Ann Maurice – interior rivalry (3/8) Thursday 5 April: 20.00–21.00

Ann Maurice, the no-nonsense House Doctor with the flair to make any room shine, is once more on the hunt for Britain’s best home-stager. With a prize worth more than £50,000 at stake, Ann has no time for half-heartedness. Assisting her on her search is interior-design expert Gordon Whistance. Tonight the contestants face the double challenge of making over a bathroom and a bedroom, two of the most critical spaces in a house.

For the third week’s challenge, the eight remaining participants are divided into three teams: Jayne, Neal and Rolf; Dani, Kate and Jennifer; and Rachel and Liza. Each team will have three days to breathe new life into a bathroom and bedroom, with a budget of £700 and just one handyman to help.

The first team – Jayne, Neal and Rolf – are tasked with a small but horrendously masculine bedroom, painted a deep shade of purple and complete with horns over the bed. Their bathroom is in a terrible state of repair and includes the unusual feature of a plant growing through the window. But the team are slow to decide on their plan, and Rolf is soon exasperated with his team mates.

Purple also seems to be a theme in the bedroom assigned to Dani, Kate and Jennifer, which boasts a bright purple floral carpet. Their bathroom, meanwhile, has an avocado suite and dated tiles. The team soon agrees on a colour scheme for the rooms, but a major problem arises when the handyman discovers the bedroom walls are flaking away under the wallpaper.

The smallest team, Rachel and Liza, seem to have the biggest challenge. Their overly feminine bedroom is saddled with a pink carpet, while their bathroom contains a vivid maroon suite. Despite their reputations as the bossiest two of the whole group, the girls seem to be working well together, although Liza needs some convincing from Rachel that the controversial carpet should stay.

The teams get to work, but it’s not long before all three are mired in problems. Rolf is driven to despair by his ‘infantile’ team mates: “I don’t think I’ve actually got it in me to fight with these young kids!” he cries, slamming their “stupid verbal banter”. Ann steps in to give him a pep talk, and Rolf is temporarily buoyed, only for more disagreements to emerge over the wallpaper.

Meanwhile, Rachel and Liza’s alliance crumbles fast when Ann and Gordon pay a visit. Ann is gobsmacked to find the girls have elected to keep the pink carpet, and Rachel’s protests do her no favours: “You know the principles,” Ann says, “but you still want to argue with me!” When Liza hears Ann’s verdict, she curses herself for not obeying her gut instinct and opposing Rachel more firmly.

Elsewhere, Dani’s bossy behaviour is aggravating her colleagues, Kate and Jennifer. “It’s causing a tiny bit of friction,” Jennifer admits, diplomatically. Dani decides to do the shopping, revealing that she believes herself to be “probably the strongest member of the team”. But she makes a howling error when she forgets to take the money and wastes over three precious hours.

Worse is to come for Dani when a spot check by Ann and Gordon highlights the ugly mess on the bedroom walls. It appears that Dani bought the wrong sort of paint and didn’t think to check it with anybody. Privately, Ann and Gordon’s assessment is dire: “It doesn’t get much worse than this,” Ann says. “I think they’re on a road to ruin,” adds Gordon. With all three teams riven by internal differences and facing major problems, can any of them turn their projects around in time?