Retta Rings in Another New Year With ‘Ugliest House in America’ on HGTV

Comedian Retta will make the first day of 2023 a lot more fun with the return of her HGTV series Ugliest House in America, beginning on New Year’s Day.

In a 2021 interview with Showbiz Cheat Sheet, the Good Girls star said she had a blast filming Ugliest House in America Season 1 and hoped for another season. Every surprise reaction Retta had on the series was genuine, which she said was tough to hide.

“That was the one thing, I was like I don’t want to make people feel bad,” she said. “Producers were like, ‘They submitted their houses.’” She laughed, “So it was OK for me to be like, ‘Yikes!’”

More ‘Yikes’ from Retta for the 2023 season of ‘Ugliest House in America’

Each house was uglier than the next, but that’s the name of the game. “Based on its ugly appearance, poor functionality, and surprising design choices, one house will be deemed the ‘ugliest house in America’ by HGTV and the network will award its homeowners a showstopping $150,000 renovation completed by Alison Victoria, one of its top stars,” according to HGTV.

Ugliest House in America will feature tours of 15 new properties nominated by homeowners who believe their design-challenged home is among the worst in the country. “During the season, Retta will share her hot takes and hilarious reviews of each horrendous property, commenting on wacky layouts, clashing designs, and severely outdated styles,” HGTV promised.

Retta added, “We’ve all seen those magazine-worthy homes that make you feel bad about your own house. This ain’t that show!”

Retta recalled a WTF moment at every ugly house

Last season Retta told Showbiz Cheat Sheet every home had a decent amount of shock value. “Every place had its own like, ‘What the f*** is that?’” she said about seeing each home for the first time. “Like knowing it had this, what would have made you say yes? So each place had its own like holy crap,” she said. “Some places had more than one but each place had its own thing.”

She was often left speechless but had a whole commentary running inside her head. “It’s like why … why?” she recalled some of the wild home designs. “Like obviously they didn’t build the home. But they bought the home! So not only was my ‘Why did you buy the house?’ But also, ‘Why was this built?’ In the mind of who?”

Retta laughed, “To me, the only reason for this house is to have people come over and say, ‘Holy s**!’ And they go, ‘Yeah, right?’ I mean it’s not like people are coming over and going, ‘This is fire!’ Everybody is coming over and going, ‘What the f***?’”

How do you choose the ‘Ugliest House in America’?

Retta personally toured all the homes, but she didn’t have the final say in who won. “It was a tough decision!” she recalled. “But also, you know, I didn’t have a whole lot of say. I got to be the one to say like, ‘This place is insane!’” 

She shared what elements went into deciding which home would win. “It has more to do with the most bang for your buck, which you know because often, some of it is like the outside too,” she recalled. “So you got to do the outside, some of the yard. They’re not going to do up the house and the yard looks like trash? Yeah, so they’ll figure out where they can get the most bang for their buck.”

Ugliest House in America Season 2 premieres at 8 p.m. ET/PT from Sunday, Jan. 1, through Thursday, Jan. 5, and at 9 p.m. ET/PT on Friday, Jan. 6.