Extreme Makeover wants to return to Indiana

Show producers are looking for Indiana nominees

— Producers of a reality TV show that gave a home to a Miami County family say they want to come back to Indiana.

ABC’s “Extreme Makeover: Home Edition” announced Friday that it is seeking nominations for an Indiana family to receive a new home.

Kristina Gorolevich, a casting producer for Lock & Key Productions, said the show wants to find an Indiana family in the next two to three months. The program, which is in its seventh season, is looking for an Indiana family for its ninth season.

“We’re looking hard in the state, and we do want to make our Indiana episode a success,” Gorolevich said.

“Extreme Makeover” crews came to the Kokomo area in October 2009 when they built a house for the Cowan-Brown family.

Producers chose to tear down the family’s mold-ridden home and build them a new one largely because of Maconaquah Middle School student Kori Brown. Brown has a congenital blood disorder that weighed down her family’s finances with medical bills. She, along with most of her family, was experiencing medical complications because of the mold.

She also has raised tens of thousands of dollars for the American Cancer Society in honor of a friend who had leukemia. Since the “Extreme Makeover” filming ended, she has begun her own non-profit dedicated to helping families burdened by medical bills, the iroK Foundation.

Soon after the Cowan-Brown’s episode aired last year, “Extreme Makeover” announced it wanted to come back to Indiana, but the reality show never announced it had found a family.

The TV show looks for families that are experiencing difficulties with their homes and in other parts of their lives. Producers at the same time like families that give back to their communities, Gorolevich said.

“These are people that have been kind of afflicted, through no fault of their own, and are kind of beaten up by life but not beaten down,” she said. “… At the same time, it’s important to have community involvement and support.”

People interested in nominating a family for a new home need to type brief descriptions of the families, including the names and ages of everyone in the homes and explanations of their major challenges.

“It can definitely be as in-depth or in-brief as they want to go,” Gorolevich said. “We get a lot of nominations from people saying ‘I don’t know this person, but I’ve heard a news story, and maybe you should look there.’ Anything at all to just kind of be like ‘OK, maybe we should just reach out to these people.’”

Nominations need to be sent via e-mail to CastIndiana@gmail.com.

By Daniel Human