Tim Tebow – Home Free

By starrymag | June 15, 2016

Q) How did you get involved with the series?

 

Tim:  Well, that’s a really good question. When they came and were pitching the idea to me, I was obviously, kind of—I’d heard about this show, and knew what they did in Season 1. But then I really understood what they were going to do in Season 2, and they were going to have 11 contestants competing to try to win a dream home for their personal hero, but then one of the twists is that every single one of the contestants gets to give away one of the homes to their heroes. So, everybody walks away a winner. But then you really start to understand the stories of these heroes, and these contestants, and why they’re really special. It’s because the heroes have done so much to sacrifice to get the contestants where they’re at, and now it’s the contestant’s chance to really make a dream come true for these heroes. I think that’s really special. And then you really get to understand the stories of sacrifice, whether it’s Nick, who was the war hero in Afghanistan, who’s competing for the man that picked him up on the battlefield and saved his life and brought him to safety. Or the contestant that we had that was competing for a young lady who does random acts of kindness all the time, and donated her kidney to save his father’s life when he was going through dialysis. And I think when I really began to understand the stories, and how the contestants really had a chance to change the lives of the heroes, I think that’s what really gripped me. To really understand the narrative of it, it’s people loving and sacrificing for other people to make a difference in their lives. And when I heard that I knew it was something that would be a lot of fun to be a part of.

 

Q) What do you hope people take away when they watch the series?

 

Tim:  Well, I hope a lot of things. I think people are going to watch it, and they’re going to see that it’s probably the biggest build show America’s ever seen, so if they like building, it has a lot of that. It has so much competitiveness, which was so fun for me, really fierce competition. It’s obviously got its fair share of drama, but I think, more than anything, I’d want them to take away that it can be cool to be able to love and sacrifice for other people and give for other people. And I just believe that it’s more blessed to give than to receive. I think that’s something that this show really—I think that’s something that it really shows every single week in this show.

 

Q) I know you do a lot of charity work; I know that’s an important thing for you. How do you think that your experience, your own personal experience with your own charity work, kind of plays into what you’re doing with this existing show?

 

Tim:  Well, I think it definitely plays into it, just coming from the place of wanting to help other people and wanting to make a difference. I think it’s also the theme of what you’re trying to promote, and I think this show promotes to young people, and even not so young people, is that it is such a blessing to be able to help other people, and sacrifice for other people. Whether it’s your money, your time, your energy, your effort, whatever it is, it’s worth it, and it’s not just worth it when they return—they give you a home in return, but it’s worth it because of the lives that you’re able to change. I think that’s something that I’ve really learned through a lot of the work that we do at the Tim Tebow Foundation, and the work that I’ve done in third world countries. I think it’s also just as important to be able to do it here, in our own communities, and our own homes, because people need help, and they need hope. Sometimes that’s as little as a hug, and sometimes it can be as much as giving away a home, but I just think it’s so important. I think to be able to tell that story and have people see that, I think it’s good, especially in a day and age when it can be so much about me, me, me, and how can I get mine, where this show is totally about helping other people and that’s really cool.

 

Q) Is there any way that any of your skills as a football player were applied to what you were doing on the series?

 

Tim: I don’t really know if the skills as a football player, but I think what you learn on the football field, and in practices, and in training, definitely could be applied to this show. Just being able to take everything that I’ve learned about competing and pushing past your limits, and the mindset and mental toughness, and believing in yourself, all those things that you learn in competing as a football player, and in just the ups and downs of life, you can definitely take in to this show. One of the things I tried, to help all of the contestants, was believing in them and supporting them and trying to be inspiration sometimes, and encouragement sometimes, and a pat on the back sometimes. But whatever it was, to try to get the best out of every single contestant.

 

Q)  Tim, I’m assuming that you get lots of offers for shows like these. If you don’t, let us know about that. I’m just curious, what set this one apart so that you accepted it?

 

Tim: Well, I think it was what I was just sharing about the theme, about being able—I think this show is a great example for families to watch together. I hope it’s going to be a good example of—it has so many different things in it, but I think the overall theme is the reveals in giving the homes away and the sacrifice that people have made, and just the giving factor of it. Of being able to not think about yourself for a little bit, but think about someone else’s needs above your own, and act on their behalf. I think that’s the overarching theme and I think that’s what really drew me to this. That’s why I wanted to be a part of this. Not necessarily because I know anything about building, I’m not a builder and I still don’t know that much about building, I just—it’s fun to be a part of it, it’s awesome to be able to build homes and be a part of competition. But it’s amazing to be able to give away homes and to be able to see the reactions on people’s faces, and know that they have a chance, where they can have hope. Also, so many of these heroes, their stories impact so many people because they are heroes because they’ve served so many people and helped so many people, and this gives them a chance to do that on an even bigger, easier scale.

 

Q) What was it like to be a part of a reality program? I know you’ve been a part of football teams and a part of crews on football TV sets, but what was it like to do the reality program?

 

Tim:  I don’t know if I’d call it a reality program, I don’t know, it was fun. It was exciting. I got super close with all the contestants and everybody, all the crew. I think that was really fun building those relationships, and investing in everybody on set. Especially contestants who, they go through so much, right, they put pause on their life to be able to do this and so, to really invest in them, and hear their story, and why they’re doing it, really understand the why behind it all, I think that was really, really cool. And another cool thing about it was, to be able to see some of them grow, throughout the—whether they were there five weeks, or ten weeks, whatever it was, to be able to see some of them grow, whether they’d start to believe in themselves, or find their confidence, or to be able to overcome obstacles. It’s a lot for people to be away from their families, and put their job on hold, and their life on hold, to be able to try to win a home for someone else. It was really cool to be able to experience that with them.

