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Reunited and it feels so good! On February 20, 2024, HGTV‘s Erin and Ben Napier appeared on “The Jennifer Hudson Show” to announce the upcoming third season of “Home Town Takeover.” Revealing that they’ll be transforming the town of Sebring, Florida, the Napiers said they’ll get help on the show from a bevy of HGTV stars and also teased the return of a beloved “Home Town” cast member.
“There is going to be someone from ‘Home Town’ past, not ‘Home Town Takeover,’” Ben told Hudson.
Erin added, “So the real ‘Home Town’ fans are going to be very excited to see someone who is a part of ‘Takeover’ season 3.”
Days later, in a February 23 Instagram post, Erin revealed the mystery cast member. She shared a photo of her, Ben, former “Home Town” director Jim MacPherson and another blast from the past: their former contractor Jonathan Walters, who appeared on every episode of “Home Town” during its first three seasons.
Fans were thrilled to see Walters again in the photo, which Erin captioned, “Gettin the band back together!”
Here’s what you need to know:
What Happened to ‘Home Town’ Cast Member Jonathan Walters?
Walters was part of the cast of “Home Town” from the beginning, when the show debuted on HGTV in April 2017. According to Yahoo, he served as the project manager on 34 home renovations across three seasons of the show in the Napiers’ hometown of Laurel, Mississippi.
But after the season 3 finale aired in April 2019, Erin revealed in an Instagram post that he was leaving the show.
“He’s been our project manager on #hgtvhometown since the very first episode,” she wrote. “The bearer of bad news + the solution opportunist and, apparently, according to Twitter, the heartthrob of Home Town (sorry ladies, he’s married 😄). He’s leaving us for greener pastures (sunnier shores?) in Florida and tonight we said goodbye for now. We’ve been having dinner dates at Tabella since the show began. Ugh. We hate goodbyes, y’all.”
According to Walters’ LinkedIn profile, he moved to his own hometown of Fort Myers, Florida to join Royal Corinthian Homes where, he wrote, “I cut my construction teeth while simply working on jobsites as a laborer during high school summers.”
Walters joined as a project manager and partner but by 2021, he was promoted to President and the company’s website now identifies him as the owner.
With “Home Town Takeover” now filming in Sebring, less than two hours from Fort Myers, Walters was able to reunite with the Napiers to help with the huge undertaking.
To celebrate Walters’ return, MacPherson posted the same photo as Erin did on Instagram and wrote, “Boy, this Kodak moment was years in the making but man did we make it count! I had so much darn fun these past few days! My whole body hurts from laughing – and here we are making better television again, just down in Florida this go around. #makebettertelevision”
Erin replied in the comments, “i love that you are like my big brother who is constantly getting in trouble at school and jonathan is like my big brother with reasonable and wholesome advice at the ready”
Fans Are Thrilled to See Jonathan Walters Part of the ‘Home Town Takeover’ Cast
Walters has periodically appeared in the media since leaving Laurel, including WGCU’s 2021 documentation of his company’s restoration work on a historic home in Fort Myers. But fans have clearly missed him as a cast member on “Home Town,” flooding Erin’s post with celebratory comments about their reunion.
One person wrote, “I have always wondered what had happened to Jonathan! We all miss him! ❤️”
Another commented, “I was hoping that was who would be joining you. So fun.”
Someone else wrote, “So awesome! Vintage Home Town!”
Meanwhile, HGTV’s Jonathan Scott commented on MacPherson’s posting of the photo that he was “having major FOMO.” Not only are he and his fiancée Zooey Deschanel friends with the Napiers, but McPherson also works as the director of several “Property Brothers” shows, according to LinkedIn, including “Brother vs. Brother” and “Property Brothers: Forever Home.”
Erin replied to Scott’s comment by writing, “wish y’all were heeeere!” and MacPherson told him to “come visit” — which might be possible, given that so many HGTV stars are expected to help with renovations on the show.
Though fans may not know MacPherson, given that he hasn’t appeared on the air, the Napiers had a chance reunion with him in March 2023 during a trip to Los Angeles.
“While there,” Ben wrote on Instagram at the time, “I recognized @jimmacpherson’s orange jeep at the red light outside. In a metropolitan area of nearly 13 million, I saw our good friend and former director 30ft from where we chose to eat lunch. I fought back tears when we hugged for the first time since spring of 2020.”
Less than a year later, the Napiers got to film their first renovations in Florida with MacPherson and Walters by their sides. The third season of “Home Town Takeover” is expected to air in early 2025.
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