When 18-year-old Beckett Sennecke heard his name called as the number three pick in the NHL Draft on June 28, 2024, the shock on his face and the words out of his mouth went viral in an instant, amusing sports fans across social media. But as he turned to his parents, longtime HGTV fans got their own shock, realizing Sennecke’s mom is Candice Olson, one of the network’s most popular former hosts.
Olson, a Canadian-based interior designer, was the star of HGTV’s hit show “Divine Design” from 2003 to 2010, per IMDb, as well as “Candice Tells All” in 2011. She also appeared as a judge on 19 episodes of “Design Star.”
In November 2023, current “Bargain Block” star Keith Bynum said she was the former HGTV star he’d most love to collaborate with, writing in his Instagram Stories, “Candice Olson was a huge inspiration for me back in the day so I would love to work on a house with her. I miss Candice.”
Though Olson is still a popular designer with an active social media presence, Olson is in the spotlight again for being Sennecke’s mom, who is thrilled about her teen’s success on the ice, drafted to play for the Anaheim Ducks, and has tried to prepare him for stardom outside the rink.
Candice Olson Thinks Her Son’s Early Figure Skating Lessons Made Him a Great Hockey Player
Though Sennecke has been a fast-rising hockey star in Canada, according to The Athletic, he never expected to be chosen for a team so high in the draft. After exclaiming “oh my God” repeatedly, he could also be seen saying, “Holy [expletive]” to his parents.
Laughing about it afterward, Ducks general manager Pat Verbeek told The Athletic, “Pretty authentic. It’s always exciting to see a moment like that.”
After walking to the stage to put on his new Anaheim Ducks jersey and hat, Sennecke told the media gathered backstage that he had “butterflies and chills” when he heard his name called.
“To my dad, I just said, ‘Oh, my God, oh, my God!’,” Sennecke told the press, after one reporter told him his reaction had already become a meme. “And then to my mom, I said, ‘Oh, my God, oh, my God.’ And then I saw my mom and my sister, and they all started crying.”
When Olson was at the height of her HGTV fame, her son was just getting into hockey, a sport that she and her husband, Jurij Sennecke, knew very little about, she told TVA Sports in May.
“Beckett started playing hockey when he was 4 years old,” she told the outlet. “But no one at that time knew how to put his equipment on him! Good thing YouTube was there! Yeah, we had to go that route a few times to make sure all the pieces were in place and in the right order.”
Olson credits her kids’ figure skating lessons years ago for Sennecke’s success as a hockey player today.
“Beck has a sister who is a few years older and a figure skater,” she told TVA Sports. “She’s very talented. From the age of 2 to 4, he would follow her around and try to imitate her. One day, Beck started going to class with her and was able to do most of the tricks, even though he had hockey skates on. He was a natural.”
“Figure skating had big, big benefits for Beck,” she continued. “From the very beginning of his hockey career, he was already a good skater! Many parents put their children on the ice thinking that hockey would teach them how to skate. We preferred to do the opposite and I think that it still serves him well today. Beckett has always been one of the fastest and most agile on the ice.”
Beckett Sennecke’s Mom, Candice Olson, Says It’s ‘Crazy’ to Expect Teen Stars to Be ‘Perfect’
A fast-rising star in Canada’s junior hockey league, Sennecke has been getting used to being in the spotlight with a bit of advice from his mom, who not only learned about fame during her years on HGTV, but was also on Canada’s national volleyball team when she was his age, per the NHL.
Hoping her remains authentic but smart about what he says and does, she told TVA Sports that though he can seem shy initially to people he doesn’t know well, “He’s a trickster who likes it when everyone around him feels good.”
“Beckett is a teenager, so asking his mom for advice is not his specialty,” she joked to the outlet. “But yeah, we’re talking about his growing popularity, social media and all that. Everybody has access to a cell phone and the smallest thing you do can be huge. I certainly remind him of that, but I also remind him that it’s a privilege to be watched by everyone to that extent.”
“Ultimately, though, I think it’s crazy that we’re asking these 17-year-olds to be perfect all the time,” she added. “I don’t know about you, but I messed up a lot at that age! Luckily, Beck doesn’t like to show off on social media. But he has to be careful, and he knows it.”
HGTV fans have been tickled to see Olson back in the spotlight alongside her son, expressing shock and delight on social media.
After Sennecke was drafted by the Ducks, one person tweeted, “BECKETT SENNECKE IS THE SON OF CANDICE OLSON????? DIVINE DESIGN CANDICE TELLS ALL CANDICE OLSON?????????”
Though Olson continues to work as a designer, frequently updating her social media with tips, products and completed projects, she told Business of Home in 2019 that creating a TV show was often exhausting.
She said, “We produced 26 shows a year for over a decade, and I can honestly say that for the first five years, I never went to bed before 2 a.m. or was up later than 6 a.m. I was exhausted!”
“Oh, and I also had two children in those first years as well,” she said, and then joked, “I have no idea when we found the time to do that, but it was obviously a few times between 2 and 6 a.m.”
“It was a grueling schedule to say the least,” Olson told Business of Home, “but it was important to me and the whole crew to create and produce the highest level of design possible. I wanted to show viewers just how powerful good design can be, and have fun and entertain them at the same time.”
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