 

Q) So, most of us, at some point in our lives, have watched or participated in a traditional football practice. I think we have an understanding of how that works. But how does one practice, how does one prepare, to do something like this, to host a television show?

 

Tim:  That’s a really good question. I think, for me, another part about this that was really fun, was it was just so authentic, and real to who I am. Whether it’s welcoming the contestants, or talking to them, or throughout this, I would get so fired up in the midst of competitions, before, during, or after, then I would just gather them and I would just be so either inspired by them, or maybe even frustrated or something, and I would just be so passionate, that it would be the same passion that some people see on the football field that would be there. It’s not like hardly any of that was scripted; it was just all me being myself and trying to get the best out of every single one of the contestants. That would be in a lot of different ways, whether it’s encouragement, or I would just grab someone and try to take them and talk to them one on one if I felt like that was better. So just so many different emotions, and highs and lows for people, and that was just me taking my life experience and everything that I’ve been through, and just trying to be able to relate and encourage and get the best out of everyone.

 

Q) This seems like it’s a great fit for you, and you had that experience on the Lip Sync Battle. Can we draw any conclusions about your future in professional sports? Do you consider that to be in the rearview mirror now, or do you think?

 

Tim: I don’t know if you can draw any conclusions. I think you can just say that I’ve found a couple things that I really liked, and that’s what I’ve tried to do. I really enjoyed the Lip Sync Battle because it’s super fun, it’s outside my comfort zone. Then I wanted to do Home Free because I felt like it’s something that families in America can watch together. They can watch it, they can be entertained, but hopefully at the same time be inspired, and it’s something good that is uplifting for people to watch. I think that’s pretty cool.

 

Q)  But the door’s not closed to any kind of future in sports—

 

Tim: I think for me it’s just, you just wait. If God opens the right door, then you walk down it. If he doesn’t, then you just continue to find the right path that he has for you.

 

Q) It seems like, given the climate in the country, on so many different levels, this seems like a perfect time for this show. A kind of a show that can possibly inspire a lot of people. Can you talk about that, and the timing of this?

 

Tim:  Yeah, I think it is a good time, when so many shows, they might be entertaining, but there’s not many family shows that families can watch together, that are entertaining and uplifting. I think that’s what this show brings together. I think what’s also really cool is, there are a lot of heroes walking around amongst us, and so many times they don’t get thanked. They don’t get supported, and what they do goes unnoticed. I think that this show really tries to thank them, and say, we appreciate what you’ve done, and the sacrifice. That might be someone just helping cancer patients get out of bed every day and go for a walk, and encourage them, or it could be our military saving people on the battlefield. There’s such a wide spectrum, but I think we have heroes every single day and it’s important to say thank you. This show does that.

 

Q) You said earlier, it is more blessed to give than to receive, but in the show we see that even when you give, you are blessed. Were you drawn to the show because of the principle behind it?

 

Tim:  That principle, it’s a great principle, and it’s something that I’ve tried to, I try to live that way as much as I can. So I think that trying to be able to show America that it is a blessing to give and you do get more by giving than you do by just trying to take, take, take. Trying to be able to have a mindset of serving other people is important, and sometimes it doesn’t always make sense. People aren’t sure, well how am I going to receive, well, receiving comes in a lot of different ways, whether that’s receiving peace or fulfillment or purpose or a calling, there’s so many different things. Or, it’s just by receiving joy by making a difference in someone else’s life. I think the Bible says that for a reason, and I believe it.

 

Q) So, times are dark, and I’m not going to lie, when I was watching the show I was like, wow, this is such a unique show because usually it’s a competition and not everyone is rewarded. How important is it for a message like this, to be out right now, and how has it even impacted you to be a part of it?

 

Tim:  I think it’s important for a show like this to be out there to try to impact people and uplift people. For me, it was very uplifting, seeing why the contestants were trying so hard for the heroes, was inspiring, but then also meeting every one of the heroes and seeing that they didn’t do it to try to be a hero, they did it to try to help someone. They don’t even necessarily look at themselves as heroes, and just to be able to meet all of them and hear their stories, I think that was awesome. To also be able to thank them, is really cool and special.

 

Q) I just wanted to know if you could talk a little bit about co-hosting with Mike, what your role is, versus his role, and how you guys work together.

 

Tim:  Yeah, absolutely. It was so much fun working with Mike, obviously, as everybody knows, he’s the master builder, and I am definitely not. We were—the whole—how everyone competes, is skill, will, and strategy. So you have to learn the skill and Mike’s going to teach you that. For me, it was to try to push them and encourage them with their will to push past their limits. Then for them, it was to figure out how, whatever strategy they wanted to use. But, what was also really important in their strategy was how they treated everybody else. So it was really fun working with Mike, and we’re just so absolutely different, but we got along so well. We would tease each other, we’d go back and forth. He thinks that everybody should know how to build certain things, we’d go back and forth, I was like, people just don’t know how to do this stuff. I would give him a hard time about wearing overalls every day, that I just call a fancy onesie, but he’s awesome. We really did get along really well. He tries to put on that really tough man exterior, but he’s got a super soft heart; he loves helping people. A little tidbit about this show, is you might see him cry once or twice, which he probably won’t like me saying, but he even gets emotional, so you know it’s doing something good.

 

Q) In keeping up with the theme of the show, do you have a personal hero that you would build a home for that influenced you in some way?

 

Tim: Well, I’m blessed with so many heroes in my life, and role models, but I think more so than any, it would be my mom and my dad. My dad for having the most passion and courage I’ve seen out of any man, and then my mom, for being the sweetest lady. They’d definitely be my top two heroes.

 

 

*CONFERENCE CALL*