Editing Extreme Makeover: Home Edition (section)

==Reaction and criticism==
Despite the show's positive message, ''EM:HE'' has been scrutinized for several issues,<ref>{{Cite web|last=LeBlanc|first=Beth|date=May 26, 2016|title=Bank forecloses on 'Extreme Makeover' homeowner|url=https://www.usatoday.com/story/money/nation-now/2017/05/26/extreme-makeover-home-foreclosure/346131001/|access-date=July 23, 2024|website=[[USA Today]]}}</ref> including the show's ethics,<ref>{{Cite web|last=Glink|first=Ilyce|date=December 20, 2009|title=Extreme Makeover Home Edition Foreclosure? How Do You Write a Happy Ending?|url=https://www.cbsnews.com/news/extreme-makeover-home-edition-foreclosure-how-do-you-write-a-happy-ending/|access-date=July 23, 2024|website=[[CBS News]]}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|last=Drakeford|first=Cortney|date=November 16, 2016|title=Foster Children Slam Family After TV Show Appearance|url=https://www.ibtimes.com/extreme-makeover-home-edition-controversy-family-gives-away-foster-children-after-2447031|access-date=July 23, 2024|website=[[International Business Times]]}}</ref> its authenticity,<ref>{{Cite web|last=Maglio|first=Tony|date=February 22, 2018|title=Ty Pennington Takes a Sledgehammer to That Weird 'Extreme Makeover: Home Edition' Backlash|url=https://www.thewrap.com/ty-pennington-extreme-makeover-home-edition-backlash/|access-date=July 23, 2024|website=[[The Wrap]]}}</ref> and leaving some families with an increase in [[mortgage]] payments and [[property tax]]es due to higher assessments and worsening their circumstances.<ref>{{Cite web|last1=Madormo|first1=Carrie|last2=Gordon|first2=Erica Brooke|date=March 21, 2017|title=Extreme Makeover: Home Edition: Facts About The Controversial Home Reno Series|url=https://www.thelist.com/35201/untold-truth-extreme-makeover-home-edition/|access-date=July 23, 2024|website=[[The List (magazine)|The List]]}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|last=Ngo|first=Hope|date=March 9, 2020|title=Who Really Pays The Mortgages On Extreme Makeover: Home Edition?|url=https://www.thelist.com/193236/who-really-pays-the-mortgages-on-extreme-makeover-home-edition/|access-date=July 23, 2024|website=[[The List (magazine)|The List]]}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|last= |first= |date=December 9, 2008|title="Extreme Makeover" family may lose home|url=https://www.seattletimes.com/entertainment/tv/extreme-makeover-family-may-lose-home/|access-date=July 23, 2024|website=[[The Seattle Times]]|language=en}}</ref>

Ethically speaking, the show has often been criticized by some viewers and the media for unnecessary contributions and glorifying excessive [[McMansion]]-like construction and lifestyles, such as in a ''[[Mother Jones (magazine)|Mother Jones]]'' article that questioned giving a six-bedroom, seven-bath, seven-television house to a family of four in [[Kingston, Washington]].<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.motherjones.com/news/exhibit/2005/03/exhibit.html|title=This New House|publisher=Mother Jones|date=March 2005|access-date=June 4, 2007|quote=Extreme Makeover: Home Edition recently gave a 6-bedroom, 7-bath, 7-television house to a family of 4.}}</ref> However, ABC countered this criticism by explaining their approach towards building homes for each family was to do so in a manner which best suited their own individual needs, noting the sizes of many of the homes is due to the fact a considerable majority were built for either exceptionally large families, families of individuals with certain accessibility needs and families who ran various types of organizations or small businesses out of their homes, the last of which was the case of the Kingston home. ABC responded to the ''Mother Jones'' article by noting they had failed to mention that particular home was also a functioning bed and breakfast.{{Citation needed|date=January 2025}}

Authentically speaking, one such claim was frequently made against the show's lead designers, particularly Ty Pennington. At several makeovers, they have been criticized for never doing any work at all, with anonymous contractors mostly doing the work and the designers performing only light work for the cameras. In 2007, during the makeover for the Carter Family in [[Billings, Montana]], a local radio DJ accused Pennington of using a spray can of grease on his face to make it look like he was really working, only to be confronted over the air by Pennington himself, who called in from the construction site.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.tmz.com/2007/07/10/ty-takes-on-radio-taunter-im-no-jackass/print|title=Ty Takes On Radio Taunter: I'm No "Jackass!"|work=tmz.com|access-date=September 12, 2015}}</ref> The largest piece of evidence to prove the design team's contribution to the house and the family is a severe hand injury that [[Ed Sanders (TV personality)|Ed Sanders]] received during a 2006 makeover in Ohio for the family of [[Jason Thomas (Marine)|Jason Thomas]]. While creating a wood carving of the American flag, Sanders removed part of the guard for a hand-held wood grinder, which led to him slicing one of his hands open.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.edsanders.net/ownWords.html|title=January 22, 2007 Entry|access-date=December 21, 2009|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100211214624/http://edsanders.net/ownWords.html|archive-date=February 11, 2010|url-status=usurped}}</ref> Sanders took a leave of absence for nearly an entire season to recover.

