so I would talk to him all the time. Called him “dino.” The operator thought it was hilarious.

[The judges] would have conversations with us that were on camera, but they don’t show all of these things, of course. My background, my life, my personal life, the company I own. They were just really interested in learning about each of us as individuals, which was really nice. They weren’t just in and out. They were there with us quite a bit. They were really, genuinely caring.

There’s a strange family relationship and environment that formed with the crew, because we’re on an island. Think of it like being isolated. All of us together for four weeks, you kind of get to know each other. It was really nice. I enjoyed every minute of it. I got upset when I didn’t win things, but, you know, that’s the game. You always want to be in first place, but you can’t do it all the time.

What project are you working on at the moment?

We work on theme park attractions, of course, the Orlando ones. Everybody from Busch Gardens to SeaWorld to Universal, and everything in between. The next thing we’ll be opening is a kids’ experience at the Waldorf down in Boca Raton. Much like I’ve moved my theme park skills into a competitive TV show, we did so much young kid educational design at SeaWorld, we translated that into a niche market of the kids’ experience at luxury resorts. That opens by the end of the year.

The next one will be a project at San Antonio Zoo, that opens in May next year. It’s an early-childhood learning center.

Theme park stuff lags behind, because it all shut down for a while, but a project will open at Busch Gardens in summer [next] year. It’s a remodel of an existing restaurant.

Now that you’ve returned to “real life,” what did you bring back from the experience?

What I took from the show back to my company and the work that I do is the core belief of originality, and really thinking first about the problem or the challenge, coming up with the good idea, and being original about it.

Sometimes you can get kind of lazy at design, like, “Okay, another one of these. Here we go.” Instead, I now approach things with a lot more vigor, which is really exciting. And the reverse is what the show has been bringing to me, which is an outreach into industries I never thought could have used my skills, or my company’s skills. It’s a really amazing cross-over. Not that I’m event planning, or things like that, but it’s trickling in very slowly, but very unusual, in categories of work that I would have never considered before, but are very satisfying, business-wise, financially, and creatively.

I’ve been very fortunate, and blessed, with the company I’ve created, the talent we’ve attracted, and the type of clients that come to us wanting us to work for them. We’re very fortunate.