HGTV is taking home renovation into territory where a fresh coat of paint may not be the biggest challenge.
Actress Anna Camp is stepping into a new role as host of A Very Haunted Renovation, a six-episode HGTV competition that puts renovation and paranormal folklore under the same roof. The series premieres September 15, 2026, at 8 p.m. ET/PT, according to HGTV and Warner Bros. Discovery.
The unusual part is not simply that Camp is hosting a renovation program. It is that the renovation itself takes place inside Bihl Manor in Fremont, Ohio, a historic property already known for its haunted reputation.
Six designers and renovators will spend 31 days living and working in the house. They will compete in renovation challenges, with design expert Michel Smith Boyd serving as mentor and judge alongside celebrity guests.
That makes the new show more than another celebrity-fronted home makeover. It represents a notable shift in the way HGTV is packaging renovation television: the house is no longer just the setting. The house is the story.
Anna Camp’s HGTV Role Is Different From a Typical Renovation Host
Camp is best known as an actress, with credits including Pitch Perfect, True Blood, The Mindy Project and Hysteria!. Her move into HGTV therefore gives the network a host with a strong entertainment background rather than a traditional contractor or interior designer.
That distinction matters.
Traditional HGTV formats often depend on expertise that viewers can immediately understand. A contractor explains structural problems. A designer discusses finishes. A real-estate professional talks about value.
Camp brings something different: performance.
That could be particularly useful for a show built around suspense, personality and storytelling. Instead of treating renovation as a purely technical exercise, A Very Haunted Renovation can use Camp to connect the design competition with the atmosphere of the property.
It also fits an increasingly familiar crossover between scripted entertainment and lifestyle television. Camp already has experience with horror-themed material, including her role in the 2024 series Hysteria! and her appearance in Scream 7 in 2026.
For HGTV, that makes her a logical bridge between its renovation audience and viewers who might normally watch supernatural or competition programming.
What Is A Very Haunted Renovation About?
The basic premise is simple but unusually demanding.
Six renovators and designers will live inside one of America’s reportedly haunted homes for 31 days. Their task is to renovate spaces while competing against one another. Each episode introduces a new renovation challenge, and contestants face elimination as the competition progresses.
Michel Smith Boyd will mentor the competitors and participate in judging.
The format also brings in celebrity guest judges, adding another entertainment layer to each challenge. Reported guests include Billy Porter, LuLu Wilson, Cassandra Peterson, Jack Osbourne, Eli Roth and production designer Hannah Beachler.
The first challenge reportedly centers on a bedroom connected to stories about Lizzie and Alvie Bihl, tying the renovation assignment directly to the property’s history and legends.
That is an important distinction from conventional renovation television.
The designers are not simply asked, “How can we make this room better?”
They are effectively being asked, “How can we redesign this room without ignoring the story that made it famous?”
Bihl Manor Gives the Series Its Strongest Local Angle
For viewers outside Ohio, Bihl Manor may initially look like another spooky television set.
It is not simply a fictional location created for the show.
The manor is located at 1213 Buckland Avenue in Fremont, Ohio. The property is still associated with paranormal investigations and events, including scheduled investigations in 2026.
That gives Fremont an unexpected role in the national entertainment story.
Fremont is not a Hollywood production center. Yet a historic house in the Ohio community is about to become the centerpiece of a national HGTV series.
The property has also developed a tourism and paranormal-investigation ecosystem around its reputation. Recent events have included overnight experiences and organized investigations, demonstrating that the manor’s appeal existed before HGTV arrived.
This could become one of the more interesting consequences of the series.
If viewers become curious about Bihl Manor after watching Camp and the contestants navigate its rooms, Fremont could receive attention from a new audience interested in historic properties, paranormal tourism and regional attractions.
In other words, the show could renovate more than rooms.
It could renovate the public image of the place itself.
The 31-Day Format Changes the Renovation Equation
One of the most interesting details is the amount of time contestants will spend inside the property.
Thirty-one days is a long period for a competition built around television renovation.
That creates pressure beyond choosing cabinets, paint colors or furniture. Contestants must reportedly live at the property while completing their work, meaning the house becomes both their workplace and temporary home.
That opens the door to a different type of reality-TV conflict.
Renovation competitions normally emphasize deadlines, budgets and design decisions. Here, interpersonal tension can be layered on top of those pressures.
Contestants must collaborate when necessary while competing for individual success. They must make creative choices under time pressure. And they have to work inside a property whose reputation is deliberately designed to make them uncomfortable.
The psychological element may ultimately prove more important than the paranormal one.
Viewers may tune in for ghosts, but they are likely to stay for the personalities.
