Jenny Marrs Says ‘Home Town Takeover’ Was ‘A Hard Sell’

Dave and Jenny Marrs

Heavy/Getty/HGTV Dave and Jenny Marrs star in season 2 of "Home Town Takeover."

While “Home Town Takeover” is one of HGTV’s biggest series, Jenny Marrs admits to Country Living that joining Ben and Erin Napier for its second season was “a hard sell.”

“We couldn’t figure out how it was possible, honestly. Our production company had to rework our entire ‘Fixer to Fabulous’ schedule,” Jenny explained to the outlet.

In their flagship series, which premiered in 2019, Jenny and her husband Dave renovate houses around their community of Bentonville, Arkansas. They live on a local farm with their five kids – twins Nathan and Ben, 12, Sylvie, 11, Charlotte, 8, and Luke, 3. But they would have to travel back and forth to film “Home Town Takeover.”

“It was tough, but at the end of the day, there was a huge draw for me because it was in Colorado,” Dave, a native Coloradan, told Country Living. “We love small-town America, and we loved seeing what happened in Wetumpka, the emotion and the energy that was there, we just had to figure out a way to do it.”

As HGTV announced in a press release, the Napiers and Marrses were teaming up to give Fort Morgan, Colorado a “whole-town renovation.”

The six-episode season follows the HGTV couples as “they mobilize 10 all-star HGTV and Food Network talent to help complete 18 renovation projects across homes, local businesses and public spaces,” according to the series description. “The goal for the renovations, which range from refreshing a local bowling alley and revitalizing a public park to sprucing up the downtown business district and updating homes of local heroes, will be to amplify the town’s charm, build community pride and catapult Fort Morgan into a new era of limitless potential.”


Jenny & Dave Marrs Are Helping ‘Carry the Load’ in ‘Home Town Takeover’ Season 2

Ben and Erin led the charge to revitalize Wetumpka, Alabama during the freshman run of “Home Town Takeover.” But this time around, they enlisted Dave and Jenny to make the series’ large undertaking more manageable.

“Jenny and Dave are going to help us carry the load so we can do more without losing our collective sanity,” Erin tweeted when the season was announced.

Despite HGTV’s reports that season 1 garnered more than 21 million viewers, Erin expressed uncertainty on Twitter when asked about a potential second season.

In June 2021, Erin tweeted, “i’ll be honest, the takeover life is not all that simpatico with family life. it was an amazing adventure for us, but likely the only one like it until (maybe) our girls are much older.”

The couple shares two daughters – Helen, 5, and Mae, almost 2. They live in Laurel, Mississippi, where they film their hit HGTV series “Home Town.”

“Season 1 was hard,” Ben explained to Country Living. “We were potty-training Helen and Erin was pregnant with Mae. Now we’ve got two little kids and our businesses.”

As Erin told the publication, “The world needs more goodness. All four of us felt honored to participate in something like that.”


‘Home Town Takeover’ Caused a ‘Ripple Effect’

“Home Town Takeover” has caused a “ripple effect” in Fort Morgan, Jenny explained during an appearance on the April 17, 2023 episode of “Today with Hoda & Jenna.”

“One building beautifies and then the next building, they get new signage. And then the next building, they paint the trim,” Erin elaborated to host Jenna Bush Hager and guest host Reba McEntire. “Everybody can’t make a huge facelift, total makeover but everybody starts doing the improvements that they can. And that makes the town feel alive again.”

Season 2 of “Home Town Takeover” premieres on Sunday, April 23, 2023 at 8 p.m. Eastern and Pacific times, HGTV announced in a press release.

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