Mark: You’re inside my fix it up life with my wife Theresa.
Theresa: …and my husband Mark.
Mark: We are on the set of DIY Network’s ‘Man Caves.’
Theresa: They let me on. They let me on the set.
Jason: Just tune out. Don’t get excited because you’re going to leave here in a minute.
Theresa: I’m wearing my CAT workboots.
Jason: You can stay. Those are nice. I like those.
Theresa: Trying to get on being all Man Cave and stuff.
Jason: You’re trying to fit right in aren’t you?
Theresa: Yes, how am I doing?
Jason: Guys, what do you think? She doing all right with her boots?
Theresa: Am I doing okay?
Mark: That’s a big boot strap, I like it.
Theresa: Thank you. I’d watch his style and I’m going to say congratulations to you because Man Cave is now in the Merriam-Webster Collegiate Dictionary as an official word and I want to say it’s probably has something to do with all of you.
Jason: Thank you. I wish, I wish we could take credit for that. I think Man Cave the phrase was around before we actually started the show. We’d like to take credit.
Mark: You pushed it over the edge of the cliff.
Jason: I think we elevated it. I think we elevated it.
Theresa: I think you did.
Jason: Elevated is good.
Mark: I’ll go with cliff, but over the top.
Theresa: They say that it started with the ‘Men are from Mars, Women are from Venus’ book and that whole series.
Jason: It probably did. It probably did.
Theresa: You guys exploded it.
Jason: I wouldn’t pick Mars, but that’s all right. Mars is cool.
Theresa: Where are men from?
Mark: They found life there or maybe life.
Jason: They have found life. I think so. Something that looks like life.
Mark: Someone call National Geographic.
Jason: Yes, we might need to check on that, but Mars is cool.
Mark: By the way, in case you’re not watching it that you hear is Jason Cameron.
Jason: Yes.
Mark: Who’s the host of DIY Network’s Man Caves that also premieres Friday at 10 on DIY Network.
Theresa: Yes, but I want to know, you’re a licensed contractor. Now why is Tony Siragusa a Man Cave specialist and you’ve done ten seasons of Man Cave on DIY Network, what does it take to go from an apprentice of a Man Cave specialist all the way up journeyman and the whole thing, where are you in the process?
Jason: You just put a lot into that question.
Mark: Head shaking is the best.
Jason: The fact …
Mark: Jason, what you want to do is steal third and then go over her head fake and come back to button hook.
Theresa: I’m a woman. I bring complication into the whole thing.
Jason: That’s good though. That’s good.
Theresa: That’s why you want me out of your man cave.
Jason: I’m thinking about the whole, what I want to answer. First of all, I’m amazed and delighted that Man Cave has been on for ten seasons. It’s pretty rare in this business that that happens so I’m really excited about that. We got an amazing crew. We have a great time. I mean Goose is a pain in the butt, but that’s a whole other story, but ten seasons is pretty awesome and like you said, this Friday we’re going to premiere our tenth season with Artie, with Nick and Artie’s show. Their studio man cave which was a blast to do because I was laughing the whole time.
Mark: Nice.
Jason: Yes, it was a lot of fun, but it’s been an amazing ride and we’re still going and the fact that we built probably over 100 man caves and I don’t have one yet is really annoying me at this point.
Theresa: That’s really kind of sad.
Jason: It is sad. You laugh.
Theresa: I think you’re just trying to get, after you become a man cave specialist, get that title then you’ll be able to have your own.
Jason: Goose has …
Theresa: You’re like in training right now.
Jason: Really?
Theresa: Yes, 100 isn’t quite enough yet, right?
Jason: Not yet? Really? All right, I guess we’re still in training. Goose has the title of man cave.
Theresa: He does have the title.
Jason: I don’t know how he got the title of man cave specialist to be honest with you.
Theresa: Maybe he arm wrestled someone for it.
Jason: He’s a specialist at not working. That’s what he’s a specialist at.
Mark: So what you’re saying is that you’ve done 100, without Goose 250 easy.
Jason: Pretty much. That’s a good way to put it. There you go. It would’ve been 250.
Theresa: Okay, I have a question about the men and their man caves.
Jason: Hit me.
Theresa: You have done man caves for famous people and you’ve done man caves for just regular people like my husband here.
Jason: Mike, great guy.
Theresa: I want to know, is there like a dream of a man cave that’s different between a famous person or a regular person or are all man cave dreams pretty much the same?
Jason: I think all man cave dreams are unique to that person because every guy is different. Some guys are sports fans, some guys are cigar guys. We do a cigar lounge. Some guys are golfers. It just depends on the guy. They’re all very unique, but the star aspect when we do those, I think it’s just more, it’s just a bigger show. Ninety percent of what we do are just regular guys which is what we love to do.
Theresa: I’m just wondering like a famous person who’s so busy and going around and doing all kinds of stuff would their man cave just be like some kind of Zen, relaxing place?
Jason: You would think so, right?
Theresa: But not so much.
Jason: Not so much. I would say it’s 60/40, 60 Zen, 40 not so Zen.
Mark: Not so Zen by which you mean total chaos?
Jason: Yes.
Mark: High energy, cars parked in the basement kind of stuff.
Jason: What you just said, all of that.
Mark: Yes, yes.
Jason: You just pretty much summed it up. We have a lot of chaos as you guys have been here for a little while. You can see all the chaos going on because we’re getting ready to reveal right now so the chaos happens on this day when we’re getting ready to reveal. In fact, my guys are finishing up my project, which is a spinning table and they’re finishing it up for me.
