I was on DIY SOS and Nick Knowles showed true colours | UK News

The hit BBC show DIY SOS has returned with a heartwarming episode altering the life of a woman with a uncommon genetic disease, as one show employee pulls back the curtain on what its host is like after 26 years of fame. Nick Knowles has run DIY SOS since its debut in 1999, making him the longest operating presenter of a show of this format. Renovating a whole bunch of houses over the years for those in need, whether or not they have hit a tough spot financially or have a little one in need whowants particular care, the 63-year-old has modified many lives over his profession. 

Now, one of the 1000’s of volunteers the programme has taken on has spoken out of Knowles’ true colours. Emma Jane Strettan posted on Instagram saying: “As a team who have taken part in one of these incredible builds recently, it really does happen in the timescales and what is accomplished is truly breathtaking, it takes an army of incredibly selfless souls who pull together as the biggest team you could ever possibly witness. Absolutely sensational. Nick, Gaby and all the DIY SOS team we all know and love from the show are there morning, noon and night with everyone else, they don’t leave until the last person leaves, what they do is just awe inspiring. “

“Huge congrats on the new season guys, and thank you for lettering us be apart of it. An experience we will remember for the rest of our lives.” Knowles posted the remark to his 315,000 followers saying “From somebody who is aware of what it’s like to volunteer on a @bbcdiysos – thought you might be interested to hear from them.”

The most recent episode follows mum Stacey and her daughter Isla who has mandibuloacral dysplasia, which makes her bones brittle and causes her major organs to age prematurely, making mobility a big challenge, as per the BBC.

The DIY SOS team said it received more than 2,000 volunteer applications, including commenter Emma’s, to help renovate Isla’s home in the West Midlands. Ultimately 160 volunteers embarked on lowering switches and door handles to make them accessible to Isla, also creating a downstairs bathroom.

Stacey said: “It actually hit when we stepped out on to the entrance of the home to want everybody good luck just before the construct. Thank you was never going to be enough. It never has. We respect every single factor, and they did not just help make a home accessible for Isla — they’ve modified every single one of our lives.”

The Leicester girl said of her newly transformed Aylestone home, “I adore it. I can get around the home more simply.” One commenter on Knowles’ post said: “I saw what you chaps accomplished in Longframlington, Northumberland in the short time you had and it was phenomenal.

“My other highlight of that week was seeing you on the way back to the build from having a break and looking pretty shattered but with the happiest of looks on your face as you were clearly loving every second. If I hadn’t have been driving at the time I’d have stopped you for a quick chat!”

Ian Hodgkinson, DIY SOS project manager, said the project was a heartwarming showcase of what can happen when tradespeople pushed the limits of what was possible in eight days to transform someone else’s life.

He said: “It’s troublesome to put it into phrases. It was unbelievable. The response was completely phenomenal. Within the first couple of days there have been 800 emails, within a week there have been 2,000, and it stored on going. 250 people in some way got here together and created a little miracle.”

Nick Knowles, DIY SOS presenter enthused about the show’s return saying, “I suppose it’ll remind people how many good, beneficiant people there are across the nation keen to help out others in their time of need.”