It’s Australia’s best weekly lifestyle show, packed full of ideas and information. If you’re wondering about the cast of Better Homes and Gardens, here’s what you need to know.
Better Homes and Gardens has been running on Channel 7 for more than 30 years, from 1993 to now. This program covers a wealth of knowledge across all areas of home and garden, including DIY projects, gardening advice, interior decorating, cooking, pet care, architecture, travel and general lifestyle stories.
Better Homes and Gardens has won Best Lifestyle Program at The Logies a record 12 times, and is nominated for this category again for 2025.
Watch Better Homes and Gardens, Friday nights from 7pm on Seven and 7TWO.
Who are the presenters on Better Homes and Gardens?
The current presenters are as follows:
- Johanna Griggs- Host
- Dr Harry Cooper- Veterinarian
- Adam Dovile- Builder
- Colin Fassnidge- Chef
- Clarissa Feildel- Cook
- Graham Ross- Horticulturalist
- Pete Colquhoun- Architect
- Charlia Albone- Landscape designer
- Juliet Love- Interior designer
- Melissa King- Horticulturalist
Johanna Griggs, AM
Host
Johanna Griggs is thrilled to have hosted Australia’s number one lifestyle show, Better Homes and Gardens, for the past 20 years.
“The biggest highlight for me is that everyone is so happy to have Better Homes and Gardens in their home. It’s such a trusted brand, so you always feel very welcome,” she says.
Johanna joined Channel Seven after announcing her retirement from swimming in 1993. She is one of Seven network’s most iconic faces being involved in an array of programs over the years, from Seven’s Summer of Tennis, Melbourne Spring Racing Carnival, Seven Weekend News, Sydney Weekender, Auction Squad, House Calls To The Rescue, Australia’s Amazing Homes, the Olympics and Paralympics, and 7 years as host of House Rules.
Before her successful television career, Johanna represented Australia in swimming, winning bronze at the Auckland Commonwealth Games in 1990 and silver at the 1991 World Championships.
Johanna splits her time between the Lower Hunter Valley – where she grows the majority of her family’s produce, & Sydney’s northern beaches. When time permits, Johanna loves to host and feed her friends and family. “I find it so relaxing. I am happiest when I’m in the kitchen knowing that I’m preparing great food and entertaining people.”
In 2009, Johanna received an Honorary Doctorate of Letters – Honoris Causa – from Macquarie University in NSW for services to swimming, media and charity fundraising.
In 2020, Johanna was awarded an AM in the Australia Day honours for her Significant Services to Community Health, to Television and to Sport.
Dr. Harry Cooper
Vetaranian
Born and raised in Sydney, Dr Harry Cooper graduated with second-class honours from Sydney University’s Faculty of Veterinary Science in December 1965, aged 21. He practised for several years across Sydney and the UK before his burgeoning media career became a full-time commitment.
Dr Harry began his media career on breakfast television as the veterinary expert on a local Sydney chat show. He also had a spot on Don Burke’s radio program, and joined Burke on his long-running TV series for the Nine Network, Burke’s Backyard.
Dr Harry joined the team of Better Homes and Gardens in 2004 and has been providing pet information and advice to viewers ever since.
Dr Harry moved to Channel Seven in 1993 to helm his first series, Talk To The Animals. In 1997, Dr Harry returned to his veterinary rooms to film the new series Harry’s Practice, which ran for six years.
Dr Harry was awarded a Member of the Order of Australia (AM) honour for his services to veterinary science and animal welfare as part of the Queen’s Birthday 2014 honours.
In addition to his television work, Dr Harry has authored four books and is also an ongoing financial contributor to the Faculty of Veterinary Science at Charles Sturt University. His work has been recognised previously with a Centenary Medal in 2001, a Service Award from the Australian Veterinarian Association in 2006 and an Alumni Award from the Veterinary Faculty at the University of Sydney.
Dr Harry is an advocate for children growing up with animals and said it is a scientific fact that children who grow up with animals have higher self-confidence, can mix with people well and are far higher achievers. “It is also a known fact that patting a dog can help reduce your blood pressure by 10 per cent. “I can’t understand people not wanting a pet.”
Adam Dovile
Builder
You still can’t wipe the smile from the affable chippie who won season 2 of House Rules with his wife Lisa in 2014.
They then got married in May 2015, and moved from Melbourne to Sydney to join the Better Homes and Gardens team as their resident builder. It’s fair to say that Adam’s grin isn’t going anywhere anytime soon!
He then moved back to Melbourne and had a daughter in May 2016, Arabella, who was born on the same day he won the fan-voted Logie award for Best New Talent. Lisa gave birth to their second daughter, Ruby, in 2017.
Adam has continued to run building projects via his business ASD Constructions, as this is his passion.
Growing up in Melbourne with a hard-working Italian family, Adam spent his younger years working in his parents’ pizza shop. Spending all his savings on his pride and joy – his beloved ED Ford – would soon be the wake-up call he needed. At 18, Adam was involved in a road accident that destroyed his car. “I’d been saving since I was 13 to buy my dream car and I was very lucky to walk away from the crash with no one injured except for my finances,” explains Adam.
