Who Won 'Battle on the Beach' Season 5? Weekly Wins, Updates and More

Battle on the Beach is back with a new crew of mentors. Well, that's not entirely true. As Ty Pennington so eloquently puts it, "New beach, new mentors, new mentees, same old Ty." Mika Kleinschmidt and Sarah Baeumler have joined the roster for Season 5 — and all three mentors and their teams of two are ready to battle it out in Garden City, South Carolina.

July 13 Episode: Who Won Battle on the Beach Season 5?

High emotions, exterior overhauls and an additional $5,000 for the final push? Welcome to the Season 5 finale of Battle on the Beach. As teams headed into the final challenge, it was “anyone’s game." Two titles were on the line: the final exterior challenge, and the Season 5 crown. Team Ty was in the lead with three wins, but Team Mika and Team Sarah were close behind with two wins each. The final challenge was the exterior, and everyone was ready to tackle the biggest wave of all: a beach-level deck, a first floor porch and a second floor balcony.

Once the winners of the exterior were named, the duos got one final 48-hour sprint for last-minute fixes and additional cash to spend before the local vacation rental experts stepped in to crown the season's overall champion (a.k.a the team whose beach build boosted their weekly rate the most).

Team Sarah: Steven and Angelina

Angelina had her eyes on the prize, and she made sure to let everyone know: “We’re going to bring this one home.” With $14,000 left in their budget, Team Sarah knew they had to make a statement to impress the judges. To make their rental stand out, they opted for an olive green exterior. They repurposed the wood from the bench seating in their beach-level deck to create a privacy wall for their new outdoor shower. Staying true to their spa retreat theme, they also turned that deck into the ultimate shaded dining area complete with solar lighting. The fire pit and television on their first floor porch had Kamohai ready to sink into the couch. “I just want you to know, I would use this space a lot,” he told Tristyn. The only things missing? A pergola to weatherproof the dining area and a built-in cabinet to conceal the grill, which felt like an afterthought sitting out in the open. Three days to renovate the exterior makes it hard to get everything done, Sarah reminded the judges.

Team Ty: Michelle and Sydney

In the last hour, Team Ty finally started to agree. Well, at least on the exterior’s paint color. “I thought Ty was going to push back on the pink, but I think he likes unique as well,” Sydney said as she and Michelle moved forward with the finishing touches on their coastal cottage. The mother-daughter duo had $21,000 left in their budget, and they decided to put their money where the renters would appreciate it: a hot tub on the beach level deck. The hot tub, however, didn’t show up, and they were forced to put together a fire pit in that zone instead. Michelle said it best, “We don’t have the luxury of time here.” The Kamalas loved the privacy screen and grill station on the first-floor porch, but they felt the main deck was underwhelming. “With these rentals, the outdoor area is so important,” Kamohai said. Even tiki torches can get overlooked when a design feels unfinished.

Team Mika: Josiah and Anna

As the renovators of the smallest of the three rentals, Team Mika knew if they wanted to make a big impact, they were going to have to knock the exterior out of the park. Mika gave her words of wisdom: “The risk will be justified by the reward.” Josiah and Anna took it from there. They maximized the $16,000 they had left in their budget because the exterior didn’t need new paint, so they focused on amenities. Like Team Ty, they pushed for a hot tub, but learned their deck wouldn’t support it, so they pivoted to a kid-friendly, built-in pool in the carport. They also added a custom built-in grill, enclosed outdoor shower, fire pit and, drumroll please, a golf cart. Can you say added value? However, time was a major issue for Josiah and Anna, and they were unable to complete their second floor balcony. Luckily, all of the extra work they put in to add spaces paid off. “By the time we finished going through all of the spaces, that unfinished deck didn’t even matter,” Tristyn said.

Once a golf cart was mentioned, it was no surprise to anyone that Team Mika took home the win for the exterior challenge. They cracked the code on what renters actually want: family-friendly amenities that have serious shore appeal. They decided to keep the $3,000. “We shot for the stars out there,” Josiah said. “Now there’s 3,000 reasons to be happy.”

