The Cerda family’s case is not the only controversy “Extreme Makeover: Home Edition” has faced in its seven years on air. Back in 2005, for instance, five orphaned siblings sued a couple that allegedly took them into their care in order to get a new nine-bedroom house before turning the kids out one by one.

Is Extreme Makeover: Home Edition fake? In one sense, the answer is no – they really do build those houses. Fans might think Extreme Makeover: Home Edition is one of the best reality TV shows ever, but the truth is much darker than you might expect.

Building an entire home, let alone a large one stuffed to the seams with furniture and fancy touches, typically takes six to eight months. Though they had only five days, Parkville, Mo., homebuilder Kevin Green and his crew of local contractors, craftsmen and artisans finished in four days and four hours.

Though it’s been a while since Trading Space and Extreme Makeover fans may have seen Pennington on-screen, he’s stayed busy in the intervening years. In addition to hosting shows like On the Menu and American Diner Revival, he returned to his carpenter roots in 2018 for the Trading Spaces reboot.

Ty Pennington’s had a life-long battle with ADHD But it wasn’t until 2012 that he confessed his energizer-bunny personality is caused by his attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), a disorder he’s had to learn to manage. “I see a psychiatrist Medication has helped,” Pennington told The Huffington Post.

In January, Dr. Thomas Valvano, an OHSU Doernbecher Children’s Hospital pediatrician who specializes in suspected child abuse and neglect, reported the Cerdas to state child-welfare authorities, and in February, the state took temporary custody of the two girls.

And in some cases, as it turns out, they are: according to a recent trial in Oregon, it seems the would-be do-gooders were duped by a family falsely claiming two very sick young daughters. “Extreme Makeover” recipients Chuck and Terri Cerda are the parents of Molly and Maggie, 10 and 8 respectively.