This autumn, the popular Good Morning Norway presenter Desta Marie Beeder (34) took a break from the morning programme.
Until the spring, she will record the second season of the Cleaning Revolution. Beeder has been met with new challenges and a completely different everyday life than what she is used to.
So far, half of the programs have been recorded, and the job of presenter has offered everything from sunshine to disagreements.
BACK TO SPRING: Desta Marie Beeder returns to her role as host of Good Morning Norway in the spring. Photo: Magnus Nøkland/TV 2
Conversations with the participants
During the cleaning programme, Beeder, together with Mads Clemmetsen (26) and Caroline Leithe (32), will help the participants get rid of half of their things.
Many people have an emotional attachment to the objects they own. Everyone has a story. Several of the participants therefore struggle to let go of the things the expert team tries to throw away.
There has therefore not always been a good atmosphere between Beeder and the participants this season.
– They try to fight a little harder. It’s a bit far-fetched, and someone may have decided that “Desta won’t win this”. Then I have to try to remind them that it’s not like if they win, I lose. I am there for them, says Beeder when TV 2 meets her in Oslo.
Because of this, they have had conversations with the participants with an important reminder.
– I have reminded them that I am there to help them, not to win a discussion.
Watch the video below of Desta explaining the biggest difference at work in Good Morning Norway and the Cleaning Revolution.
– It probably hurts a bit
As presenter of Good Morning Norway, most people have an image of Beeder as happy and exuberant. It is rare that she has a need to be strict in this role.
However, things change when she steps in as presenter of the Cleaning Revolution. When the participants don’t want to let go of their things, she has to take action.
– Then Strenge-Desta comes forward. Then there’s no more smiles and empathy, and then you have to drive quite hard. It probably hurts a bit, but there is a reason why it has become that way. It is often because the nice participants struggle to let go. The only thing missing is that they don’t just give away all their stuff. But then it will be a bit of a struggle, says the 34-year-old.
– When I think that the participants have to let go of something in order to get better, then I am quite merciless.
Despite a strict cleaning regime, Beeder points out that she and the participants always clean up in the end.
– But sometimes not until Friday. When they see the result, they always become friends with me again, she laughs.
Marked a change
It is not only the participants who have gone through a change after the Cleaning Revolution. The presenter has also been affected himself.
– I have become much more geeky about cleaning. Now I like to manage and systematize drawers and various things at home, Beeder can reveal.
NEW SEASON: While filming season two of The Cleaning Revolution, Beeder is already hoping for a third season. Photo: Magnus Nøkland/TV 2
When she traveled home to Bergen during the first season, she started a mini-cleaning revolution. She emptied all the cupboards, laid the things out on the living room floor and selected what had to go.
Then, among other things, she got hold of a cupboard that had been untouched for seven years – something she describes as “a complete disaster”.
– In general, I have become a good deal tidier. So it’s a small bonus at work, she says.
– Embarrassed to admit
Beeder says that she can now feel guilty if things are messy at her house. At the same time, she can reveal one time where she really messed it up.
In the first season, she was reasonably strict with a participant who had had a pack of pork chops lying around for a long time. It would later turn out that the presenter would end up in the same situation himself.
Then it was her husband who settled with her.
– This is a bit embarrassing to admit, says Beeder and explains:
– I thought I was going to eat it eventually, but then it was left behind. In the end, it was my husband who had to step in and be me in that episode. So I meet myself a bit at the door and constantly feel that I have to sharpen up, she says.
BITE BY THE BACILLE: Desta Marie Beeder has worked for ten years at TV 2 and has been bitten by the presenter-bacillus. Photo: Magnus Nøkland/TV 2
Beeder says that the man constantly updates her on such things and quotes her on what she has said on the programme.
– I deserve that. My role in the program is to gently push the participants to get better and let go a little. So the fact that he can push me a little, I think that’s very good, she says and quickly adds with a smile:
– As long as he doesn’t take my job then. He must not try that.
Could be the root of the problems
Beeder describes the program manager job as absolutely fantastic. She has met new people and has learned from this experience.
– I have gained a greater understanding that people live very different lives. People have different experiences and there are different reasons why their things mean so much to them. I have become a little wiser through the participants, she says.
– They are so open, and they show so much of themselves. So then I try to learn as much as I can from them.
LEARNED FROM THE PARTICIPANTS: Desta Marie Beeder has become wiser through the participants in the Cleaning Revolution. Photo: Magnus Nøkland/TV 2
All the participants have their own story of how they ended up at the point where they need help. Beeder is clear that production’s role in this will not necessarily be a complete turn around in life.
– It’s not like if you struggle a lot with something, and we come in and clean, then life will be completely different after that. But I think that for many, the cleaning job is the start of getting to grips with other things.
She highlights the possibility of having both good and difficult conversations, and getting to know each other better, if you are given space, space and peace.
– In many of those families, the mess has led to people not eating dinner together because there is so much mess on the table. Or that there is someone who just stays in their room because they can’t bear to go out in that mess.
– Contributing to families coming together a little more is absolutely fantastic.
I think it sits deep inside
With difficult stories as part of the package, it is not always easy to be a presenter. Beeder and the rest of the expert team first meet the families on Monday and finish their work on Friday.
It’s a big development from the first day to the last.
– What has been particularly tough is seeing the despair when we get home to the family on Monday and see how far things have gone.
She believes that it is too deep for some of the participants to share the mess they have at home on TV.
– All of us who get messy now and then know that – you don’t want to have guests over then. So the fact that they actually say: “It’s gotten so bad here that we need help and we’re willing to show it off”, that makes a special impression.
It also makes her look forward to Fridays when the families have received help, and hopefully gone through a change.
– Then I get the best start to the weekend, says Beeder in conclusion.
See The cleaning revolution Mondays on TV 2 Direct and TV 2 Play.