The Final 48 Hours

With the exterior challenge in the books, the duos had one final push left: 48 hours and an extra $5,000 to put toward any final fixes before the winner of Battle on the Beach was crowned.

Team Ty brought in a contractor to finish their exterior with a built-in prep station, outdoor shower and curtained cabana, plus they finally re-grouted the kitchen. Bonus: the hot tub FINALLY arrived. "I feel it. We have a winning house," Ty said. Team Mika turned their questionable main suite Murphy bed into a reading nook, added an arcade and a laundry room and actually finished their second-floor balcony. "We're all winners here," Anna shouted, to which Josiah added, "Except for second and third place." Team Sarah added wallpaper and furniture to the main suite to make them feel more finished. It was decided they’d leave their controversial bathroom alone due to time. "Go big or go home, and I ain't going home," Angelina said in between each wallpaper application. Tristyn summed it up perfectly: "These spaces feel night and day different."

It was percentage growth that decided the season. With a 257% boost to their weekly rate, Michelle and Sydney were officially crowned the Season 5 champions. "It's been such a roller coaster of emotions," Sydney said through tears and laughter. "This has been one of the best experiences I've ever had, and I'm so glad my mom was forced to do it with me."

Turns out betting on pink paint (and each other) was the smartest move all season. Sun, sand and a seriously deserved win close out Season 5 of Battle on the Beach.

July 6 Episode: Bonus Points

Angelina from Team Sarah really summed up this episode: "I cannot keep up with all of these curveballs." With just two challenges left, Week 6 brought a bonus surprise. The teams were tasked with creating a "scroll-stopping moment" for their bonus rooms. A field trip via bikes to one of the top-dollar homes in the market left the teams motivated to make sure their beach rentals didn’t wash out in a crowded market. They were blown away to learn a rental with four bedrooms was earning up to $8,000 for just one week. In the words of Ty, "This next room has to be wow on pow."

Team Mika: Josiah and Anna

Everyone's favorite DIYers tried to outdo themselves this week. Since Anna runs the marketing side of her and Josiah's rental business, she was feeling extra pressure to prove she knew how to stop someone's scroll. Team Mika decided to turn their bonus room into a game room, which featured a mural wall that serves as a selfie backdrop. They tied the game room to the rest of the home's theme by using the same boho color scheme.

The biggest bonus of all, however, was a Ping-Pong table that doubles as a queen-sized bed. After a lot of ingenuity (involving a hydraulic scissor lift and a hot tub cover lift), Anna and Josiah centered their custom Ping-Pong table bed in the middle of the room. Its wow factor earned praise from the judges — and Mika's presentation made the whole affair even more spectacular. She waited for the opportune moment to announce, "The only thing better than this Ping-Pong table is if it's a bed!"

Kamohai loved it: "It's sturdy, comfortable and I could definitely sleep here." Plus, it provided a great view of Anna's hand-painted sunfish she named Henry. The only downside was the framed list of instructions for the bed felt a bit too complicated for the average user. But Tristyn made a great point, "This is something that will stay in my brain forever."

Team Sarah: Steven and Angelina

Team Sarah's comeback last week left them confident and ready to take on the bonus room — particularly Steven, who came to the table with lots of design ideas. After Sarah and Angelina discussed creating an office space with a hideaway bed, Steven jumped in with his idea: a Murphy Gym, aka a gym space featuring a Murphy bed to ensure extra heads in beds. (Kamohai coined this the "Murphy Season.")

Angelina stepped back and let Steven take the reins on this project: "Now he has to put on the leader pants and take charge." So he did. He even put Sarah to work staining the gym's doors. They created custom matching wood cabinets with a dark finish.

The unique concept earned them major points with the judges. It was the first time Tristyn and Kamohai had ever seen a Murphy Gym. Everyone agreed workout fanatics would book this rental ASAP, but the wow factor came with a trade-off. In order to sleep, the gym equipment had to be put away, and Tristyn was the first to ask, "Do you really want to have to work to sleep?" In the aesthetics department, the Kalamas felt the bonus room didn't offer much, though: "[This space] is all about function, and this dual purpose is a win," Kamohai said.

