HGTV’s Alison Victoria Reveals Unique ‘Ugliest House in America’ Filming Tradition

Alison Victoria has developed a fun behind-the-scenes habit while working on HGTV‘s Ugliest House in America.

The series, which debuted back in 2022, follows actress and comedian Retta as she tours some of the country’s wildest, wackiest, and most unique properties. The house that is deemed the ugliest of the season receives a complete makeover from Victoria and her team of designers.

Ugliest House in America returned for its eighth season earlier this year. In a new interview with People, Victoria revealed that she celebrated her role on the show by taking a memento from each of her final home transformations.

“The takeaway just started that way where I was like, ‘I want a memory.’ It’s kind of like when I travel,” she explained. “Whenever I travel, I always get something, and I bring it back, and I put it on one of my open shelves, and it’s a trinket or a tchotchke or a memory, and it makes me smile.”

Recalling her earliest “ugly” item taken from set, she shared, “I remember it was the very first episode. We did this brothel in this place called Soddy-Daisy. I remember that this drywall had glitter in it because, I mean, look, it was a brothel. It was all crazy in there. And I took a piece of that sparkly drywall, and I framed it.”

Victoria continued, “And then I took the faucet from this crazy bathroom with this tub that could fit 50 people in it. And it was this swan, and I used it in a project.”

 

View this post on Instagram

 

A post shared by HGTV (@hgtv)

In addition to taking items from the previously “ugly” homes, Victoria noted that she uses some of her finds in her day-to-day life. “I took this weird bottle opener that was in their kitchen that was not human teeth, but they made it look like teeth,” she told the outlet. “So that’s how I open my Coca-Cola. I mean, it’s funny.”

The show’s spooky season-themed spinoff, Scariest House in America, premiered on HGTV in 2024 and wrapped its third season earlier this month. Victoria’s latest series, Sin City Rehab, also returned for its second season on October 7.

Related

HGTV Fans React as Alison Victoria Confronts 'Sin City Rehab' Project Manager

Victoria said working on Ugliest House and Scariest House can be more “fun” at times than working on Sin City Rehab, partly because of her close bond with Retta. “[She] has become such a good friend of mine, and what you guys get to see on this season of Scariest is probably going to be the funniest thing you’ve ever seen because you get to see what Retta and I do on our day off,” she gushed.

Victoria celebrated the end of the latest season of Ugliest House by sharing photos from the winning home’s makeover via Instagram. “For the finale of Scariest House in America, I took a little inspiration from Hershey, Pennsylvania, and went all in on this rich, chocolatey brown,” she captioned the Monday, October 26, upload. “Walls, trim, and even my Paulina Hood in the Chocolate Brass finish. Moody, warm, dramatic… and exactly what this house needed! The goal was to keep the character and the mystery, just lose the someone-is-definitely-watching-me-from-the-hallway vibe.”

She added, “Proof that even the scariest house can clean up pretty damn well…and to whoever is still living there rent-free… I hope you like brown.”

Ugliest House in America, Season 8, Now Streaming, Hulu and HBO Max