What Makes Laurel So Special?
Congratulations on the new season!
How excited are you to be back?
Image by Zanda Rice, HGTV
ERIN NAPIER:I’m always thankful to keep doing this job together.
BEN NAPIER:Very excited.
I tell people all the time, it’s a weird job, but it’s a fun job.
Image via HGTV
It is a job!
ERIN:It’s a lot of work.
Well, first off, how is the family?
BEN: Everybody’s great.
Helen is in school and learning how to read and learning math.
It is just absolutely fascinating to watch the magic of a kids learning.
Image via HGTV
ERIN: The basic thing that we take for granted.
And then our youngest Mae, she has her first ballet recital next week.
She’s just becoming a big girl.
Now I saw that this is #LoveWeek.
Why is the milestone so special?
Because I’ve been with Ben more than I haven’t in my life.
It happened on December 7.
BEN: I’m still working on my time.
You’re only part of the time with me.
ERIN: Yeah you’re an old man.
BEN: Much older.
What is it about the community of Laurel that invites audiences in season after season?
BEN: For one, everybody has a town that they’re from.
It may be New York City or Chicago.
It might be Cumming, Georgia.
Those houses become the characters.
ERIN: I think people are looking for shows that feel good.
BEN: Oh yeah.
ERIN: We’re just tired of it being feeling like all the media has become stressful.
BEN: Even if it’s not that stressful, it’s presented as stressful.
What makes Laurel so special to you both?
ERIN: Well, my whole life is here.
I drive down streets that I have road in the backseat as a toddler.
And now I’m driving the toddler in the backseat.
I think what will they remember about this?
What do I remember about this?
So, we drive the same path that Erin’s mom did taking her.
ERIN: Just watching your whole life repeat itself is wild for me.
BEN: For me, it’s that, I moved around a lot.
What have you learned about yourselves now that you didn’t know before when you started the show?
I’m constantly, it’s a skill that I have to work out.
I have to work at it really hard.
I’m proud of myself that I’ve been able to do it for this long.
Ben and Erin Share Some Spicy Behind the Scenes Secrets
I love that.
I watched the first episode of the season.
Now I don’t cook, but I want that kitchen.
Talk to me about bringing that space to life.
ERIN: Isn’t that kitchen fun?
Oh, it was so amazing.
ERIN: It had so much personality.
And it was unusual.
But that is who Tally and Mark are.
And they are roll with it kind of people.
It felt a little bit Scandinavian, and also playful.
Did you get to try their salsa?
ERIN: Oh my gosh, we haven’t seen the episode.
Did I eat something really spicy and almost die from the episode?
Ben definitely had a pepper.
BEN: Ok, then they edited it.
ERIN: They know that I like super mild salsa, but they didn’t have any that day.
ERIN: We were about to film and I ate this.
BEN: And Aaron started basically having a panic attack.
ERIN: I was like crying cause it was a spicy one.
ERIN: Boy I hope that didn’t make the episode1
No, it didn’t.
It is apparently something that crosses all cultures.
So our work lunchroom has a ton of hot sauce.
And we always have some of theirs there also.
It’s is also functioning business.
We actually bought some tomato plants from them this year for my garden.
Now, we did get to see you have to share some bad news to your clients.
How difficult is that for you both?
BEN: It’s tough.
It is, because we work so hard on the front end.
Harder than most, any general contractor or builder or anything.
We work so hard on the front end to check that those things don’t happen.
It’s not gonna work out."
We went look at another house and they fell in love with that.
ERIN: They had such good attitudes about it.
ERIN: To go do all the legwork.
Know them before you look at anything.
So they feel like whatever they’re about to show us they know what we really want to become.
I mean, it’s a trust fall.
It’s not for everybody.
It’s really not for everybody.
It wasnt just redesigning an entire town she had to worry about!
I am very excited.
Any teases you could offer?
And that is saying a lot cause we were very excited about it.
It felt like we were on vacation at work every day.
It was just fun and beautiful, and the people were great.
ERIN: Some of the most important roles on our team were old friends.
And that changes everything in your working life.
My final question ‘tis the season.
Any exciting holiday plans?
We were in New York last week for Giving Tuesday and that is it.
ERIN: We’re making cookies and wearing pajamas.
We’re gonna take our camper to Ben’s parents sometime around Christmas.
BEN: That has become our new holiday thing.
We pull the camper, and we park it in my parent’s yard.
And that’s it!
ERIN: We are the Cousin Eddies.
BEN:“That there’s an RV.”
I’m here for that.
Well, happy holidays to you both, and I cannot wait to watch the new season.
ERIN: Thank you so much.
Thanks for talking to us.
Home TownSeason 9 premieres on Sunday, December 29 at 8:00pm on HGTV.
All episodes are available to stream on Max.