Team Ty: Michelle and Sydney

Michelle and Sydney continued the kid theme this week because, honestly, they’re really good at it. The initial idea was to create a kid-friendly bonus room with miniature store stations, but Ty helped them think outside the box and lean into the ocean theme: "I think we’re going to have to lower our maturity level if we really want to knock this out of the park."

Michelle and Sydney wanted to add as many sleep options as possible, so they created what they called the "Trundle U-Shaped Party Room." (The official name is still being workshopped.) With this one-of-a-kind sleeping solution, they were able to maximize space in the room and create five extra beds.

However, the trundle-bed nook wasn’t the scroll-stopper. It was the 7-foot, life-size lifeguard station they built into the closet. It was the first thing the judges saw when they walked through the door. Kamohai exclaimed, "This is a wow. This is a kid’s dream." Since Michelle and Sydney had to cut the closet to make room for the tower, they added built-in dressers to the trundle beds.

The downside was the room made the rental pool smaller and more specific, but, in the end, the number of trundle beds prevailed. "It’s because you have all of these beds. It makes this space work," Kamohai said. Between the trundles and the tower, their bonus room made a splash.

The Week 6 win was awarded to Michelle and Sydney, who are proof that standing out means making the bold design choice. Even their mentor, Ty, was shocked: "I was sort of against this thing the whole time, but they actually pulled off a miracle." Team Ty decided to keep their $3,000 winnings and add it to their budget for the final challenge. In a season all about stopping the scroll, this was the room that did it best.

June 29 Episode: Redemption by Design

Five weeks in, and the stakes keep getting higher. This week challenged the happily reunited teams with not one bathroom, but two. Throw a surprise guest bedroom into the mix with only $2,500 to wow the judges, and every move counts. Bold decisions were made (multiple tile patterns included), a few risks paid off and one team finally got the bathroom redemption arc we've all been rooting for.

Team Ty: Michelle and Sydney

With Michelle back by Sydney’s side, Team Ty’s mother-daughter duo didn’t skip a beat. As usual, the two leaned into their coastal cottage aesthetic, but this time with some additional flair. By wrapping the walls of their guest room in an on-trend paint color and sourcing thrifted furnishings, they gave their bonus space character without blowing the budget. The custom-built reading nook, fully on-theme with the rest of the house, was a standout. "We're really going hard on these reading nooks," Sydney said — and she wasn't wrong. This week's reading nook rings in as the fourth in the rental.

Michelle and Sydney also crafted a custom headboard using fabric and extra wood — proving that handmade details can hold their own against high-end finishes. However, the real gamble happened on the first floor. Faced with a narrow Jack-and-Jill bathroom, Team Ty made the daring call to split it into two separate spaces: a half bath for the common area, and a kid-inspired full bathroom for the adjacent bedroom. Add in a wall-mounted trough sink, three faucets (a major plus, according to the judges), and bold wallpaper, and you've got a bathroom worth stopping your scroll for. "When I'm scrolling and see a fun bathroom, I'm going to pay attention to it," Tristyn noted, and this one definitely qualifies. The real win for the team this week was Sydney’s bold design choices. "I'm proud of Sydney. She's gaining the confidence to make a statement of who she is as a designer creatively," Ty said.

Team Mika: Josiah and Anna

Josiah and Anna came into this week swinging, and their mentor Mika was right there making sure they didn't swing so hard they missed. With a true passion for DIY, a flair for bold patterns and a designer who lives for color, this team brought fresh energy to all three rooms. The question was whether bold translated to brilliant, or just … a lot. After some sound advice from their Mika, the husband-and-wife duo pressed on with what they felt was an appropriate number of patterns. And the Kalamas loved the guest bedroom. A reclaimed wooden headboard with LED lighting anchored the space. On the same wall, custom art and a pair of water skis rounded out a gallery wall that elevated the room without breaking the bank. "This room would make me stop," Tristyn said.

