“Extreme Makeover: Home Edition” is returning to television next year, and production of the show is returning to Utah for a pair of episodes.
The Ogden-based Wadman Corporation announced Thursday that it will be the contractor for home rebuilds for two families in the “greater Ogden area.”
“When the producers of ‘Extreme Makeover: Home Edition’ called us, there was no doubt we were willing to take on the challenge of organizing the building of two new homes in one week for two deserving families,” said Wadman president Dave Hogan.
(That’s one week per house, by the way.)
“Wadman Corporation’s ability to execute two projects of this size was clear to us, as was their passion and desire to give back to the community,” said executive producer Brady Connell, who returns to the series he helmed from 2007-12.
As was the case with the original series, the revival will undertake a massive makeover of a home in each episode and highlight why the family deserves it. Past episodes have featured families who suffered all sorts of hardships, from deaths to life-threatening illnesses, tornadoes to house fires.
“Extreme Makeover: Home Edition” aired 200 episodes from 2003-2012, including three in Utah — in Bountiful in 2005; in Logan in 2006; and in South Jordan in 2011.
The show, which originally aired on the ABC broadcast network, is being revived on cable. HGTV has ordered 10 episodes, which will begin airing in early 2020.
The new host will be a familiar face — it’s Jesse Tyler Ferguson of “Modern Family.”
(Original host Ty Pennington will not be involved; HGTV has not announced if any of the other original cast members will be on board.)
HGTV president Jane Latman said hiring Ferguson “is one of the ways HGTV will be its own creative lens on the series.” She said the new version will include “some variations to the creative aspects of the show,” but that it will retain the “great storytelling” of the original.
According to Wadman, the Utah families — which have not yet been chosen — will be surprised by Ferguson in the second and third weeks of August. (Families are sent on weeklong vacations while their homes are remodeled.)
