Tim McClellan, a Jerome furniture builder and a pioneer of the reclaimed furniture movement, became a minor YouTube star when a video of Western Heritage Furniture’s expanding table went viral and produced nearly a million views.

This is an impressive enough feat on its own, but what it produced was even more remarkable: An offer for McClellan to appear as a contestant on entertainment icon Ellen Degeneres’s new furniture-building competition series, Ellen’s Design Challenge, set to broadcast Monday, Jan. 26 on HGTV.

McClellan initially balked at the offer. Already well established in the furniture business, having founded and run Western Heritage Furniture successfully since 2009, his passion had shifted focus toward his custom car company, Cowboy Customs Speed Shop. A six-episode series, he reasoned, would take a lot of time away from building cars.

Four months passed, during which McClellan heard nothing and largely forgot about the offer.

When his contact at the network — whom he did not yet know represented the interests of Degeneres — contacted him again, McClellan counter-offered, asking if the network would consider him as a judge instead of a contestant. His contact got back to him and informed McClellan that Degeneres had picked him out herself. She wanted wanted him personally to be on the show.

Four more months passed, and he heard nothing.

To read the full story, see the Friday, Jan. 23, edition of the Sedona Red Rock News.