The en suite’s floor tile and tub also earned praise, but the judges did have some notes. "They're pushing it with three different tiles in the tub," the Kalamas noted. "Let the floor be the moment." But the downstairs bathroom won them back over with rustic wood accents and racing stripe tile. The real star, however, was the fish-stamped wall pattern that stopped the judges in their tracks. "I've got the team that loves to DIY stuff," Mika said — and their spirit shows up everywhere.

Team Sarah: Steven and Angelina

With his hard-earned confidence gained from last week’s win, Steven rejoined Angelina for Week 5, and this time he was ready to participate in the decisions. After a rough round in the primary suite, the duo wanted to prove they knew how to design a stunning bathroom. And the resulting guest bedroom and en suite they created turned out to be a study in functional luxury: Wainscoting paired with a cool blue color palette sets the tone, while crown molding gives the space a polished, elevated finish for little to no money. The tilework in the nautical-themed bathroom shows the team's commitment to creating a functional, spa-like space.

Downstairs, Team Sarah really turned a corner. They made the call to split the original salmon-colored Jack-and-Jill bathroom into two: a powder bath for the common area and a connected bathroom beyond. The idea came from Steven, and Angelina summed it up best: "All I hear is added value." The powder room now boasts a unique stone vanity and a sense of personality that had the judges buzzing. According to Tristyn, "Powder rooms are somewhere you can have the most fun." And trust us, fun was had. Team Sarah kept the tub in the adjoining bathroom and added an LED niche light with a patterned tile that felt fresh. "They made up for their primary bathroom," the judges said. "Coolest sink situation I've seen in a long time."

Team Sarah proved sometimes the best design story is the comeback one. Just like the tide, they came back stronger and took the win. Everyone was emotional, including Ty, who joined the group hug with a tender “I’m so proud of you.” If this week has taught us anything, it's that in this competition, the boldest bet doesn't always win. Sometimes it's the most intentional one.

June 22 Episode: Mid-Season Shake-up

Season 5 officially hit the halfway mark this week. If you thought it would be smooth sailing from here on out, think again. Battle on the Beach expects its designers to collaborate, deliver under pressure and adapt. So this week, the mentors decided to shake the paint bucket up and scramble the teams. Once the initial shock wore off and everyone realized there was an opportunity for two teams to make money, all parties wasted no time getting started. With new teammates, a guest room renovation and only four days to finish, what could go wrong?

Team Ty: Sydney and Anna

Team Ty’s new member this week was Anna. Sydney and Anna bonded immediately over new motherhood — and Anna had no problem letting Sydney take the lead on her house. The two designers agreed their main goal in the guest room was to create a space for families with small children, specifically those who need a crib. Ty wasn't exactly sold; babies aren't really his thing, but they pushed forward anyway, creating a unique, custom Murphy crib (patent pending). They created a bookshelf around the bulky closet to give it more purpose and tie their family-forward room together. Judges Kamohai and Tristyn loved the color palette of the space. White walls with a double blue stripe gave the room a light and airy aesthetic with a coastal touch that feels youthful. Tristyn also loved the bubble light fixtures, which reminded her of seafoam. However, the feature Sydney and Anna felt strongest about was actually their downfall. "The Murphy crib might actually limit their bookability," Kamhoi noted. It was a fun idea, but maybe too specific for a beach rental and a competition based on raising property value. Unfortunately, Ty's demonstration of how to put the crib together didn't help their case.

Team Sarah: Angelina and Michelle

Team Sarah was a force to be reckoned with this week and had plenty of opinions to spare. Angelina summed it up best: three lions together. Michelle stepped in for Steven, and Angelina had to adapt quickly to someone giving her feedback other than yes. "These women don’t mind telling somebody no, and I’m not used to that," she admitted. The two discussed, in detail, losing the bulky and unnecessary closet to create a more open layout with Sarah, but Angelina pulled her signature move and changed the design at the last minute. Knowing storage is important, she added a small closet back in at the entry of the room. Luckily, this trio teamed up and found a positive way to pivot by carrying the slat design across the entire wall, including a hidden closet door. The judges were awed by the use of the darker wood tone and modern flavor of the design, which captured a different feel than the rest of the house. But the location of the closet threw them off, and so did the arrangement of the furniture. Sarah was quick to point out that the arrangement was intentional. The seating area holds a pullout couch, which provides generational living in the space. The broad appeal scored points, but sometimes something as simple as closet placement can make a big difference in the rental game.