From that moment he resolved to complete a carpentry apprenticeship, continue working in the family pizza shop and become a delivery boy for a florist on the weekends. All these savings would be put towards a wiser investment – his first house.
Adam credits his carpentry career to an unlikely mentor. In high school he loved working with his hands and enjoyed doing work experience with a mechanic. It was the mechanic’s advice that changed Adam’s career path. “He said to me, ‘Is there anything you love just as much as mechanics?’ I responded: ‘Carpentry.’ He suggested I am better off following that career as the mechanics business is changing,” Adam recalls.
With so much good fortune coming their way, Adam and Lisa decided to give back and joined the charity Habitat for Humanity. Under the charity’s guidance, they travelled to Nepal in 2019 to assist in building houses for up to 40 families living in a slum community. “This project in Nepal empowered struggling families, via a tiny interest free loan, to own their homes. It instils pride and relief for families who get a roof over their heads that they own.”
Adam is a Collingwood football tragic and thanks to Lisa he has discovered the joys of being a dog owner to their cavoodle, Buckley. “I never thought I’d own a dog but the little bugger has won my heart.”
Adam and Lisa sold their House Rules home because they needed more space for the girls. When not entertaining fans on the screen, or immersing himself in building projects, you can find Adam spending time with his family, and taking his girls for bike rides and plays at the park.
Colin Fassnidge
Chef
As a celebrated chef, Colin Fassnidge has over 30 years of restaurant experience, having been trained by the legendary Raymond Blanc, Colin has worked alongside the original Kitchen Nightmares legend, Gordon Ramsay.
Colin has become a much-loved chef in his own right since moving to Australia in 1999, due to his creative yet refined take on the nose-to-tail food philosophy turned each venue into an awarded and celebrated dining destination. Colin’s latest venues take him back to his love of pub dining spaces and good honest no-nonsense cooking.
Having appeared as a judge and mentor on Seven’s home cooking hit, My Kitchen Rules, for more than 10 seasons, the two-hatted chef continues to demonstrate his deep passion for food and the restaurant industry. He has experienced the ups and downs of owning and running restaurants himself and has shared his culinary experience to everyday Australian restaurateurs as the host of Kitchen Nightmares Australia.
Colin brings his signature cheeky Irish flair to Better Homes and Gardens, joining the top-rated lifestyle program during its 30th anniversary year in 2024.
Clarissa Feildel
Cook
As an accomplished cook, author and television presenter, Clarissa Feildel has always had food at the heart of everything she does. Clarissa’s Nyonya/Chinese and Sri Lankan background has given her a melting pot of dishes in her repertoire, which she uses every day when feeding her family.
When Clarissa moved to Australia in her 20s, she missed her mother’s home cooking, so she began to replicate the dishes from her childhood, which has led her to become a much-loved self-taught home cook in her own right. She joined the Better Homes and Gardens team in 2024, and has been inspiring us with family meals since.
Her other recent ventures of authoring More Please with husband Manu Feildel, and launching Sydney-based multi-functional production, catering and event space La Botanique, has her love of cooking and sharing new and innovative ideas in her unique style of cooking.
Graham Ross
Horticulturalist
Radio broadcaster and television gardening presenter, Graham Ross, has educated, entertained and inspired Australia’s gardening community and aspiring green thumbs during a career that has spanned more than 50 years.
Graham has appeared on Seven’s Better Homes and Gardens since 1995, presenting over 700 episodes, with the show winning 10 Logies in that time. He is one of the few personalities that has featured on television every week since 1978.
He is only the fourth Australian to receive the prestigious Gold Veitch Memorial Medal from the Royal Horticultural Society in London since Queen Victoria created the award in 1870. It was presented to Graham in 2011 by HRH Princess Alexandra on behalf of HM Queen Elizabeth II. He received the medal for his lifelong “contribution to the advancement of the art, science and practice of horticulture”.
In 2013 he was granted an Honorary Fellowship of London’s Royal Botanic Gardens Kew Guild, the first person in the Southern Hemisphere to ever be so recognised.
He has broadcast the three-hour Garden Clinic show every Saturday and Sunday on Sydney’s 2GB since 1980 (now simulcast across Australia). It is one of the longest-running programs on Australian radio.
Broadcasting commitments aside, Graham and his wife Sandra share an exhaustive schedule that incorporates 25 garden tours a year in Australia and overseas through their Ross Garden Tours company, with over 500 tours to its credit, and running the family business, ‘The Garden Clinic’. The Garden Clinic Club, launched in 1982, is Australia’s largest garden club that publish a quarterly, full colour magazine for members.
The couple’s children, Linda and Kent, have inherited their parents’ love for horticulture and both work closely with Graham and Sandra in all these projects. Kent has just returned from eight years in London setting up their UK office and he managers both the UK and the Sydney office.