Theresa: That spinning table.
Mark: The spinning table what does it spin from and to? Can you even say that?
Jason: I can. I can actually. It’s a dining table on one side and then you flip it and it’s a game table on the other side. So it actually spins, but I got to be honest with you because people watch the show and they see us build these projects, I dreamed this thing up. I built it in my head and then we actually had to make it come to life and thank God it works. Seriously.
Mark: Back of an envelope, “Is this going to work?”
Jason: It wasn’t that much. I had it down like a plan, but it’s just one of those things where I hope this works.
Mark: This is the beta piece.
Jason: Yes.
Theresa: I have a question. I have a girl question. Is your wife dazzled and happy because you dream these things up in your mind and you give them out to other men and they don’t actually come into her home.
Jason: Well, that’s the thing.
Theresa: Is that like a high five moment for her?
Jason: It’s a high five moment for her, not for me because I don’t have a man cave yet and this is the funniest thing and we talked about Goose a little bit, but Goose has a man cave. His restaurant has a man cave and now his wax figure at Madame Tussauds has a man cave. Me? No man cave.
Mark: There’s something to be said.
Theresa: I know.
Jason: Do you understand what I just said?
Mark: Yes. I‘m going to flow chart that for you. You lose.
Jason: I build a man cave for his wax figure and I don’t have a man cave yet.
Theresa: Do you have any children yet?
Jason: No, no children.
Theresa: That might have something to do with it.
Jason: It might, you think?
Theresa: Yes.
Mark: Because you need a retreat.
Jason: She’s like analyzing me right now.
Theresa: I am.
Mark: Oh yes, you’re getting the whole Freud treatment.
Theresa: I am.
Mark: This happens to me all day.
Jason: I was just going to say, are we talking to you guys (the crew on set)? I don’t think so.
Mark: Oh, wait a minute, that’s right.
Jason: I’m sorry.
Mark: There’s about ten children out there who are roughly 20 …
Jason: Nobody asked you guys. Get out of here. Don’t pay any attention to them.
Mark: For ten years of Man Cave, you’ve had all kinds of experiences. You’ve walked into all kinds of houses and we’ve been inside this one. You’re literally all in their life. You’re using the upstairs bathroom. There’s food all over the place. There’s equipment and their families all in there, ten years you’ve met all kinds of people. Can you think of a moment when you’ve walked in and just had to really fight off hanging you head and saying, “Oh no, we can’t do this.”
Jason: Actually the only time that ever happened to me was when we went to Kuwait. My whole crew and DIY sent everybody to Kuwait to do a troop cave at Camp Virginia and we walked into a USO tent and at first it was just a tent. I was just thinking, “Okay, just a tent structure.” This was almost the size of a half a football field, huge. I walked in and the immediately, because you’re already acclimating to 130 degree heat and then you walk into this thing and you’re, “There’s no way we’re going to be able to do this,” so that was my moment where I’m “There’s just no way we’re going to be able to do this.”
Theresa: How did you do that?
Jason: Thank God for the CBOs, the construction battalion because they came through and helped us. Thank you guys if you’re watching. Amazing, but it was an amazing experience, but it was one of those moments where I’m, “There’s no way we’re going to get this done.”
Mark: Was the awe of the whole thing just like you’re acclimating to everything because you’re in such a completely different environment?
Jason: We had two guys in the infirmary within the first two days.
Mark: Like dehydration, heat stroke, the whole thing?
Jason: Dehydration, choking on dust. It was, listen, I’m a huge fan in support of the troops. Big time supporter of the troops so to actually be there and see what they go through, it just gives you a whole new perspective on it.
Mark: Whole different level.
Jason: It’s amazing.
Mark: We’re going to take a moment of silence while we recoil from the drama of that.
Theresa: I’m kind of moved right now. So putting it into perspective, doing a regular man cave is kind of not as overwhelming anymore because now you’ve been through all of that.
Jason: I have, but it still can be overwhelming because, like I said, every time we come to a situation it’s always different and this is a good example, you guys were talking about we’ve got the whole family in there, we’ve got my whole crew, we’ve got camera guys, we got producers. Well, you know, everybody
Mark: I see Tony in there on a couch laying down.
Jason: Tony’s always on the couch. If he’s not on the couch, it’ll be a little surprising.
Mark: Tim, can you edit that out of the show, please? Thank you.
Jason: No, leave that it. We take over the whole house. I don’t think wives really understand when we show up what that means, that we’re actually literally taking over the house for three days.
Mark: You’ve taken over the driveway, too.
Jason: And the driveway.
Mark: From the guy perspective, it is Man Cave honey, give me a second. Tool envy. Table saw, out feed table, two 12 inch slide compound miter saws.
Jason: Slide compound miter saws, there you go.
Mark: These things are awesome.
Jason: Dual compound by the way.
Mark: It’s the dual beveled slide armature, that one.
Jason: Articulating.
Mark: Articulating.
Jason: Yes, articulating.
Mark: I can say this, I saw the first one ever in existence.
Theresa: He did.
Mark: The prototype.
Theresa: He literally did.
Jason: Oh, did you really? Wow, they’re amazing. They are amazing. I absolutely love it.
Mark: Do you depend on those?
Jason: I absolutely love those.
Theresa: We have to go to break.
Jason: Oh, we do.
Theresa: Go to DIY Network. com, check out Man Cave 10 o’clock on Friday nights and follow Jason on Twitter, jcamerontv and we’ll be back in just a minute with more My Fix It Up Life.
