Antonio Ballatore is currently the host of Animal Cribs on Animal Planet, and the HGTV star talked to us about a lot of things, including growing up with critters.
Designer Antonio Ballatore won HGTV Design Star season 4 in 2009, and hosted The Antonio Treatment on HGTV from 2010-11.
He’s currently the host of the Animal Planet show Animal Cribs, which is currently in its second season and airs new episodes on Friday nights.
(HGTV and Animal Planet are both owned by Discovery, other channels in their network include Food Network, History Channel, TLC and Travel Channel, and they also own MotorTrend and Thrillist.)
Antonio did a phone interview with Dog O’Day earlier this week, which covered a lot of topics from his construction background to his pack of rescue doggos.
Dog O’Day – Have you always had a background in construction, or how did that come about?
Antonio Ballatore – “Well, it’s like this. What I really wanted to be was a rock and roll musician. So when I was a kid I had long hair, played in heavy metal bands, punk rock bands, and the only job I could get was in construction. And so I started off in the summers when I was 15 just being a laborer, carrying wood and just doing whatever, and then by the time I was 20 I worked for guys building houses from the ground up, so that was my start, and then when I moved back to New York City when I was 21 I starting doing work for this company that did a lot of bar designs and restaurants, so I kind of stepped into design –
“Both of my parents were artists and I grew up in an artistic household, so it all kind of came together and I eventually went into set design, did a lot of set design in the mid-1990s and early 2000s. And then I wound up on HGTV.”
So, like, what kind of design, exactly?
“Well, set design, when I started doing that I started with this photographer called David LaChapelle, who was known for these over-the-top sets – like, we did Vanity Fair covers and Rolling Stone covers for Madonna, Beyonce, George Clooney, everybody, we did everybody back in the day. And David was known for these crazy, over the top sets, he was kind of responsible for pushing me in this direction, you know, going over the top and thinking out of the box and doing the crazy designs I do today.”
So what can you tell us about Born With a Tail?
“Born With a Tail is just my company’s name, we’re trying to get into a little more – you know, pet clothing, just T-shirts and things like that, the stuff that me and the crew wear on the show. It’s something that we’re working on making it grow a little bit into dghouses and other pet accessories and things like that, but it’s still in its beginning stages and we’re just trying to make it grow.”
Dog O’Day – How did the show [Animal Cribs] come about?
Antonio Ballatore – “I kind of became known as the designer who would always roll with his dog, I did a lot of animal friendly stuff on HGTV, and these producers came up with the idea for the show and they looked around and they found me, and they realized that I was the guy for the job, you know? And it just worked out perfectly.
“Going back, I grew up in Manhattan, both my parents were artists, my dad, he designed all the Fifth Avenue windows, from Macy’s to Tiffany’s, and then we got a house upstate, about two hours north of Manhattan, my dad got a cowboy hat, we got some ducks, we got some goats, we got some rabbits. And every thing we did for these animals had a style to it, it had to look cool, because my dad was a designer, so it wasn’t just your ordinary rabbit coop, it wasn’t your ordinary goat house. It kind of started from there, having an eye for design, and making stuff – you know, in not the ordinary kind of setup.”
It’s a really great show, after catching a few episodes, and it’s really cool that you bring Edie along on the projects.
“[Laughter] Well, my old dog, he was Chewie, he was an 85-pound English Bulldog rescue, and he went everywhere with me. When Chewie was getting old, I rescued Edie from this rescue out of Hollywood called MaeDay Rescue, and she was found in a truck of a car, and she was in rough shape when I got her. Like, she was afraid of everything. If I answered the phone too loud she’d fall over, she’s like a little mini fainting goat.
“With a little bit of work, now she’s just like a crazy woman – like, she needs her own hair and makeup, she needs her own makeup trailer. She’s loving it, she has fun, and I bring her everywhere with me.”
And her buddies in Team Weirdo?
“Oh, yeah, Team Weirdo! [More laughter] So, since the show, we stopped filming over the holidays, me and my girlfriend did a five hour road trip to Fort Worth, Texas, and we picked up Paulo, who’s a Xolo (Hairless) mix with a terrier, and he came out of a really bad situation in Louisiana, and we got him, and he’s a character.
