Jamie Durie says lockdown is the perfect time for ‘forced meditation’ and reflection

House Rules: High Stakes host Jamie Durie is encouraging Australians to use lockdown as a chance to reflect on life amid the coronavirus pandemic.

The celebrity landscape designer, 49, told the Herald Sun it was a great time for people to do ‘forced meditation’.  

‘It’s a great time to sit down and reflect on the last 20 years,’ he said.

Jamie told the publication that he is using his free time at home to catch up on his emails, look through old photo albums and learn the piano. 

Elsewhere, he added the free time in lockdown now gives people the opportunity to change our impact on the environment.

‘It is absolutely the time for us to regroup and take a good, hard look at the way we have been treading on our planet,’ he said. 

Before adding now is also the time for people to ‘take stock of where we are at in our careers, how happy we are, where we are at in our relationships, what’s important to us in life’. 

It comes after the rebooted series House Rules: High Stakes made its debut on Sunday night.

But new hosts Jamie and Abbey Gelmi received mixed reviews, with one viewer likening the absence of former host Johanna Griggs to an episode of My Kitchen Rules without judge Manu Feildel. 

‘I just found out Joh is not on the show this year. That’s like #MKR not having Manu,’ they wrote.  

Some viewers praised Jamie for his presenting abilities, while others said there was no need for a second host. 

House Rules: High Stakes sees eight teams proving their worth in the toughest challenge ever – the transformation of a 33-storey penthouse on the Gold Coast.

House Rules: High Stakes continues Wednesday at 7pm on Channel Seven