My favorite HGTV shows are the ones which – I feel – are a tad more realistic about budgets and renovating homes on the cheap. I’ve become a convert to Home Town because I really appreciate Erin and Ben Napier’s ability to make conscious choices to cheap out on certain materials as their fixing up homes. I can relate to that more the Property Bros, who primarily focus on renovating expensive homes in expensive areas for upper-middle class people. Don’t get me wrong, I know the Property Bros (Drew and Jonathan Scott) do have budgets, but often their budgetary concerns are “you can’t have marble everywhere, you can only have one huge expensive marble slab in your completely unnecessary oversized kitchen island.”
My point? If I was an upper-middle class bland white person, I would probably be interested in the Scotts’ work, but as I am not that person, I find them impossibly bland and relying too heavily on “luxe design” when they could and should cheap out on certain things. I… would not choose them to renovate a home for someone I love and/or admire. I would argue that Chip & Joanna Gaines – and even the Napiers – have a better grasp of where and how to spend a limited budget and how to really renovate a middle-class home for middle-class people. But since Drew and Jonathan are trying to become the next Chip & Joanna, they somehow got this Celebrity IOU show where they renovate homes for… people connected to celebrities. Brad Pitt was on one episode to renovate a home for his long-time makeup artist. I didn’t watch the premiere episode last night, was it any good?
Apparently, the Scotts found Brad “very down-to-earth” and they noted that “at the very end he remembered every single person’s name on the production crew and on the construction crew. He remembered everybody and wanted to make sure that they knew how grateful he was for what was happening. He was a true gentleman in every sense of the word.” Tell that to the victims of his Make It Right NOLA scam who are still underwater on mortgages for homes which were too toxic to live in.
Question: do the “celebrities” pay for the renovations? Or is the tab picked up by HGTV and various sponsors? My guess is sponsors and HGTV. Which basically means that these celebrities are just taking credit for “renovating” their friends’ homes without barely doing anything. Sorry to be so cynical!
Photos courtesy of Backgrid and IG.
Just saw this episode on tv and it’s AMAZING! Great job guys and so nice to see Brad doing that for a close friend .
I am sure his friend could afford the renovation herself and he could instead focus on people of New Orleans
This is exactly what I thought.
Yeah I was thinking this woman has a great job that I am sure pays very well. She could afford to pay someone to do it. I found it odd they were helping someone that could afford to have it all done. She seemed like a sweet woman and all but still…
What a bonehead PR move. First thing I thought of when I saw this was the Make It Right NOLA lawsuit. Way to bring it back to peoples’ minds, Brad!
If Brad loves his makeup artist so much, and considers him family; why did he need a tv show to renovate home? I believe Brad has enough money to have helped his make up artist a long time ago.
I think Brad wanted to do it for Jean on his own, since he actually slept in her couch or floor for a week as he said in his GQ interview after his split from Angie. Jean’s main house apparently is just a one bedrooom one bathroom bungalow. So when Brad comes back next time, he has a decent area to crash in. lol. Anyways, since he does not want to pay much renovation costs, he decided to do it witht he help of the Property brother so that design and labor would be free. I think Brad paid for all the materials used.
But watching it, it seems kinda’ fake and scripted, I mean maybe there was some real emotions during the reveal, but it looks to me that Brad was really trying hard to be charming and really presented himself as this nice, kind and generous guy to his long time make up artist/friend. I
“But watching it, it seems kinda’ fake and scripted”
there aren’t many “reality” shows that AREN’T fake and scripted. the only ones are the ones were the action happens spontaneously, like “COPS” or the Alaskan crab fishing one.
@ KAISER-PLEASE, PLEASE keep being cynical! You are laying out the TRUTH! Which is why I come here at least 10 times a day…
I also love Home Town, it’s the only Reno show I watch. Ben and Erin are the real thing, not a bit fake, their work is beautiful and so so reasonable, not like the property brothers. You can tell they’re not fake and truly in love as how many women would let their totally cuddly sweaty husband put their arm around them 🇨🇦🇨🇦🇨🇦
I love “Home Town” as well. They had one client with an all in budget of $75K and still gave her a beautiful house.
