What Happens in the Man Cave Stays in the Man Cave

Tinton Falls resident Rob Passarella hit the man lottery this week when the DIY Network’s Man Caves truck pulled up to his house to transform his basement into the ultimate guy hangout.

While the project has been in the works since the Passarellas received the nod in October that their project had been selected by the show, efforts kicked into high gear on Wednesday morning when the whole team—and catering truck—descended on their home.

Man Caves’ two hosts, Jason Cameron and former NFL player Tony Siraguso, make dreams come true for men who long for a refuge stocked with kegarators, leather, and flat-screen TVs. According to the show’s designer Lyani Powers, the team will have transformed about 35 spaces by the end of its third season.

Passarella, who runs institutional business for Dow Jones, has been blogging about the experience on their Web site for the last few months and perfectly captured his Man Caves lottery win: “If you’re a woman, this is like Oprah’s favorite things for men.”

The basement is officially off-limits to the entire Passarella family—including Rob’s wife Claire and children Connor and Gillian—until the “big reveal” Friday night.

About 25 cars and trucks lined the Passarella’s neighborhood on Thursday with some of the crew working on the project coming from as far away as Pittsburgh to lend a hand, according to Claire.

While the Man Caves crew was busy transforming the Passarella’s roomy basement into a steakhouse-themed man lair, Rob and the show’s co-host Jason Cameron were out in the garage filming segments for the episode while working with a drill press.

“We’re not giving these away,” joked Cameron about getting Rob involved in the redo. “He’s got to work.”

The Passarellas had been looking into renovating their basement when Claire came upon the DIY Web site after doing a Google search for “great basements,” she said. They gathered a group of friends together and made a video and sent it off to the show about Rob’s need for improved indoor grilling.

Once the project got the green light, Claire said the family was responsible for providing designers with a “white box” to work with, which included any framing, Sheetrock and electrical work that needed to be done.

The show was originally supposed to film in the beginning of January but was postponed after the blizzard in December. Since then, Claire said they stacked a corner of the garage with items arriving by Federal Express each day to be used in the renovation.

The crew gathered around the Passarella’s kitchen island at lunchtime and joked affably with each other as they ate.

“It’s a good family,” said Cameron of the group, a feeling also echoed by other members of the Man Caves crew.

At the end of lunch, one of the members of the production staff brought out a birthday cake with no candles for a coworker and the whole crew joined in singing.

“That’s the way we do it at Man Caves,” said one of the construction team, “no candles.”

“Back to basics,” laughed another.