the ugly side of reality television

wow, just wow. Reality home improvement gone horibbly wrong. This is sort of like an idea that several of my friends and I baked up one night in college; a home improvement show where all the workers performing the improvements would have no prior experience or background in construction, in addition to being legally drunk. I think it would be hillarious, but ignores all the issues these poor people seem to be having to deal with after fox destroyed their house. Maybe fox could do a reality show where they fix up houses wrecked during reality home improvement shows. Add dramatic music and a voice over explaining how awful it is and then explain how it's all going to be made better. ha! haven't these people suffered enough?

Reading the details of this story, those people really did get screwed bad!

Family suing reality TV show over repairs

By Rob Olmstead
Daily Herald Staff Writer
Posted Thursday, July 21, 2005

When a reality-show television producer says “Trust me,” run.

That’s the lesson Gary and Sharon Rosier of Lemont Township say they learned when Fox Broadcasting’s “Renovate My Family” promised them a new and improved home designed to accommodate their recently paralyzed son, Steven. Instead of a handicapped-friendly home that made their life easier, they got a shoddy wreck of a house that latest estimates say will cost $350,000 to fix, the Rosiers’ attorney, Mark Belongia, said. “Essentially what they did is build a movie set,” Belongia said.

Wiring remains exposed; door knobs are round, impossible for Steven to grasp; a dryer is vented into the home rather than out of it; smoke detectors don’t work; plywood covers basement windows; siding and plumbing was improperly installed; the furnace has no foundation and is stuffed in a crawl space and sod was installed directly over limestone paving, Belongia said. “They didn’t care (that it was impossible for the grass to live). All they needed was for it to be green for the episode they shot of the people coming home,” said Belongia, who filed suit on behalf of the family Wednesday in Cook County Chancery Court.

Fox Broadcasting in Los Angeles referred all calls to the production company, Rocket Science Laboratories, which did not return phone calls.

While the Rosiers, who live near I-55 and Lemont Road, did sign a contract giving Rocket Science considerable latitude, their suit claims they were told at the time of signing that it was not a final contract, just something they needed to sign to be considered for the show. The company refused their requests to let them consult a lawyer before signing, telling them time was of the essence, the suit claims. For those reasons, it should be void, Belongia said. The family, which was approached by a producer at the 2004 Boat and RV show at McCormick Place, thought the show would make their home more handicapped-friendly, Belongia said.

Their son Steven was 15 when he was paralyzed in a March 2003 snowboarding accident. As a carpenter and an office worker, respectively, Gary and Sharon Rosier didn’t have a lot of money to plow into rehab, Belongia said. One of the things the Rosiers asked was that the oak floor Steven and Gary installed together before Steven’s accident be left alone. Instead, it was replaced with laminate, the suit said. Among the other problems is an “endless” pool installed in Steven’s room intended for therapy.

“It was so powerful it forced him under and almost drowned him,” Belongia said. His mother had to rescue him, he said. In addition, the suit claims, a deck, barn and patio that Gary Rosier had built were demolished. “Fox tore it all out and threw it in the garbage,” Belongia said. To add insult to injury, about $13,000 in power tools Gary Rosier had at the home were missing when the family returned, the suit claims.

The family has also learned that, despite assurances, they are liable for the taxes on the home “improvement,” the suit claims. The work on the home, which consisted of tearing the structure down to the foundation and rebuilding it in nine days, was done in July 2004. The show aired in September.

The Rosiers also are suing DuPage County, claiming it never performed a final home inspection on the work. Officials with the county could not be reached for comment Wednesday.