Heavy/HGTV Ben and Erin Napier star in "Home Town."
“Home Town” will look a little different while Ben Napier heals from surgery for a torn rotator cuff. The HGTV star and his wife Erin revealed how the show will address his recovery during a May 2023 appearance on “The Drew Barrymore Show.”
“There’s going to be some weird episodes of ‘Home Town’ coming,” Erin quipped on the talk show.
The couple explained that while they are currently working on five houses, his surgery will only be a plot point in one episode.
“We’re telling that story on one episode,” Ben told Barrymore. “So you’ll all see it. And Jim who’s on the show, Erin’s cousin, he is my left arm. He is, he is doing all the work. You see it on the show. You see him come in and do it and it’s hilarious because he’s a financial advisor and he’s sitting here with these construction guys and he’s doing a great job.”
For the remaining episodes, Erin explained on the talk show that they are just “pretending his arm is fine.”
“I’m just not carrying bathtubs and granite countertops,” Ben added.
The Napiers rose to fame renovating houses around their community of Laurel, Mississippi on “Home Town,” which premiered in 2016. The couple became known for Erin’s grandmillennial style, and as Barrymore pointed out, Ben’s hands-on approach.
“He’s been in kind of a funk because he can’t … do the things he wants to do and needs to do,” Erin explained on the show. Though, she turned to her husband and added, “You’re coming out of it.”
Ben and Erin revealed it will take approximately eight weeks before he can start lifting his arm again.
Ben Napier Tore His Rotator Cuff
Ben is on the mend, undergoing surgery in March 2023 as Erin revealed on Instagram.
She shared a picture of her husband post-op, writing in the caption that he had his “rotator cuff repaired,” “bone spur shaved off” and “cartilage trimmed.”
Ben discussed his operation with Barrymore, explaining that he tore his rotator cuff as a result of a bone spur he has had since birth. He added that his father-in-law, a physical therapist, diagnosed the woodworker years ago.
According to the Mayo Clinic, Bone spurs are “bony projections that develop along bone edges. Bone spurs often form where bones meet each other — in your joints.”
“It gets thinner and thinner and thinner until it finally snapped and that happened around Thanksgiving, the snap,” Erin explained of his rotator cuff.
On the daytime show, the couple revealed that Ben’s surgeons also found lesions on his cartilage.
“He had no cartilage in his shoulder, that was what was really hurting,” Erin summarized.
Ben Napier Flirted With His Wife While Waking up From Surgery
As Ben’s painkillers wore off, Erin revealed he only had eyes for her.
“He doesn’t know exactly when he woke up but the moment he started waking up, he started hitting on me in the hospital,” she explained on “The Drew Barrymore Show.” “He was like, ‘You’re pretty. You want to go home with me?’ And I was like, ‘Well, I am actually. Yes.’”
She continued, “And he would like pass out again and then he’d go, ‘Hey, give me some sugar.’ And then I’d kiss him and he’d go back to sleep and he did that about a dozen times.”
Barrymore saw his flirtations as a good sign.
“Do you know what that means?” the “Never Been Kissed” star told them. “That means even in his deepest, subconscious, buried in there, he has the hots for you and you are the one.”
The “Home Town: Ben’s Workshop” star revealed that it was his first experience with painkillers, saying on the talk show that “it was a lot.”
“So here’s the thing, like, I’m, I was very sheltered growing up,” he explained on the talk show. “And I don’t drink, I’ve never done any kind of drugs, so this was like my first experience.” He added that it was “a lot.”
Though, he admitted he slept great.
At home, the couple’s five-year-old daughter Helen took over her nursing duties. On Instagram, Ben revealed in a video that his “secret weapon” was Helen’s supply of “very special bandaids.”
“I’ve got the BEST nursing staff at my house,” Ben captioned the post. “Gonna be good in no time.”
The Napiers are currently starring alongside Dave and Jenny Marrs on “Home Town Takeover.” As HGTV explained in a press release, the couples have partnered up to give Fort Morgan, Colorado a “whole-town renovation.” New episodes air on Sundays at 8 p.m. Eastern and Pacific times.
READ NEXT: Ben & Erin Napier Reveal Their Favorite ‘Home Town Takeover’ Project