Hutto family featured on "Extreme Makeover: Home Edition"
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In the premiere episode of "Extreme Makeover: Home Edition," a recent widow is given a fresh start in Hutto. Photo: Courtesy of Disney/Ryan Green
One Hutto family has kicked off the newest iteration of "Extreme Makeover: Home Edition."
Driving the news: The first episode of the show, which features Gail Warren and her family, premiered Thursday on ABC and streamed on Hulu Friday.
- Warren's late husband, Rev. Fred Warren Jr., died in 2021 after battling COVID-19, and the show's hosts help the Warren family declutter their home and rebuild it in just 96 hours.
Zoom in: The Hutto home was actually built by the show in 2023, and roughly 300 workers were at the job site at a time, Heyerman told KVUE.
- The show teamed up with the city of Hutto and builder Taylor Morrison to complete the project.
How it works: This version of the show, hosted by Clea Shearer and Joanna Teplin from The Home Edit, places a greater focus on personal stories and healing than flashy home details.
- Instead of being sent on a trip to Disney World, the householders are involved during the renovation process, which has been shortened from one week to four days.
- "There's just a lot more story. There's more heart, there's more humor, there's more attachment to the families," Shearer tells Axios.
What they're saying: "It's a TV show, there are financial implications to winning a prize on a game show, receiving a car on a talk show and receiving a house on 'Extreme Makeover: Home Edition,'" Michael Heyerman, a producer on this iteration of the series, tells Axios.
- "It was really important for us to figure out how to offset some of the responsibilities that come when you are gifted a prize as large as a house."
Behind the scenes: Heyerman says the families in the new series were paid a lump sum to help offset costs.
The bottom line: "Move that bus!" is still a part of the show.
Go deeper: Issues with the franchise's original run