The Real ‘Extreme Makeover: Home Edition’ Was Closer to the ‘It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia’ Version Than We Thought

Su casa es no más.

When Sweet Dee poorly translated the Paddy’s Pub Gang’s even more poorly conceived plan to surprise a newly immigrated Mexican family with an Extreme Makeover: Home Edition-inspired demolition of their home in the 2008 It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia episode “The Gang Gets Extreme: Home Makeover Edition,” her sloppy Spanish explanation was a lot closer to the truth of the poor Juarez’ situation than what she was actually trying to say. By the end of the episode, the Juarez home was rubble, Dee’s mansion was forfeit and the promised “makeover” was nothing more than a traumatizing exploitation of the poor family that nearly left them worse off than they were before the whole ordeal.

And, as it turns out, Dee’s explanation to the Juarez family and the ensuing carnage was frighteningly close to how Ty Pennington and his “professionals” left the families featured on the real Extreme Makeover: Home Edition once filming wrapped. In a recent episode of Vice’s Dark Side of Reality TV, former homeowners featured on Extreme Makeover: Home Edition accused the ABC series of tearing down their modest homes without warning and leaving them with unwieldy, hastily built mansions saddled with exorbitant and unaffordable upkeep that led to quick foreclosures.

In retrospect, it’s ridiculous to think that the crew of Extreme Makeover tearing down reasonable homes owned by struggling families and replacing them with gaudy, cheaply built McMansions could ever lead to a happy ending — hell, the show couldn’t even save Sears.

According to the families who spoke to Vice about the aftermath of their appearance on Extreme Makeover: Home Edition, the reality show’s demolition and gaudy rebuild of their homes left them with massive utility bills that far exceeded their monthly mortgage payments pre-show and skyrocketed the property tax burden to the point where families had to either go into extreme debt to keep the property or simply accept foreclosure. 

Now, Mac and Dennis may believe that there’s nothing more American than crushing debt, but for a show that pushed their cameras into the faces of lower-to-middle-class families who were almost always dealing with a tear-jerking tragedy, you’d hope that the goal of Extreme Makeover: Home Edition would be to make their subjects’ lives easier rather than exponentially more expensive. 

In “The Gang Gets Extreme: Home Makeover Edition,” the traumatizing destruction of the Juarez home leads to a judge awarding the aggrieved family Dee’s mansion that she had just inherited after Dennis broke the terms of their late mother’s will. But, in the Season Eight episode ”Charlie’s Mom Has Cancer,” we learn that the Juarez family didn’t get to keep the home for long, as the property tax bill proved too high for them to afford. Looking at what happened to the real families who were exploited featured on Extreme Makeover: Home Edition, the Always Sunny version of events is, hilariously, far more accurate and truthful to the experience than ABC’s cut.

Put that on your vision board, Pennington.