As Erin and Ben Napier kick off a third season of “Home Town Takeover” on March 9, 2025, the small town of Sebring, Florida, will be thrust into the spotlight as the Napiers and other HGTV stars revitalize many of its businesses, homes and community spaces.
But how did Sebring get chosen for the show — and how did the Napiers like working there? Here’s the scoop.
Erin & Ben Napier Reunited With Former Contractor & Director for Season 3 of ‘Home Town Takeover’
In early 2020, HGTV invited small towns across the U.S. to nominate themselves for first season of “Home Town Takeover.” The network received over 5,000 submissions from towns with populations of 40,000 or less, according to Country Living magazine.
One of those towns — Wetumpka, Alabama — was selected, and the Napiers’ makeovers across the town were featured on their “Home Town” spinoff in 2021. In 2023, a second season was filmed in Fort Morgan, Colorado with the work divided up between the Napiers and “Fixer to Fabulous” stars Dave and Jenny Marrs.
Ahead of the third season premiere, the Napiers told WFLA that the network no longer needs to request submissions since they still have a large pool of candidates from the original nominations.
“HGTV actually chooses the towns for us now,” Ben explained, “because when they did the callout a couple of years ago, there were so many towns and they all were great.”
“There were so many towns we didn’t get to go to and Sebring was one of them,” Erin added, noting that the central Florida location allowed them to reunite with their former contractor Jonathan Walters, who appeared on every episode of “Home Town” during its first three seasons but then moved to Fort Myers to be closer to family.
When they realized how close he lived to Sebring, Erin said it “felt meant to be” that he serve as project manager on this edition of “Home Town Takeover,” providing the “best possible construction team to work with.” They also got to work with former “Home Town” director Jim MacPherson.
“It was just liked the stars aligned,” Erin told WFLA.
Renovations for ‘Home Town Takeover’ in Sebring Took 7 Months to Accomplish
Filmed in the spring of 2024, the latest edition of “Home Town Takeover” allowed the Napiers and their young daughters, Helen and Mae, to spend time in one of their favorite places to vacation, with Ben telling WFLA, “For everyone who lives within six states of Florida, Florida is our playground. We’re jealous of all of you who get to live there full-time. It felt perfect.”
“Revealed” star Veronica Valencia led the design team behind the scenes, and shared in an Instagram post on March 9 that all of the makeovers — “6 residential renovations, 3 commercial transformations, 16 facades revitalized, and 1 city park restored” — took seven months to accomplish.
The Napiers traveled back and forth from Laurel, Mississippi, and spent so much time in Sebring that their daughter Helen missed 19 days of kindergarten.
Many other HGTV stars came into town to work on projects, including the Marrs, who are featured on the first episode of the season as they transform an outdated soda shop and the home of a local kindergarten teacher. Since Jenny’s family is in Orlando, she told EntertainmentNOW that they took their five kids their for spring break and spent time filming in Sebring while they were there.
According to a press release from HGTV, other celebrities pitching in across the six-episode series include “Renovation Island” stars Bryan and Sarah Baeumler, “Down Home Fab” couple Chelsea and Cole DeBoer, Kamohai and Tristyn Kalama of “Renovation Aloha,” Florida natives and “100 Day Dream Home” stars Brian and Mika Kleinschmidt, “Help! I Wrecked My House” star Jasmine Roth, and Food Network chef Mika Leon.
The third season of “Home Town Takeover” premieres on March 9 at 8 p.m. Eastern time.
Comments
Erin & Ben Napier Reveal How They Choose Small Towns for HGTV’s ‘Home Town Takeover’