Beloved HGTV star Ben Napier is a big-hearted teddy bear known for his sweet gestures, like writing daily love letters to his wife Erin and their young daughters or striking up conversations with everyone he meets. But one exchange he’ll never forget started out a little rough.
On April 11, 2025, Ben appeared on “The Heirloom” podcast, hosted by his close friends Josh Nowell & Jim Rasberry, and recalled a hilarious moment when he mistakenly thought a tough-looking New Yorker wanted to fight him. In truth, the man was a fan who just wanted to pay him a compliment.
Ben Napier Says He Was in ‘Fight or Flight Mode’ When Man Hit Him on the Shoulder in New York
During his interview on “The Heirloom” with Nowell and Rasberry, who have frequently appeared on episodes of “Home Town” since its 2016 debut, Ben said the show has been a great conversation starter with strangers. His and Erin’s mission to revitalize homes and businesses in their hometown of Laurel, Mississippi, resonates with people everywhere, he said.
But Ben didn’t fully realize the show’s widespread appeal early on, which led to one close call with a fan in New York City years ago.
“We’re walking down Fifth Avenue,” he recalled. “We’re in a sea of people and we are meeting another sea (of people crossing the street). You know, the (traffic light) hand comes up and then it turns to the guy walking and we start to cross.”
“And a guy who’s covered in tattoos on his arms, wearing dark-rimmed glasses and a Brooklyn hat, pops me on the shoulder,” Ben continued, demonstrating what looked like a shove. “(He) like, stiff arms me.”
“Yeah, that’s tough stuff in New York, isn’t it?” Nowell interjected.
Agreeing and stiffening up to look macho, Ben said, “I turned, and I’m like, ‘All right, here we go, we’re fixin’ to roll.’ So I turned, like, in this fight or flight mode, and he says in his accent, you know, ‘Home Town — love your show, man!’”
Expressing his shock as he retold the story, Ben said, “And I was like, ‘Thank you! Wow! This is really cool!’”
That moment helped him realize that he and Erin had fans everywhere that he could connect with, whether through the TV screen or on the streets of New York. Ben also credited producer Lindsey Weidhorn with reminding him at the time that “everybody’s from somewhere, everybody has a hometown, and they connect with that.”
Ben Napier’s Friends Say HE Frequently Delays Filming Because He’s Always Chatting With People
While it’s generally served Ben well to be an extrovert, including helping his introverted wife through public events, the trio of friends on “The Heirloom” laughed about how his outgoing personality does have one big drawback, often causing delays during filming.
“(That’s) one of the hardest things for the production company,” Nowell said, noting that Ben’s job is to narrate and describe what they’re doing on the show. “From a time management standpoint, from production’s side? I have watched them sweating bullets!”
Nowell joked about how Ben could notice a delivery man dropping off a package and get into “a 25 minute conversation, and the director’s just sweating, like, ‘We’ve got to get going!’”
“We did some commercials in California and it was a big shoot, like a big union thing, and there were so many people and I wanted to know what every single person did,” Ben recalled, noting that HGTV eventually had to assign someone to keep him from getting into conversations and disrupting the filming schedule.
He said, “I love gathering people’s stories and making a connection with them, (but) it’s awful for a schedule.”
Naturally, Ben said he made lots of new friends while filming the third season of “Home Town Takeover” in Sebring, Florida. The 90-minute season finale airs on April 13 at 8 p.m. Eastern time.