Team Mika: Josiah and Steven

The team that had the most to prove? Josiah and Steven. They were determined to show their worth in this challenge, not to the mentors or the judges but to their wives. Steven jokingly admitted, "This is definitely a chance to take all the knowledge that my wife has given me and use it against her." It was Josiah’s first time designing without Anna, so he wanted to make sure to continue to incorporate her boho flair into their guestroom. They wanted to create a space that was sophisticated enough for adults, but fun enough for children, a hard combo to tackle — but this new bromance rose to the occasion. With Mika’s stamp of approval, they moved forward, creating two sets of custom bunk beds to sleep four people, complete with privacy curtains and charging stations. The sage green and burnt orange color combo, paired with the elegant wallpaper, elevated the space despite the bunk beds. The proof was in the pudding when the judges walked in. "You said functional, and this is definitely functional," Kamhoi exclaimed. They couldn’t believe the smallest guest room of the three rentals maximized the number of heads in beds the most. The only thing missing? Storage. But when you're sleeping four, maybe that's a problem for another episode.

Shoutout to the Week 4 winners and our new favorite bromance: Josiah and Steven. Sometimes, all it takes is a little determination and a healthy dose of friendly competition with your wife. They decided to split the $3,000 and take their winnings back to help with next week’s challenge. Looks like this bromance didn't just rise to the occasion, it rode the wave all the way to victory.

June 15 Episode: A Suite Retreat

What do main suites, roadkill and group hugs have in common? Episode 3 of Battle on the Beach. This week, the teams tackled the main bedrooms of their rentals, and the surprises kept coming. The Kalamas tasked everyone via message in a bottle with "The Roadkill Challenge": Look for something unique on the road to bring back to life and add to your abode. And the tough job of being a mentor took a toll on Sarah, who leaned on fellow mentors Ty and Mika for a much-needed pep talk and group hug. Just goes to show that when the tides are high, so are the stakes.

Team Sarah: Steven and Angelina

At this point, Steven and Angelina have their aesthetic down to a science: bright and airy with soft neutrals carried throughout the house — and the judges love it. Their biggest challenge this week was getting rid of the flamingo wallpaper in the bathroom — oh, and gutting the entire en suite to modernize it from scratch. The plan was to create an understated, tranquil retreat. "I’m amazing at bathrooms, and it needs to show," said Angelina.

The husband-and-wife duo audibled without checking in with first-time mentor Sarah and flipped the entire layout of their bathroom. Sarah felt ambushed by the change, which cost the team thousands of dollars. But sometimes all a mentor can do is have an HGTV therapy session with Ty, and then keep the momentum going to help their team finish the space. "It can get worse, or it can get better," he reminded her. "If we’re stressed out, imagine what they’re feeling." When Tristyn and Kamhoi saw the finished main suite, they were blown away by the natural light and the way the space embodied a sense of grand, inviting luxury. But walking through the en suite doors into the bathroom (right into the shower) left them feeling claustrophobic — especially given the price tag. Creating value is the name of the game in this competition.

Team Ty: Michelle and Sydney

This week, Ty wanted to push the boundaries of Michelle and Sydney’s comfy, cozy ambiance with a wow factor that would amaze Kamhoi and Tristyn. He almost had his team convinced on a drop-in tub in the nook of their main suite, but he wasn't able to pull it off. Michelle and Sydney had already spent time and energy building out the space with a bench seat and a divider made from a restored antique door they cut in half. To make the bathroom feel a little more luxurious, they added earth-tone, racing stripe tile to the shower, plus two showerheads. The scene stealer, however, was the giant antique mirror Ty convinced them to pick up during the roadkill challenge, despite their hesitancy.

