Mina Starsiak Hawk teams up with Vernon Davis on season 7 of Rock the Block, premiering April 13, where four design duos transform identical Las Vegas homes. “Although all of us who were on it were incredibly competitive, we all got along,” she says. Following the end of her long-running HGTV series Good Bones, Starsiak Hawk appeared on the previous season of Rock the Block as a judge.
Mina Starsiak Hawk says filming the new season of Rock the Block was just as fun as it was fiercely competitive.
“Although all of us who were on it were incredibly competitive, we all got along,” says the Good Bones alum. “We went to dinner outside of filming and hung out and did fun things, and everyone getting along was lovely. It was refreshing.”
Starsiak Hawk partners with retired NFL player turned actor Vernon Davis as one of four duos competing on the show’s seventh season, which pairs HGTV stars with celebrities “who share a passion for design” and premieres April 13.
The other teams include Renovation Resort Showdown’s Scott McGillivray and singer and reality star Brooke Hogan (daughter of the late Hulk Hogan); Battle on the Beach’s Taniya Nayak and 98 Degrees singer Drew Lachey; and Why the Heck Did I Buy This House? host Kim Wolfe and fellow Survivor alum and former Southern Charm star Chelsea Meissner. “There was so much shenanigans because we all had so much fun with each other,” Starsiak Hawk says, noting that the antics happened both between partners and among the teams “just messing with each other.”
“And there are several instances where Vernon [Davis], my partner, who’s a giant ex–NFL player, would just physically move someone he didn’t want standing where they were,” she adds. “Just always messing with each other and playing around. And I’m pretty sure Brooke [Hogan] got a couple of solid tackles on Vernon because she’s a tall lady as well.”
While the previous season of Rock the Block pitted two veteran teams against two rookie teams, this one shakes things up by bringing in stars from outside the design world.
“It was interesting because all the different celebrities have different levels of experience and interest and involvement,” Starsiak Hawk says. “It’s like a new relationship. You have a new boyfriend and you’re like, ‘Okay, well, how do you like to do things? And how do we talk through disagreements and make decisions? And what do you care about and what do you not care about?’”
“And I think you’ll see in the season that some people’s partners were more agreeable than others, but in a fun way. Not in an angry, mean way,” she adds.
The HGTV star, who spent eight seasons renovating Indianapolis homes on Good Bones, says her first reaction to the Rock the Block cast was that it’s “such an eclectic group.”
When she learned Davis would be her partner, she felt confident about teaming up with the athlete, who played 15 seasons in the NFL as a tight end. “Knowing that he was a football player, knowing his position and when he played in the league, I was like, no matter what, he’s going to be a good teammate,” she recalls. “You just aren’t the kind of person who thinks you can do it all by yourself if you’re successful in the NFL for that long the way he was. So I knew that was going to be great.”
Having appeared on season 6 of Rock the Block as a judge, the renovation expert reflected on how that experience shaped her time competing on the show.
She says her biggest challenge was “getting in my head.”
“Every decision I make, I also reflect on if I were a judge, this is what I would say about this,” she explains. “Or the thing that goes wrong that I don’t have the budget or time to fix — if I were a judge, this is what I would say and this is why I would dock you and you wouldn’t win.”
She adds, “So while it’s definitely, I think, a bit of an edge to have both perspectives, it also was just mental gymnastics all the time.”
Rock the Block season 7 premieres April 13 on HGTV.
