Big Interiors Battle Channel 4: Winner of £250,000 Sheffield flat revealed in 'life-changing' TV moment

Tara Rodrigues was up against Jamie Dibble in the final of the eight-part TV series, which aired on Friday, June 9, at 8pm. They each faced an anxious wait to see if their key card would let them into the flat the talented interior designers had spent the show transforming into their deam home.

Up for grabs was an apartment in developer Capital&Centric’s Eyewitness Works development at a former cutlery factory near Devonshire Green in Sheffield city centre, where the two finalists had impressed the judges with their stylish alterations in the tasks to date. There was disappointment for Jamie as the lights turned red for the 33-year-old from Cardiff, who said it had been an ‘amazing’ experience but that the win for Tara was ‘well deserved’.

Tara, a 37-year-old mum-of-two who grew up in Wolverhampton but until now had rented a flat in London with her daughters, watched in disbelief as the lights turned green for her. The freelance designer, who studied interior design after initially doing a law degree, said: “I can’t believe it. My whole life has just changed. I finally have a house that I can call a home. I’m just absolutely overwhelmed.”

Asked by presenter AJ Odudu what it would feel like to tell her girls, Tara, who has impressed with her flamboyant designs, sustainably created using natural materials and upcycled furniture, said: “They will absoloutely die. It’s like a new chapter but forever. There’s no going back.”

Tara and Jamie were among eight designers pitted against each other on the television show. They were asked to transform a different room each week, with their work judged by the renowned architect Dara Huang, who decided who would leave that week.

Following the final challenge, in which the two remaining contestants were tasked with making their hallways welcoming yet practical, Dara told Tara: “I’ve never actually met a designer like you. You are a young designer so in a way you have no precedent to the way you move and you think, and I think that there’s something really beautiful about that. I’m just very proud of you because your personal journey has been incredible.”