The Prize Adds Real Competition
The series is also structured as a genuine competition rather than simply a renovation showcase.
According to current reporting, the overall prize is $50,000.
That changes the stakes.
A $50,000 prize gives contestants a tangible reason to push their designs further, take risks and survive elimination challenges. It also gives the audience a reason to evaluate each renovation as a competition rather than simply admiring the final result.
For HGTV, that distinction is valuable.
The network has spent years building formats around homes, design transformations and competition. Its 2026 slate includes projects such as Botched Homes, House Shock, Extreme Buyers Club and returning renovation franchises.
A Very Haunted Renovation stands out because it adds a genre hook to the familiar makeover formula.
Why HGTV Is Leaning Into More Extreme Renovation Concepts
The timing is worth watching.
HGTV’s upcoming schedule shows a broader effort to move beyond straightforward home makeovers. Botched Homes, for example, focuses on houses damaged by poor workmanship and unsafe or unfinished conditions. House Shock takes a surprise-makeover approach. Extreme Buyers Club follows buyers with unusual property needs.
The common thread is simple: the home itself is becoming the entertainment hook.
That is important in a crowded streaming environment.
A standard renovation program can be pleasant and useful, but it may struggle to generate the urgency of a competition series or the curiosity of a mystery.
A haunted Victorian manor solves that problem immediately.
It gives HGTV a recognizable renovation format while adding suspense, history, celebrity guests and supernatural folklore.
The network does not have to abandon what its audience already likes.
It simply has to make the house harder to forget.
The Show Also Raises an Important Question About Historic Renovation
There is a more serious design question underneath the spooky premise.
How do you modernize a historic property without destroying what makes it historically interesting?
That question applies far beyond Bihl Manor.
Across the United States, older homes are regularly caught between preservation and modernization. Owners want safer electrical systems, better insulation, updated kitchens and modern bathrooms. At the same time, removing original details can erase the character that makes an old property valuable.
A television competition can turn that tension into entertainment.
The best renovations on A Very Haunted Renovation may not be the rooms with the most dramatic before-and-after images. They could be the designs that manage to respect the architecture while making the spaces functional for modern use.
That is where the program could become surprisingly useful for homeowners.
The paranormal theme may attract the click.
The design decisions could provide the lasting value.
What Viewers Should Watch for When the Series Starts
The obvious question will be whether the contestants encounter anything genuinely unexplained.
But a more interesting question is whether the designers can separate atmosphere from design.
A successful renovation needs proportion, lighting, circulation, material choices and function. A spooky property introduces another constraint: preserving the visual identity of the building without turning every room into a Halloween display.
That balance will probably determine whether the series feels like a legitimate HGTV competition or simply a horror-themed reality show.
Camp’s hosting role will be important here.
She can provide the entertainment and suspense, while Smith Boyd brings the design credibility. That division of responsibilities gives the series a chance to satisfy two audiences at once.
Fans of Camp can come for the actress.
HGTV viewers can come for the renovations.
Horror fans can come for the haunted-house premise.
When Does Anna Camp’s HGTV Show Premiere?
A Very Haunted Renovation premieres Tuesday, September 15, 2026, at 8 p.m. ET/PT on HGTV. HGTV currently lists the first season as a six-episode series.
Some secondary online listings have circulated different dates, but HGTV’s own programming information and Warner Bros. Discovery’s 2026 announcement identify September 15 as the premiere date.
That official date is the one viewers should rely on.
The Bigger Takeaway: HGTV Is Making the Property the Star
The headline that Anna Camp hosts an HGTV renovation show is accurate, but it misses what makes this project interesting.
The real experiment is HGTV placing a renovation competition inside a property with an established identity and asking contestants to work with that identity rather than simply renovate around it.
That is a subtle but important evolution in home-improvement television.
The next generation of renovation shows may not compete solely on kitchens, bathrooms and dramatic reveals. They may compete on the story attached to the property itself.
Bihl Manor provides exactly that kind of story.
Whether viewers believe the paranormal claims is almost beside the point. The house has history, a recognizable reputation and a local following. HGTV is now turning all three into entertainment.
For homeowners, designers and fans of renovation television, the best reason to watch A Very Haunted Renovation may therefore have little to do with ghosts.
Watch the rooms.
Watch what the contestants preserve.
Watch what they remove.
And watch how HGTV turns a real historic property in Fremont, Ohio, into the centerpiece of a national renovation competition.
If the format works, the biggest lesson may be that the future of renovation television is not necessarily about making houses look newer.
It may be about finding the stories that make old houses worth saving in the first place.
