Ruining People's Lives... By Giving Them a House

Extreme Makeover: Home Edition gave contestants a free house, but it wasn't as good as it seemed. In fact, it was a nightmare.

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[rayjones]

As soon as the camara crew left, i would've sold the house and pocketed the money.😂😂

[rescuegirl]

I always thought that this show was stupid because they always gave enormous houses to people who couldn't even afford the one that they originally lived in.

[seabizcut]

As a kid from a small town I can still remember when this bus came to town. I still feel very sorry for the family. It was abandoned a few year later and just sat empty

[dinewalton]

The problem is that these poor families live in poor areas and bad locations and building a million dollar house in a bad location is just a horrible investment.

[jonesfamilyfarms]

I feel like this is a prime example of people who are out of touch with reality (celebrities/politicians) who try to “help”

[MaximusBlack]

If you can’t pay the bills with no mortgage. They should have sold the house. Even at a discount. Pocketed $500, 000. Bought a $250, 000 home in cash and had $200, 000 left over. Invest. That would have been a blessing. Instead you take out $400, 000 in loans to pay bills you can’t afford? They got emotional and wanted to live way beyond their means.

[sonjaflory]

I remember an episode featuring a boy with brittle bone disorder. They installed heated floors since he scooted along the floor to get around independently. As a kid, I thought it was so thoughtful and helpful. As an adult, I can’t imagine what the electric bill must’ve been!

[PLuMUK]

The UK version of this show improves the participants' home to make it more liveable for people, children and adults, with special housing requirements. Often, the house is not even extended, so things like property tax and heating bills remain the same. Sometimes, special equipment, such as hoists or lifts (elevators), are added, which would entail increased electricity bills. However, the lives of the participants are not severely impacted by this.

The US show seems to be badly thought out. It is planned for the impact of the reveal day. Our show is planned for life after the cameras have packed up and everyone has gone. I've seen follow-up programmes in which the participants talk about how much the show improved their lives.

[chaundadon]

Used to be one of my favorite shows to watch with my family growing up, this sucks… getting older & finding out the truth sucks….

[et]

If It's too good to be true, It probably is..

[GarthurFleck]

This really needs to be a Netflix Series.

[jkeilyndesmond]

I never understood why they just couldn’t remodel the homes into regular family size homes instead of giving them something lavish that they knew these families could not afford to begin with. As a kid watching this show back in the 2000s I always wondered how were they going to pay the bills if they were already on hardships?

[T.Harry]

Upgrading families to a much worse financial hardship is crazy work. I used to watch that show and it never pulled my heartstrings. I noticed the finesse immediately.

[Unhingedhealth]

I remember watching the show as a kid actually and I would be like oh my gosh, we should apply for the show and my dad would be like absolutely not because those people are gonna be stuck with way more bills than they realize and I would argue with him and be like no of course not the show takes care of that and he was like absolutely no they don’t, he was right

[GLJosh]

A big house comes with big utilities bills.

[jefferystillwell]

No way I would trust the quality of a 4000 square foot home built in a week.

[lft]

I remember one episode where the kid is disabled that he couldn’t climb up the stairs, that they built an elevator inside the house. Imagine, paying for the maintenance, electric bill and the realty tax that comes with it.

[lunamalicreations]

This needs to be a full length documentary!!!

[Tanouuuu]

I used to watch this show when i was a teenager. To me it was like a dream come true. I guess be careful what you wish for...

[jen]

I remember when Extreme Makeover came to one of my neighbor Debbie"s home in Colonie, NY. She was a foster mother to children with HIV and other disabilities and had one son of her own. The show built them this gorgeous house and one of the kids bedrooms was decked out like The Nightmare Before Christmas. The show also helped out with a camp for disabilities the kids went to down state. I was one of the lucky ones to be able to go inside the home, since we knew her personally. I also was a School Bus Driver at the time and we shuttled thousands of people to and from the construction site for the show, plus we drove the workers. ( I almost ran over Ty Pennington when he was being filmed, because he ran out in to the middle of the road without looking...lol) The home in itself was beautiful. We were getting ready to move and we sold all of our indoor birdhouses to Debbie so she could decorate the entrance of her home. I know she had a ton of financial issues after the house was built. The electric bills were sky high and her taxes tripled. I've lost touch over the years, so I am not certain if she still lives in the home. It was all very exciting to say the least.