In an article entitled "ABC's 'Extreme Exploitation'", [[The Smoking Gun]] published an e-mail sent on March 10, 2006, from an ABC employee sent to the network's affiliate base, relaying a message from the program's casting agent detailing specific tragedies and rare illnesses sought by the show. Included were a "Muscular Dystrophy Child", a "Family who has multiple children w/ Down Syndrome (either adopted or biological)" and a child with a [[Congenital insensitivity to pain with anhidrosis|CIPA disorder]]. This last request included a parenthetical remark stating, "There are only 17&nbsp;known cases in US - let me know if one is in your town!"<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.thesmokinggun.com/archive/0327062extreme1.html|title=ABC's "Extreme" Exploitation|quote=Makeover show loves sick kids, cancer patients, hate crime victims|publisher=The Smoking Gun|date=March 27, 2006|access-date=June 4, 2007}}</ref>
This e-mail has led some major media networks and blogs to accuse the show of opportunism in seeking out the most sensational stories in a push for higher ratings.<ref>{{cite web|url= http://defamer.gawker.com/163321/the-extreme-makeover-home-edition-tragedy-wishlist|title= The 'Extreme Makeover: Home Edition' Tragedy Wishlist|quote= The feel-good TV industry has never been more cutthroat, with the likes of Oprah, the Miracle Workers, and even Deal or No Deal's Howie Mandel locked in a pitched battle to lavish America's tragedy-afflicted souls with their own brand of televised redemption. Nowhere is this suffering-talent crunch felt more acutely than at ABC's genre-leading Extreme Makeover: Home Edition, where the casting department has assembled a wishlist of interesting diseases and tear-jerking hard knocks that they feel will help keep their series atop the Nielsen mountain during their new season.|publisher= Gawker|date= March 27, 2006|access-date= October 25, 2010|url-status= dead|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20101105124200/http://defamer.gawker.com/163321/the-extreme-makeover-home-edition-tragedy-wishlist|archive-date= November 5, 2010|df=mdy-all}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.nbcnews.com/id/wbna12100098|title=Extreme Makeover or Extreme Exploitation?|work=NBC News|date=March 31, 2006}}</ref>

Another criticism aimed at the show surrounds financial issues that some of the families have had after receiving the home makeover, which following the onset of the [[Great Recession]], received media attention. As of 2020, nine of the original show's recipient families have given up their homes due to financial issues, which included two [[foreclosure]]s.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.pamil-visions.net/wofford-family-needs-new-makeover/28869/|title=Dr. Brian Wofford Needs a More Extreme Makeover|date=December 2, 2009|author=Phil Butler|work=Everything PR}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|title=Family's 'Extreme Makeover' Home Temporarily Saved|url=http://www.10news.com/news/21968317/detail.html|work=ABC 10 News|location=San Diego, CA|date=December 14, 2009}}</ref> While most cases were reported as resulting from instances such as unemployment, accumulations of medical bills or property tax rate increases, the most widely publicized cases featured families who had defaulted on [[home equity loan]]s taken out on their homes since receiving them, one of which resulted in a foreclosure. In a 2018 interview with ''[[TheWrap]]'', Pennington explained the nature of these cases. "There's a couple of stories that families lost their home. We left them with a financial adviser. However, if the family chooses to triple-mortgage their house to start a business that they've never done before just to see if they can get into it, that's their own demise. That's how you lose your home, is you're like, 'Oh, let's use it as a lottery ticket and see what we can get out of it. And then you lose it because you can't make the payment. But that's what press does. They were like, 'This is too good to be true, what is really happening?' But with 'Extreme', it really was that good."<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.thewrap.com/ty-pennington-extreme-makeover-home-edition-backlash/|title= Ty Pennington Takes a Sledgehammer to That Weird 'Extreme Makeover: Home Edition' Backlash|date=February 22, 2018}}</ref>

The five children of the Higgins family, aged 14–21, filed a lawsuit against ABC after they were evicted by a family that had taken them in before the show came to renovate the family's house. The five kids "say that the producers took advantage of the family's hard-luck story and promised them new cars and other prizes to persuade them to participate in the program", according to the LA Times.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.realityblurred.com/realitytv/archives/extreme_makeover_home_edition/2005_Aug_11_abc_sued|title=Orphans sue ABC, family over Extreme Makeover: Home Edition episode|date=August 11, 2005|publisher=Reality Blurred|author=Andy Dehnart|author-link=Andy Dehnart}}</ref> On July 17, 2007, Judge Paul Gutman ruled against the siblings, stating that the plaintiffs failed to prove their case.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://overlawyered.com/2007/07/update-judge-rejects-extreme-makeover-lawsuit/|title=Judge rejects 'Extreme Makeover' lawsuit|author=Walter Olson|date=July 22, 2007|publisher=Overlawyered.com}}</ref> The decision of the trial court was affirmed on appeal.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.fearnotlaw.com/articles/article26947.html|title=Higgins v. Disney/ABC Internat. Television|publisher=FearNotLaw.com|date=March 18, 2009}}</ref> The case was later settled for $50,000.<ref>"Extreme Makeover: Home Edition"''. [[Dark Side of Reality TV]]''. Season 1. Episode 6. Vice Productions Inc.</ref>

Questions arose when Theresa "Momi" Akana was picked for a Hawaii-set episode. ''[[The Honolulu Advertiser]]'' investigated their tax records and found out that she and her husband each made over $100,000 in salary. Denise Cramsey, the executive producer of the show, responded with "I think Momi certainly fits the bill." She defended the pick by stating that they look beyond the family's finances and consider other factors, including family plight and contributions to the community.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://the.honoluluadvertiser.com/article/2007/Jul/02/ln/FP707020351.html|title='Makeover' home recipient earns $100K|access-date=December 20, 2007|first=Rick|last=Daysog|publisher=Honolulu Advertiser|date=July 2, 2007}}</ref>