It turns out this mentor knew what he was doing after all: The judges loved the consistent design of the coastal cottage aesthetic. Kamhoi and Tristyn also appreciated that Michelle and Sydney created an “experience” with their main suite. However, Ty couldn’t let the judges leave without sharing his tub idea. Kamhoi said it best, "The tub would have been money."

Team Mika: Josiah and Anna

Their house came up short in square footage this week, but Team Mika still had a leg up on the competition. Josiah and Anna’s main suite took up half of the second floor before they even got started renovating, so they had the potential to create something impactful. "This is probably the person who’s paying for the vacation rental, so we want to treat them right," Josiah said. They wanted to create an en suite that gave the impression of a private, members-only resort spa. After confirming they would continue with their neutral tones and organic materials, the team left on the same page. What Josiah and Anna didn’t tell Mika about, however, was the custom-built pony wall they added to cut the bedroom in half and use as a headboard for an ocean-view wakeup. The divide also created enough space for a Murphy bed. But, as the judges pointed out, the main suite may be the only spot in a rental where the number of "heads in beds" doesn’t matter. Despite the small setback, this team stunned the judges into silence with their en suite. They carried the fluted design from their boho kitchen into the sinks and, most importantly, the freestanding tub. "The market is flooded with vacation rentals, so it’s about what’s going to make yours stand out, and something like this will," Tristyn said.

Drumroll please! Week 3 ended in a TIE. Two teams took home the win for the main suite. Josiah and Anna blew the judges away with their spa retreat bathroom, while Michelle and Sydney wowed them with their cottage-core beach bedroom. Instead of splitting the cash, the teams decided to double their $1,500 winnings and add it to the grand prize total, which now sits at $56,000. The shore thing? No two episodes of this season are ever alike.

June 8 Episode: From Slab to Fabulous

The battle heated up in Episode 2 as the mentors and their designers took on the most daunting space to design: the kitchen. Renovating "the epicenter of a great getaway" meant the pressure was on to get it right, especially this early in the game. The teams took a trolley field trip to the slab yard in search of stone that would make or break their space, and trust us, no slab was left unturned. Emotions were running high, and the results were anything but surface-level.

Team Mika: Josiah and Anna

Despite renovating the smallest of the three beach rentals, Team Mika homed in on their aesthetic. However, because Josiah and Anna are used to a more flexible schedule, they really felt the pressure of the time constraints this week. They took their modern boutique vibe into the kitchen, adding the sleek charm of slim Shaker cabinets and a coffered ceiling with bespoke wallpaper in the banquette. The husband-and-wife duo wanted an emerald green countertop, but Mika, ever the mentor, stepped in before any big decisions were made: "How about we make some more green in the rental rate?" They collectively settled on green veining throughout the marble, which gave their kitchen a bohemian feel. Their small but mighty space wowed Tristyn and Kamohai, especially with elevated appliances and an extremely unique "appliance garage" they built themselves. But in the end, their custom arched hood left the judges feeling claustrophobic in an already tight space.

Team Sarah: Steven and Angelina

Steven and Angelina were walking on sunshine after winning last week’s flag challenge and the living room design. With an additional $3,000 to spend, they decided to build a custom range on one side of their kitchen and an arch that provided secondary pantry space on the other. Why have just one focal point when you can impress the judges with two? The focal moments paid off in this transitional-style kitchen, and so did their waterfall-edge marble countertops, which got rave reviews from Tristyn. Angelina crafted elegant, one-of-a-kind artwork that was beautifully showcased in their curated workstation nook, but the intricate details came at a cost. Sarah found herself, once again, urging her team to stay on schedule. Ultimately, the Kalamas felt the banquette space was added as an afterthought, with the design left unfinished. They also didn't love that the team gave up precious square footage for a home desk at the beach. "When I’m on vacation, I’m not trying to work," Tristyn pointed out. Art is subjective, but on Battle on the Beach, deadlines aren't.

