Behind-the-scenes secrets of My Lottery Dream Home: Casting, host, and reality TV myths explored

My Lottery Dream Home season 18 premiered on HGTV on July 18, 2025, with David Bromstad as the host. The show followed Bromstad as he ventured out to help a new batch of recent lottery winners hunting for their new dream home.

The show premiered on the channel over ten years ago and has over 150 episodes, which has led to a lot of behind-the-scenes assumptions about the show. Fans have often wondered about the casting of the lottery winners and David Bromstad's alleged inclination toward the lottery, among other things.

The crew came out on several occasions to comment on some of these assumptions. While some assumptions were to be true, others were put to rest.

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Exploring 3 My Lottery Dream Home behind-the-scenes secrets

Struggles with casting lottery winners

Most lottery winners are cautious about revealing their windfall, fearing they could lose it or be taken advantage of by others. As a result, when My Lottery Dream Home first began production and started casting, many winners were hesitant to be a part of the HGTV show.

In a November 2017 interview with Mediaweek, producer Mike Krupat revealed that they reached out to over 1,000 lottery winners when casting for the first season. However, they only got 10 of those people to agree to appear on the show.

The casting challenge was mostly limited to the early seasons. According to Mike, once lottery winners saw others sharing their stories on the show, they became more open and willing to participate.

"Once other winners saw the show and how it was about wish fulfillment and making people's dreams become a reality, people were more willing to take part," he shared in the interview.

The My Lottery Dream Home producer added that to further encourage the winner to participate in the show, they try to tell positive and people-focused stories.

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David Bromstad doesn't participate in lotteries

David Bromstad's job on My Lottery Dream Home revolves around helping lottery winners navigate through over-the-top house hunts for their new dream homes. Thus, it’s natural to assume that the host might be interested in the lottery himself, but that isn't the case.

In a September 2018 interview with The Wrap, David commented on this assumption and revealed that he does not play the lottery. He explained that he believes he has already won the lottery in his life by becoming the winner of Design Star. He jokingly added that he doesn't consider himself a very lucky person, so he is happy to have that win.

“You’d think I would, especially rubbing elbows with all of these really rich, really lucky people. No, I do not play the lottery because I’ve already won the lottery. I won ‘Design Star’ and that was my lottery," he said.

He added that it was hard for him to "spend $30 on a scratcher or even $20, or even $10, on a few scratchers." He noted that he didn't "play enough," claiming that he would much rather buy canoes.

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Not all contestants look for a lavish house on the show

After winning a lottery, people either go all out and splurge their money on the things they have always wanted to have or save it and carefully use it along the way. The same is the case with the contestants on the show, and not everyone is looking to buy a lavish house on My Lottery Dream Home.

David Bromstad spoke about it with the New York Post in February 2018 and said that how the contestant spends the money depends on how much they won in the lottery. However, he pointed out that some people who are used to living paycheck to paycheck and are "pretty smart" about how they use their money.

"Some people are living paycheck to paycheck and they're pretty smart, like, 'Wow, I'm 35 years old and I've just won a million dollars — it's going to change my life for the moment but I've got to be smart about it,'" he said in the interview.

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My Lottery Dream Home season 18 episodes premiere every Friday on HGTV.

Edited by Madhur Dave