Chris Hyndman

Hyndman worked in the makeup department of the Hudson's Bay Company before becoming a makeup artist for Citytv[1] at the invitation of television personality Jeanne Beker.[2]

Hyndman and his husband Steven Sabados launched the interior design firm Sabados Group in 1992.[3]

Aside from private clientele, they also did set design work for various television productions in the Toronto area, and later starred in the first three seasons of Designer Guys, a Canadian design show.[4] In 2004, Sabados and Hyndman debuted a new show with a similar format, titled Design Rivals,[5] and a makeover show called So Chic with Steven and Chris in 2005.[6]

According to Beker, Hyndman did not originally have aspirations of becoming a television personality himself, but was active in supporting Sabados' goals while being personally content to work behind the scenes.[7] He became an on-air personality, initially reluctantly, only when a television producer suggested that they work together as a duo because of their unique and telegenic chemistry.[7]

Hyndman was born in Ottawa and grew up in the Avalon Peninsula of Newfoundland and Labrador.[8] He first met Sabados through mutual friends at a Toronto bar in 1988.[9] They moved in together three months later.[10] Despite being a longtime couple off-screen, they did not publicly acknowledge their relationship until 2007. They married a year later.[11][12]

On August 3, 2015, Hyndman was found unresponsive in a laneway directly below the condominium unit he shared with Sabados in Toronto, shortly after 11 p.m. EDT. He was pronounced dead shortly after. He was 49 years old.[3][8] Hyndman and Sabados had just returned from a vacation in Barbados one day earlier.[13]

While no confirmed cause of death has been released, the Toronto Police Service indicated that it was not considered a criminal matter, leading many to suspect it may have been a suicide.[13] Two days after his death, his mother told the media that Hyndman was a sleepwalker, and she believes he fell off the couple's balcony during a sleep walk.[14] In May 2016, Sabados said he does not share this view.[15]

Following Hyndman's death, production and airing of Steven and Chris was suspended pending a decision from Sabados on whether he wanted to continue the show on his own or with a new co-host. On August 21, 2015, Sabados announced that he would not continue the show, resulting in its cancellation.[16] In May 2016, Sabados gave his first in-depth media interview since Hyndman's death, telling Heather Hiscox of CBC News that Hyndman was the "idea guy" in their personal and professional partnership.[17] Around the same time, Sabados announced that he was creating a new daytime talk show, The Goods, to premiere on CBC in fall 2016 with co-hosts Jessi Cruickshank, Andrea Bain and Shahir Massoud.[18] According to Sabados, while he couldn't imagine returning to television on his own or with a single replacement co-host for Hyndman, the new show's four-host panel format felt more comforting and freeing for him.[18]

• Steven and Chris program website, cbc.ca; accessed August 4, 2015
• Chris Hyndman at IMDb