Ellen DeGeneres: Design’s my true love

Ellen DeGeneres has always considered design her “true love”.

The comedienne is currently promoting her new HGTV reality series, Ellen’s Design Challenge, which follows six furniture designers as they use their creativity in an effort to grab the $100,000 prize.

Ellen produced the show and although she’s busy with her daytime talk programme, the star made a special effort to get Ellen’s Design Challenge on TV.

“Design is really my true love, I loved it before I started doing stand-up. I loved it before anything,” she told USA Today. “There's always time to do things that you're passionate about. If my name helps get something out there that I believe in then I am going to produce it.”

Ellen notes this reality series is completely unique from others in the genre.

According to the 56-year-old, the six competitors exhibit true depth.

“People were exhausted, so there were a lot of emotions. There were tears, there were things I didn't expect. These people are not reality stars or young teenagers … but there were more emotions than I thought we would see,” Ellen explained. “They're creative and passionate people, and we see that. And then there's a surprise or two. I can't say anything more than that, but it 's well worth watching all six episodes.”

Ellen is married to actress Portia de Rossi.

And she’s happy they share similar design tastes.

“She's a little more Deco. She loves Jean Royère and I do, too, but some of the pieces are little too Deco for me. I like clean lines instead,” Ellen said. “For the most part, we have exactly the same taste in art and furniture. It's really great because it's so important to me. It would be horrible to live with someone who didn't like the same things you like.”

Ellen’s Design Challenge premieres in the US on Monday January 26.