Heavy/Getty HGTV star Alison Victoria has found love.
Love is in the air for longtime HGTV star Alison Victoria. On June 12, 2024, the designer went Instagram official with her new beau, thrilling friends and fans who were happy to see her so happy.
Victoria’s Instagram post featured multiple photos of her at the Daytime Emmy Awards in Los Angeles on June 9, snuggling on the red carpet with her new love, identified by Getty as Brandt Andersen.
As soon as Victoria’s social media followers saw the photos, they flooded her post with comments saying they recognized Andersen from a painting Victoria fell in love with on the May 20 season finale of “Ugliest Home in America,” when she said it looked just like her “boyfriend.”
“My 🤍,” Victoria captioned her post, and added a quote by ancient philosopher Rumi: “Set your life on fire. Seek those who fan your flames.”
Who is Alison Victoria’s Boyfriend, Brandt Andersen?
Victoria, 42, beamed in the photos she shared of her and Andersen, 46, a filmmaker and activist, per IMDb. His producer credits include “Everest” starring Jake Gyllenhaal, “Lone Survivor” starring Mark Wahlberg, “2 Guns” starring Denzel Washington and Mark Wahlberg, Martin Scorsese’s “Silence” starring Adam Driver, and “American Made” starring Tom Cruise.
After working with humanitarian agencies and feeling drawn to document life in European refugee camps, according to EuroNews, Andersen wrote and directed 2020’s critically-acclaimed short film “Refugee.”
In early 2024, according to the outlet, he made his feature film directorial debut with “The Stranger’s Case,” about the chain of events that happens across families after an explosion “forever alters the lives of a Syrian family in Aleppo.” The movie made its premiere at the Berlinale Film Festival.
Raised by American missionaries, Andersen traveled far and wide as a child and has come to believe that kindness is key to solving the world’s problems, he told Euro News.
“If you’re kind to someone in some part of the world, you may find that months or years later, you’ll meet someone else who knows them in a whole other part of the world, and they’ve referred to that kindness that you did over there,” he said. “These connecting threads that run between us are so strong but yet so sensitive.”
“In making this movie and the structure of it,” he continued, referring to his new film, “it makes sense because I feel this deeply. I believe that people love each other, and they want to be with each other, and there’s so much more that’s similar about us than different.”
Andersen told Euro News he has kids, and that watching how they consume social media has inspired him to finally start his own accounts.
“I have not been on social media since 2005, but that is how people are consuming media now,” he told the outlet. “So this year, I’m like “Okay, I’ve got to get on social media and find a meaningful way to social media to tell stories and possibly provide some help.’ It’s maybe not my first choice, but I need to do it. It’s all about finding ways to grow, and learn, and evolve. I keep evolving, I hope.”
HGTV Fans Recognize Alison Victoria’s Beau, Brandt Andersen, as ‘Boyfriend’ She Referred to on Recent Show
Heavy/HGTV/GettyAlison Victoria admires a painting on “Ugliest House in America” that she thinks resembles her boyfriend, Brandt Andersen, pictured at right in February 2024
Fans and friends celebrated Victoria’s happy news, leaving lots of congratulatory comments on her post. Among them were Jenny Marrs, who spent time at the Daytime Emmys with Victoria and Andersen, given that Victoria’s “Windy City Rehab” and Jenny and her husband Dave Marrs‘ “Fixer to Fabulous” were both nominated.
Jenny wrote in the comment section of Victoria’s post, “You two! ❤️🔥❤️”
Victoria’s “Battle on the Beach” co-star, Taniya Nayak, commented, “And my two loves!!”
Former HGTV star Sabrina Soto also weighed in, writing, “❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️ This makes me so happy!!”
Upon seeing the photos of Andersen, many fans recalled Victoria’s funny comments on the season five finale of “Ugliest Home in America,” when she discovered a portrait painted by winning homeowner Joseph Griffin-Janey.
When Victoria exclaimed that the painting reminded her of her “boyfriend,” co-star Retta looked wide-eyed at the lion-like portrait and quipped, “I hope not!”
Laughing, Victoria exclaimed, “It looks like him! He’s gonna hate me but, there you are, lover!”
Later in the show, she learned that the portrait was actually of a woman, but she loved it so much that she offered to buy it from Griffin-Janey, and he happily obliged.
Upon seeing Andersen’s photo, one viewer wrote, “The guy from the painting?! 😂”
Another commented, “That was my first thought too. So funny because he is way better looking than the “woman” in the painting 😍😂”
According to The List, Victoria was married to fellow Chicago native Luke Harding in 2013. But Victoria wrote on Facebook in 2022 that the relationship ended after four years, expressing her disappointment that she didn’t freeze her eggs sooner because she thought she’d wind up starting a family with him.
In 2020, People reported that Victoria was dating “longtime boyfriend” Michael Marks. It’s not clear when they split, or how long she’s been dating Andersen.