My Lottery Dream Home: David's Happy Ending shows David Bromstad letting go of his "always positive" persona

My Lottery Dream Home: David’s Happy Ending presents a rare on-camera shift for longtime HGTV host David Bromstad, documenting how the designer dismantles the carefully maintained “always positive” persona that defined his public image for nearly two decades.

The one-hour special, which premieres December 19, centers on a four-year renovation of Bromstad’s Central Florida home and frames that process as inseparable from a reckoning with emotional exhaustion, identity, and self-imposed performance.

From the opening moments, My Lottery Dream Home: David’s Happy Ending establishes that the project is not a standard renovation narrative. Bromstad explains that the home became emotionally fused to him, saying that when damage struck, it felt like it happened “deep within” him.

What began as a routine remodel expanded into a full teardown after storm damage caused flooding and mold, forcing the house to be gutted to the studs. The setbacks coincided with insurance disputes, mounting costs, and creative paralysis.

My Lottery Dream Home: David’s Happy Ending repeatedly returns to the toll of maintaining a relentlessly upbeat public identity. Bromstad acknowledges that the persona audiences associate with My Lottery Dream Home has become unsustainable. He says, 

“I only allowed people to see the bright and shiny parts of me because that was all I was willing to accept from myself.”  

The special situation was that admission was not as a rejection of joy, but as recognition that constant positivity had narrowed what he permitted himself to feel.

My Lottery Dream Home and the Cost of Staying Cheerful

Throughout My Lottery Dream Home: David’s Happy Ending, Bromstad connects that emotional narrowing to professional success. He notes that the version of himself audiences saw helped launch and sustain his HGTV career.

At the same time, the special shows how that same approach prevented him from addressing stress as the renovation collapsed around him.  Bromstad says,

“It was important for me to open up about the reality of my life. I have a very blessed and incredible life, and I do know this. But it doesn’t negate the fact that I’ve had really hard times in my existence.”

The physical damage to the house parallels the personal strain. Mold remediation required complete demolition. Construction delays stretched into years. Bromstad eventually stepped away from the project entirely for nearly a year.

The pause becomes a turning point in My Lottery Dream Home: David’s Happy Ending, marking the first time Bromstad allowed himself to disengage rather than push forward under the weight of expectation.

HGTV’s role is positioned as supportive rather than prescriptive. Bromstad credits the network for backing the special and allowing a departure from tone. He says,

“HGTV has always been my biggest champion. They celebrated me being gay when I didn’t even celebrate it myself. I got onto television when gay was still new to the media. There wasn’t a lot of representation that was real, and for them to wrap their arms around me during this very real time of my life has been such a blessing.”

My Lottery Dream Home: David’s Happy Ending does not frame vulnerability as a branding pivot. Instead, it presents disclosure as a corrective.

Bromstad explains that refusing to acknowledge hardship eventually became destructive. “I was losing control,” he admits in the special, describing how stress spiraled as he tried to escape the pressure rather than confront it.

The renovation’s completion does not signal a return to a simplified happiness. Instead, the reveal emphasizes integration. Bromstad describes the finished home as a place built for connection.

 “I didn’t build this just for myself, I built this to share it with my friends and family,” he says, calling the reveal “probably the most incredible day that I’ve had in my adult life.”

By the end of My Lottery Dream Home: David’s Happy Ending, the transformation on display is not cosmetic. The special documents the deliberate abandonment of a singular emotional register, replacing it with a fuller account of what it takes to endure. The result is not darker television, but more accurate television.

Stay tuned for more updates.