Team Ty: Michelle and Sydney

Team Ty really hit their groove this week. Michelle and Sydney tapped into their differences as a mother-daughter team and, dare we say, pushed each other to create a bolder design. After Tristyn and Kamohai described their coastal cottage aesthetic as feeling "old" last week, they revamped it. Ty brought in his signature (at loud volume) enthusiasm when Sydney proposed doing a complete reconfiguration of the kitchen, expanding it farther into the space to make room for a functional, hidden mudroom and exposed pantry with a beverage center. This layout change created a bigger, open-concept kitchen that felt like it was always a part of the living room and made way for a perfect view of the ocean. And it left the judges speechless. Ty convinced the two to play around with contrasting tones in their cabinetry, so with interior windows built into the new pantry, natural light moved through the space perfectly. After upgrades like these, it's safe to say Michelle and Sydney didn't just win over the judges; they added serious value to this home.

The Week 2 win belonged to Michelle and Sydney, who opted to keep the $3,000 and add it to next week’s renovation budget. One thing’s for certain: these teams came to cook.

June 1 Episode: The Battle Begins

In Episode 1, these beach-dwelling designers faced their very first challenge of the season: a head-to-head race to claim their beach house. In the end, Team Sarah took home the win, earning them a serious head start. With keys in hand, all three teams got straight to business. First up: tackling the living room, along with its accompanying staircase and second-floor entryway.

Sand in your shoes might be optional in this competition, but maximizing every square foot to raise property value is not.

Team Ty: Michelle and Sydney

Ty had his work cut out for him this season with a mother-daughter team, Michelle Mueller and Sydney Lorence from Nebraska. Tensions arose on Day 1. Luckily, Ty not only knows how to use a hammer, but he can also bring levity to a situation. "Showing design brings on a lot of emotions," he pointed out. Thankfully, Michelle and Sydney settled on a coastal cottage theme and created a beach-gear drop zone with a whimsical fish gallery wall that judges Tristyn and Kamohai Kalama loved. Their added details, such as wooden beams on the living room ceiling and custom transom windows over the second-floor bedroom doors, showed they came to play. The only issue was that they might have leaned a little too far into their theme, as the judges felt the design may be too niche for a competitive rental market.

Team Mika: Josiah and Anna

Mika's husband-and-wife team from Maryland — Anna and Josiah Julian — might be tackling the smallest house, but these two aren't about to let the tide go out on them. Josiah and Anna were the first to see the upside: Smaller square footage means the biggest opportunity to move the needle on value. Mika pushed for Murphy beds flanking the fireplace to maximize sleeping space, but this team had a vision of their own: a boutique tropical retreat that felt more like a private getaway than a beach rental. Their second-floor dry bar and modern take on a tropical aesthetic were the judges' favorite moments of the day. But when the scores came in, Mika's instincts proved right. This 100 Day Dream Home veteran knows that in the rental game, "more heads in more beds" means more revenue.

Team Sarah: Steven and Angelina

As a first-time mentor this season, Sarah is out to prove she has what it takes. And her team, Connecticut-based husband-and-wife duo Steven and Angelina Jacobs, is out to prove the same thing. Winning the first challenge gave them the upper hand, but they were determined to let their designs do the talking, too. They aimed to create a home with a transitional oceanfront, resort feel (think clean lines, neutral tones and a calm, airy vibe) with the utmost functionality for any family. Renovating a resort on Renovation Island taught Sarah a thing or two about time management, so she had to step in once or twice to keep her team on track, but Steven and Angelina managed to pull off something impressive. They reimagined the layout and created an entirely new bedroom without losing the flow of the living space. Tristyn and Kamohai felt the design could have used a bolder pop of color, but they couldn't argue with the transformation (or the added value).

Steven and Angelina took home the Week 1 win, as well as $3,000 to spend on next week's challenge. Looks like Team Sarah is riding the victory wave this week. Let's hope they don't wipe out anytime soon.