“And then recently, a month and a half, maybe two months ago we got Nessie, who was a street dog. They said they’d seen her in the neighborhood for like four or five years, homeless, and we got her, and she’s just like a little Loch Ness Monster, her nickname is “Drama,” cause she screams at everything. She’s still getting used to everything, like, you walk by her and she’ll scream. But she’s getting used to the good life and getting adjusted.
“That’s our team so far, but as soon as we get a bigger place we’ll probably get some more. I made a deal with my girlfriend that we had to unfollow all the dog rescues and animal rescues because every day we’re sending pictures back and forth, ‘Oh, we’ve gotta get this one!’ ‘No, we oughta get this one!’ We love the seniors, taking care of them, but we’re trying to take a break for a couple months.”
Do you have any idea what breed(s) Edie might be?
“I think she’s part Chupacabra mixed with baby goat, I’m not sure. [More laughter] I think next season we might do a DNA test on her and all of ‘em, maybe put some bets down on it. I really don’t know. But it’s funny, on social media now, I thought Edie was like her own little thing, but now every other day I get people sending me pictures of Edie lookalikes. What’s up with that? So I don’t really know. Everybody has their own opinion, but I’m gonna wait for the DNA test.”
So what do you think is the strangest, the most audacious, Animal Cribs project?
“You know, they all have their own little things that are different or challenging, but I gotta say the snake. The 20-foot python, off the bat, that’s like – you’re like, ‘Wow, a 20-foot python?!” That was at first a little scary or whatever – not that I’m afraid of snakes, that much, but you see a 20-foot long python that’s over 200 pounds, that’s a little intimidating. Once you see how bonded they are with their owners – there was a firefighter who rescued the snake over twenty years ago, and it grew with the family, so his kids grew up with it, like, this snake’s older than his kids. You see how they bonded…to me, it’s like no different than your dog, you know? The love and the bonding is there, and so the craziness of being a 20-foot python goes away real quick.”
That would take a while to get used to.
“I know, right? But it’s funny. Even my crew, they had the same reaction, but after a while, a couple days, you see how it really is a part of the family. Whether it’s chinchillas – we did an episode about bearded dragons – cats, dogs, they’re all our family in one way or another, and that’s the most important part of the show, bringing families together, people that rescue the animals, we’re saying thanks for rescuing the animals, we’re bringing enrichment into their lives, there’s a lot of cool factors to it that all come together in the end that make it pretty awesome.”
Dog O’Day – Do you have a favorite project that you’ve worked on on the show?
Antonio Ballatore – “You know, it changes week to week. I like to watch it as they come out, I like to be surprised along with everybody else. The goat episode was probably the funniest, because I kind of went back to my Italian roots and put on my tracksuit and did some goat yoga, that was a fun one. Cause I grew up with goats, too, and I used to have to clean the goat house, which is traumatizing as a kid, but now I finally get the build the ultimate goat house that’s easy to clean. That was a fun one. They’re all cool, man, at the end of every build I’m like, ‘This is my favorite one so far!’ and then next week, ‘Oh, no, THIS is my favorite one!’ So it’s kind of like that, it’s hard to target it.”
It seems like a great group of people to work with.
“Yeah, the crew’s pretty tight. We did our first season in Seattle, the second one in LA, and in LA we were able to bring in some of my friends from other jobs, artists and resources. It’s definitely a cool crew and specialty guys, specialty artists, that’s part of what makes it fun, too, to get to showcase their skills, too.”
What are you hoping the audience takes away from the show?
“I think it’s important for people to realize, well, I think people know already, that these pets are our family, and it’s just like if you’re going to make a baby nursery for your baby. Make something cool for the animals! They have this unconditional love, and I feel like our pets deserve the best. Don’t be afraid or intimidated to make something cool for your cats, your dogs, your lizards, whatever it is, and bring them that enrichment to make them happy, too. Bring everybody together, make sure they’re safe and happy, try to give them a cool setup. If people get that from it, I think we’ve done our job.”
What would be your dream project to work on?
“As to which animal? I’d love to get bigger, do something crazy… [thinks a moment] I mean, it’s open to anything, really, I’m open to anything from alligators to lions to whatever. I’ll try everything. I’d go anywhere, I’d do anything, I’ll build anything. I love the challenge – each season, each episode we get bigger and better, so…who knows where we can go with it?”
New episodes of Animal Cribs air on Friday nights at 9 p.m. ET.