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Ben and Erin Napier are opening up about the series of unfortunate events they experienced last year.
During an episode of “The Heirloom” podcast, the famous couple discussed their new show, “Home Town: Inn This Together,” which followed them renovating a hotel in Laurel, Mississippi with their friends, and the aftermath of the devastating fire that the building faced shortly after filming wrapped in August 2025.
“The fire happens. A close member of the extended family goes into the hospital and nobody really knows what’s going on. And Erin’s parents chose to have their dog put down that week,” Ben said. “And then Erin’s turning 40.”
Erin shared that although she didn’t feel like celebrating her milestone birthday after everything that had just happened, her friend, Mallerie Rasberry, who she partnered with the build the hotel, told her, “I need to be with all my people.”
The couple reflected on the aftermath of the hotel fire in a recent episode of their podcast. (HGTV)
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Ultimately, Erin’s friends threw her a 40th birthday party, which Erin called “the saddest party in the world,” saying all she wanted to do was eat dip, “so we ate dip and cried.” Ben then joked that it is an “unwritten rule of the 40th birthday” that it won’t be a great day.
“Emily [Nowell] lost her dad for her 40th. I had a birthday the week of the fire,” Erin said, with Ben adding, “We celebrated my father-in-law’s 70th for my 40th. It was a great party.”
Fans of the couple witnessed the devastating fire overtake the hotel the couple worked so hard to complete on the June 1 episode of the show, with Erin looking visible emotional as she watched the flames take over the structure.
The episode ended with a note letting fans know the roof has been rebuilt since the fire, but the couple has been vocal on social media about setbacks in the rebuilding process caused by a delay in the insurance company approving their claim.
Their new show featured the destruction of the fire, with Ben writing on Instagram that that episode was hard to watch. (Nathan Congleton/NBC)
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“Last night’s episode was bittersweet. Our friends worked so unbelievably hard, and we have never been more proud to be their friends. The fire shocked everyone. It has felt like a death of a loved one in the community. It has been nearly a year since the fire, and our friends are STILL waiting on @libertymutual to complete the claim,” Ben wrote on Instagram after the episode aired.
He added: “We don’t know what the future holds, but we know God holds us. Thanks for watching the biggest thing to happen in downtown Laurel in a long time.”
The couple first found fame on HGTV’s hit show, “Home Town” in 2016, which followed them as they renovated historic homes and helped residents restore their homes.
When speaking with Digital in December 2025, they shared the biggest challenges that come with working so closely together, with Ben noting, “the only challenge is trying to surprise each other with something.”
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Ben and Erin got their start in 2016, with the HGTV show, “Home Town.” (Meggan Haller/The Washington Post via Getty Images)
“Yeah, it’s real hard,” Erin agreed. “We’re together 24/7 so I will say we have pretty much perfect communication with each other. We know everything. We have no secrets. You can’t have a secret when you’re with someone constantly.”
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