I absolutely Home Town and Good Bones, so nice to see some renovations that don’t always involve gray and white and gray and white…..
Omg yes gray and white and subway tile …in a nice gray or white color.
It was beautiful and she loved it!
I watched it with a skeptical eye until we met his friend. I wanted to hug this woman, she was so unassuming and felt real. I wanted to hug her. So although I kept shouting, “ask him what happened on that plane” and saw what Brad’s intentions for doing the show was, I liked it because of her reaction. She seemed like a beautiful soul.
Can this pathetic coward be more phoney?? 😐 Brad Pitt is “helping” his friend!! What about helping the people of New Orleans; who you screw over with your fraudulent “Make it right” charity mess??
I’m kind of surprised so many comments here are gushing over him. It seems his NOLA scam doesn’t matter anymore…
Kaiser, I’m so glad you brought up the complete scam and devastation his housing charity did. How arrogant for him to do this show and not expect to be called out on the hypocrisy. Or not care.
I can’t believe almost no one is rubbing in Pitt’s face how ironic and tone deaf it is to participate in such a show considering the Make It Right Nola scandal. It’s outrageous to the ones concerned by this mess. His PR team is the worst.
I was thinking the same!! 😒
Me too! Those people are still suffering because of those homes.
Great show, amazing transformation! Can’t wait till next week!!
I guess Brad Pitt should have left the people of NOLA in those government trailers instead of trying to help, right? No one cared about improving their living conditions until he did something.
When was the last time you did something “notable”, aside from spending your days whining about gossip? What have you done to help anyone? Not a thing.
Brad’s Celebrity IOU episode was very moving, he and Jean Black have a real, deep friendship and love for each other.
You’re right they’re soooooooo much better better off in crumbling homes filled with mold. You go brad!!!!!!
That they still have to pay for! What a great guy. Brad’s PR people need to leave the comment section, please.
Yup.
Before: living in government trailers without a mortgage.
Now, thanks to Brad Pitt: living in homes which need to be condemned, with mortgages — huge debt which they will never recoup, and except for these death traps, they are as homeless as they ever were. So they’re even worse off then they were before Brad “helped” them.
What is your great humanitarian doing for them now? Trying to get out of being held accountable, that’s what.
Those homes were impractical, expensive, and ended up being DANGEROUS.
His organization raised MILLIONS of dollars, and yet not that many were built, those that were are faulty, and he’s been trying to distance himself from the whole thing.
He may have gone into it with good intentions to help people, but he failed, miserably, and now refuses any responsibility.
Every time there was an article about him and his MIR homes, I said he should have thrown his star power, money, and fundraising ability behind an established, tested organization. But he wanted the limelight and applause. And people paid the price.
PR Stunt – he could have done something for her at any time. i would have been more impressed if he and the property brothers had gone to NOLA and evaluated what needed to be done to resolve that mess.
Will it serve as one of his hiding place?
I just came here to say that I have HGTV on in my den while I am WFH in the dining room just to have some noise going on and I have enjoyed Home Town and I don’t think I can ever like Chip and Joanna Gaines. They seem fake to me.
Fake PR and Pitt is useless. He is kind but spiteful
“without barely doing anything” – is this a double negative?
His name’s been tarnished somewhat but these big name celebs snap their fingers and generate publicity for companies. That’s probably why a lot of them are entitled on the inside.
It is very messed up that he’s been trying to distance himself from MIR, but when has he been held accountable for anything anyway? Some commenters sure don’t care.
Didn’t he say he’d be disappearing? Seems to be taking long.
get the script out brad. come on please he’s an actor …. everything on the screen is fake, back his tv and he will see that he has no heart, actions speak louder than words … for me he is a white man with privileges, I want a hidden camera when he thinks it has gone off. I will see if it is good or bad … after so many years he remembers everyone excuse me, that’s self-centered and on top of that he has so much lack of personality that he lets himself be handled by the agents
“If I was an upper-middle class bland white person, I would probably be interested in the Scotts’ work”
You don’t have to be bland or upper-middle class to enjoy the Scotts’ work.