Graham has co-authored, with his family, four major garden publications including ‘The Weekend Gardener’, ‘Our World of Gardening’, ‘Gardens of the World’, and ‘From the Ground Up’ in 2011.
When you ask Graham what he does for relaxation there’s no guessing as to his answer. “When I’m at home, there’s nothing more relaxing than pottering around in our large garden. On the weekends we’re often out working in the garden until dark. Gardening is such a passion for me and I’m very lucky to be able to share it with my family and, at work, with fellow Australians and friends around the world.”
Graham began his career when he started working part-time at his local nursery when aged 11. He went on to graduate from the Ryde School of Horticulture TAFE with qualifications in Horticulture, Park Administration, Greenkeeping, Landscaping and Agronomy.
He worked as a seedsman, arborist, landscaper, nurseryman and park superintendent for 20 years before returning to Ryde TAFE in 1970 to teach horticulture. After attaining a Diploma of Education at Sydney Teachers’ College he was soon promoted to Senior Head Teacher of Horticulture then NSW Head of the Division of Ryde, a position he held until 1980.
In 1978 Graham had moved into the media. He began producing and presenting gardening programs for ABC TV. While he has worked on all networks since then, he has spent over 27 years in television with Seven, initially as a horticultural journalist for Seven National News, Newsnight and 11AM.
He was Garden Editor for the Sun newspaper and later the Telegraph Mirror.
Graham has been involved with several professional and industry associations including Sydney’s Royal Botanic Gardens Trust, the Nursery & Garden Industry, and the Horticultural Media Association. He and Sandra are patrons of the NSW Rose Society.
Pete Colquhoun
Architect
Pete has extensive TV credits across a range of television genres, from lifestyle, reality and sport including commentary for Seven’s Olympic Games broadcast.
For the last 14 years he has been the resident architect on Australia’s number one lifestyle show Better Homes and Gardens.
In recent years Pete was awarded a national architectural prize for his work on the re-design and build of the North Bondi Surf Club.
In 2020 he published a book on Australia’s best beach houses titled ‘Sandcastles’, based on the highly successful TV series of the same name, which Peter hosted and created.
Pete’s other great passions include surfing, music and acting. He continues to play with his pub band up and down the east coast of Australia while appearing in local TV dramas and movie productions. While bouncing between commitments he still manages to get a surf in most days.
Charlie Albone
Landscape designer
Award-winning landscape design expert Charlie Albone joined the team of presenters in 2020.
“It’s a real honour to be asked to be part of such an amazing team,” says Charlie. “I will be sharing lots of new and interesting ideas for your garden that will inspire and push boundaries, as well as advice on how to make your outdoor living the best it can be.”
Charlie has worked internationally and in Australia for the past 17 years, designing and building gardens that are timeless, inspiring and enjoyable to spend time in. In 2015 and 2016, he was awarded two Silver gilt medals for his own gardens at the world’s most prestigious flower show The Chelsea Flower Show.
Following this, Charlie was awarded various AILDM and LNA awards for his work including ‘Best Design and Construction of the Year’ in 2018. Charlie is one of only seven international designers who were selected to design a garden for the Beijing horticultural expo running from April until November in 2019.
Charlie’s wife, Juliet Love, joined him on Better Homes and Gardens as the resident interior designer in 2021. They recently sold their Maroubra home, with perfect interiors and a stunning garden (obviously!).
Juliet Love
Interior designer
After commencing her career at Vogue Living magazine, Juliet studied design at the prestigious CATC Design School.
Juliet’s passion and wealth of knowledge in the design industry has made her a sought after designer for clients such as Mark Moran Group, Vogue Living, Home Beautiful and Domayne as well as a variety of prestigious, private residences.
Juliet also published a book on interior design, Love Style, which was published globally in 2015. Through Love Style, Juliet has made it her mission to help Australian families style and design their own spaces and prove you don’t need to spend a fortune to have a fabulous home.
In addition to Juliet’s interior design and styling credentials Juliet is an experienced television presenter. Juliet’s on-camera experience has been diverse with her first break arriving when she co-hosted The Party Garden (Foxtel, 2009) as the decorating presenter and stylist, and where she also met her now-husband Charlie Albone. Juliet has also been a regular guest on The Morning Show on Channel 7, hosted a series entitled Amazing Homes, and has appeared as a style expert on national current affairs programs.
Juliet featured as a decorating presenter on Better Homes & Gardens throughout 2021, and joined the team permanently in 2022.
Together with husband Charlie, Juliet has two sons, Leo (9) and Hartford (7).
Melissa King
Horticulturalist
Respected garden expert, author and television presenter Melissa King joined Better Homes and Gardens in 2020.
“I will be tackling lots of fun and inspirational gardening projects – everything from edible garden projects to indoor plant styling – and I also want to encourage kids to get off the couch and into the garden with some great kid-friendly gardening ideas,” says Melissa.
“For a gardening presenter, this is the pinnacle and I’m beyond excited to be working alongside people I have admired for years.”
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