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Press
USA Today
'A Happy Accident': Ben and Erin Napier welcome HGTV fans to their new 'Home Town Takeover'
The genesis of their story is the stuff of TV fairy tales. It goes like this: College sweethearts Erin, an artist and graphic designer, and Ben, a woodworker, craftsman and former minister, had their historic home in Laurel, Mississippi, featured in "Southern Weddings" magazine in 2014. Erin gained a slew of Instagram followers practically overnight, one of whom happened to be an HGTV executive who loved their collected, easygoing style. She wondered, might the couple consider a new chapter on television?
People
Erin & Ben Napier Feel ‘Blessed’ to Be Expecting Baby No. 2: ‘We Didn't Know If It Was Possible’
Erin and Ben Napier are thrilled to be expecting their second child, but parenthood wasn't always a certain future for the pair. "We're very, very blessed," Erin, who will welcome a baby girl in May with her husband of 12 years, tells PEOPLE in one of this week's cover stories. "I think it's really wonderful to have a sibling if it's possible. And we didn't know if it was possible."
By Mackenzie Schmidt
People
How Home Town's Ben and Erin Napier Keep Family Their No. 1 Priority: 'We Say No to a Lot'
Since Ben and Erin Napier's hit series Home Town premiered on HGTV in 2017, the couple has been on the fast track to fame. But just because they're in high demand doesn't mean the couple is willing to put fame over their marriage and their 3-year-old daughter Helen. "We say no to a lot of opportunities," Erin says in the latest issue of PEOPLE, on newsstands Friday.
By Emily Strohm
Southern Living
Erin and Ben Napier Reveal That Wetumpka, Alabama Will be the Destination for Hometown Takeover
Late last year we brought you the news that the first couple of Laurel were headed out of Mississippi to take on their biggest project yet. Erin and Ben Napier weren’t just going to renovate one home – they were going to take on an entire town. And they were looking to their fans for suggestions. Erin took to Instagram to ask her Southern neighbors for towns who could use some extra love. "If your small town needs restoration and has homes with beautiful architecture that need some love, we want to know about it," her post read.
by Rebecca Angel Baer
People
Home Town Couple Ben and Erin Napier’s Unbelievable Journey to HGTV Stardom: ‘We Never Expected This’
Ben and Erin Napier might be some of HGTV’s biggest stars, but the college sweethearts never planned on being famous. Before the former church minister, 36, and his graphic-designer wife, 34, shot to success on their hit series Home Town, on which they find and renovate homes for families, they were newlyweds trying to fix up their own dream house: a 1925 craftsman cottage in Laurel, Miss.
By Emily Strohm
Southern Living
Love Lessons from Laurel, Mississippi: Erin Napier Shares Her Mother's Best Advice
When she was a girl growing up in tiny Laurel, Mississippi, Erin Napier remembers being bullied from fourth through seventh grade. “I was a bit strange and introverted,” says Erin, who wasn’t interested in makeup or clothes. “Library time was my favorite. I had a fossil collection. I would put together natural history dioramas in old shoeboxes. Or I’d stay home and make a tiger costume—that was really exciting to me.”
By Mimi Read
Los Angeles Times
When Pandemic Reality Hits Reality Real Estate Shows
Stuck at home? HGTV and the ever-expanding universe of renovation and real estate shows are happy to accommodate — by serving up even more home time.
Since the novel coronavirus disrupted lives — and production schedules — the network has had to get creative to keep Americans tuned in to their favorite aspirational programs.
HGTV paused air dates for several shows. Others that had wrapped, or nearly concluded filming, launched on schedule — sometimes with hosts using the iPhone FaceTime feature to complete a few scenes.
by R. Daniel Foster
Variety
How HGTV Maintains Its Grip on Comfort Television by Constantly Evolving
When David Bromstad, the host of HGTV’s “My Lottery Dream Home,” won that network’s reality series “Design Star” in 2006, the network was a very different place. “Coming in through a reality show, I was just at the start of the big changes that were happening,” he recalls. “When HGTV started, there were still crafts in the morning and quilting — it was a whole other genre.”
By Daniel D'Addario
Southern Living
The Incredible Comeback of Laurel, Mississippi
The rebirth of Laurel, Mississippi, is proof of what real people can do with a little creativity, a lot of commitment, and a deep well of love.
by Danielle Claro
Guideposts
Erin Napier Shares How She and Husband Ben Came to Be HGTV Stars
She was a designer; he was a woodworker. Together, the hosts of Home Town stepped out in faith to shine a spotlight on Erin’s hometown of Laurel, Mississippi.
by Erin Napier
Parade
Erin and Ben Napier Give Us a Peek Behind the Scenes of HGTV's Home Town Season 4
The show, entering its fourth season, follows Erin and Ben as they turn dilapidated old houses into dream digs. It’s also bringing new energy to Laurel, an old timber town of almost 19,000 that waned in the mid–20th century once the area’s loblolly pine forests were logged. Laurel has “seen some hard times,” said Ben in the show’s season-one opening.
by Leanne Potts
Country Living
How Ben and Erin Napier Throw the Ultimate Small Town Thanksgiving Feast
HGTV's Home Town stars give thanks for their beloved Laurel, Mississippi, during a "Friendsgiving" feast beneath twinkling lights.
by Laura Kostelny
US Weekly
How ‘Home Town’ Stars Erin and Ben Napier Are Preparing for Baby Helen
At age 6, Erin Napier was confident she’d never have kids. “My dad is a doctor in physical therapy and he had all these medical books,” the artist, one half of the husband-wife duo on HGTV’s hit Home Town (season 2 returns January 8) reveals in the new issue of Us Weekly. “I found pictures of childbirth and it seriously traumatized me! I was terrified.”
By Sarah Grossbart
Washington Post
HGTV is a starmaking network. Will this small-town couple be the next Chip and Joanna?
Ben Napier is massive, 6-foot-6, 300 lbs. His wife, Erin — 5-foot-5, slim — is not. She calls him "Big" and cranes her neck in such a constant state of adoration that she appears to be risking long-term muscle strain.
by Karen Heller
Garden & Gun
Home Town Strong
After a tornado swept through Laurel, Mississippi, locals Erin and Ben Napier of HGTV’s Home Town start a fundraiser to help get their community back on its feet.
by Caroline Sanders
People
HGTV Is Looking for U.S. Town In Need of a Complete Makeover for New Show — Could it Be Yours?
On their HGTV show Home Town, Erin and Ben Napier have completely transformed their home base of Laurel, Mississippi, one house at a time. Now, the design-savvy duo is taking their talents to a new neck of the woods — and this time, it could be yours.
by Hannah Chubb
New York Post
‘Home Town’ hosts Erin and Ben Napier are building an empire of adorableness
Apparently they really are as cute as they seem. Erin and Ben Napier, the supernaturally sweet married duo who star in HGTV’s hit “Home Town” reality series, made their name restoring old homes in the quaint city of Laurel, Miss. And when they’re not power sanding floors, they’re putting other couples to shame with the intoxicating beauty of their love.
by Hannah Sparks
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