The 'Battle on the Mountain' Teams Have an Uphill "Battle" to Win the Ultimate Prize

Fans of HGTV are eager to watch the newest competition series, Battle on the Mountain. The show pits three teams against one another. The teams are mentored by some HGTV favorites, as they each work to remodel a different home in the mountains. Unlike many other house-flipping shows, the teams have to take harsh weather conditions into account as they compete against each other for a $50,000 cash prize.

The other fun side of Battle on the Mountain is that while some of our favorites are the teams' mentors — Rico León, Kim Myles, and Kim Spradlin-Wolfe — the teams themselves are total newbies to the channel. But after this, they could become huge house-flipping stars! So who are the teams competing in Battle on the Mountain?

Kim Myles mentors “hoodhearts” Tony and Lymari, who met on the Chicago public transit system. They learned through their marriage that they both love to DIY. “I think renovation speaks a lot to our marriage and how it really has been restored and rebuilt,” Lymari told HGTV. “They are amazing,” Kim said of her mentees. “Hard-working, go-get-em individuals.”

Lymari and Tony have been married for 26 years and now live in Bloomington, Ind. They have five children and two grandchildren, but they’re still going strong in the world of home renovation. They also have a YouTube channel to document and share their process called He Builds She Paints, which also describes how they work.

Stephen and David St. Russell call themselves the “renovation husbands.” They have been renovating and restoring homes for 12 years. The high school sweethearts have appeared on Discovery’s Diary of an Old Home, have been featured in various New England magazines, and were on an episode of The Better Buy podcast.

“They are Yin and Yang,” Rico said of his team. “One is a hyper-creative architect. The other one is great with time management and money management.” It sounds like they have a recipe for success! And with over 200,000 Instagram followers already, they’re definitely a favorite to win.

Survivor winner turned Why the Heck Did I Buy This House host Kim Spradlin-Wolfe mentors husband and wife duo Amber and Trey. Not only are they relatively new to the home transformation game, but Amber also just gave birth to their daughter, who’s now 10 months old. “One person needs to be the muscles and one person needs to be brains," Amber said to HGTV. "Well, that’s literally us."

“Love them,” Kim said of her team. “They organically got into house-flipping recently but they’re so hard-working, they’re here to get it done. To get that intense of work done under pressure, it’s really something to see.” In fact, they got into the game during COVID-19, when they bought a foreclosed home in southeastern Ohio and decided to transform it. They loved it so much that they tackled nine other homes, so they’re definitely a force to be reckoned with.

New episodes of Battle on the Mountain air every Monday at 9 p.m. EST on HGTV. Be sure to tune in for all of the latest twists and turns with each team.