EXCLUSIVE: New Kids on the Block Star Jonathan Knight Reveals Why He Was So Hesitant To Revive HGTV Hit ‘Crashers’

New Kids on the Block star Jonathan Knight knows what it takes to be part of a nostalgic act staging a successful comeback, but ahead of hosting the reboot of “Crashers,” HGTV's classic ambush-style renovation show, the veteran performer still got some backstage jitters.

The 57-year-old NKOTB member and professional home renovator has been enjoying a second act that included regularly touring with his reunited band as well as hosting three seasons of HGTV’s “Farmhouse Fixer” up until the network nixed the fan-favorite show during a major programming purge in June 2025.

But now, almost one year to the day after his previous HGTV show was cut from the network's lineup, Knight is due to return to reality TV as the frontman for the modern remix of “Crashers”—15 years after the franchise ended its original run. 

Yet despite the phenomenal success of the original "Crashers," the Massachusetts native reveals to Realtor.com® ahead of the June 8 premiere that he was still initially reluctant to take the gig.

“When they asked me to do this show, I was a little hesitant," admits Knight about stepping up to the microphone once held by former hosts of the “Crashers” series, such as “Sin City Rehab” star Alison Victoria, who headlined “Kitchen Crashers” and was the first female host in franchise history.

“I’m like, those are some big shoes to fill,” he adds.

Knight’s uncertainty about the opportunity also extended to the job’s required responsibilities. Namely, approaching strangers in public places like hardware stores and furniture shops to get them to agree to an on-the-spot renovation.

Having earned the archetype of “the shy one” in his boy band and being open about experiencing social anxiety, Knight felt unsure he’d be able to fulfill the surprise element the franchise is known for.

“I was like, ‘Wait a minute. You want me to walk up to strangers while they're shopping around, minding their business, and then here comes me with two cameras, a sound man, producers, everything, and strike up a conversation?’”

Despite the initial stage fright, Knight quickly put himself in position to enjoy the impromptu meet and greets.

“It was nerve-wracking the first couple times and then I just kept saying to myself, ‘It’s OK. You can do this.’ That definitely helped with the anxiety of approaching strangers,” he shares. 

“I always say you have to say yes to things that scare you and then they become less scary,” he continues. “Now I'm just walking through a store like, ‘Hey, what are you doing?’”

Though Knight had to work hard to feel at ease while proposing a free renovation to strangers, it wasn’t difficult for him to determine who wanted to accept the offer solely based on his former teen idol status. 

“A lot of people when I walk up, I'm like, ‘Do you want me to renovate this place?’ And they're like, ‘Yes!’ I'm like, ‘Wait, you don't even know what the deal is or anything. You cannot say yes just because you know who I am,’” he recounts. “I’m like, ‘No, you're saying yes too fast.’”

Once Knight was able to block out well-meaning but overzealous fans, he found plenty of contenders who had the right stuff for the show.

“There are people that have spaces where they have no time, no money, and just don't know where to start,” he says. “So I come in and they're just like, ‘Whatever, go. Just get it done. Whatever you do is gonna be beautiful.’”

To receive a real-time renovation, homeowners must agree to move out of their house for three days and relinquish all design control. Once the 72-hour clock starts, the pressure is on the “Crashers” crew to get to work and hammer through the inevitable challenges.

“Right off the bat, we are making phone calls to every person that we have connections with. You know, ‘Can we get this tile? Can we get this? Can we get that?’ Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn’t,” says Knight.

“There's been a few times that things have not shown up and I'm sure people are going to be like, ‘Oh, this is fake reality TV.’ And I'm like, ‘No, this is real problems, real time,’ and it's a lot of taking a moment, stepping back, taking a breath, and trying to figure it out,” he adds.

Knight notes that many of his “Crashers” clients are more than willing to let him take over their home projects because they’ve become stuck trying to make progress on their own.

“A lot of homeowners on ‘Crashers’ say that,” he reports. “They're like, ‘Well, my wife wants it this way and I want it this way and we've just been going back and forth and it doesn't get done.’”

Getting hung up on tough design choices is a familiar scenario playing out at Knight’s own home in New England that he shares with his husband, Harley Rodriguez.

“My living room, it’s very bare,” he begins. “I look through wallpaper books and there's so many wallpapers. I’m just like, ‘I like this one. I like that one.’ 

“And then it's hard to be married or have a spouse and [make design decisions together],” he continues. “We kind of have two different ideas, so it's been challenging to try to blend both our styles together and not make it my home or his home, but make it our home.”

Should he and Rodriguez need someone to serve as a design decision tiebreaker, Knight reveals he’d trust bandmate Joey McIntyre to stand in.

“Out of all the New Kids that have styles similar to mine, [it] would be Joe,” he explains. “Joe's always had old houses and he loves antiques and Joe has really good taste.

“Joe McIntyre's house is absolutely gorgeous,” he notes. “Joe, you can come crash my house!”

If McIntyre ever does lend his eye for design to Knight, it wouldn’t be the first time two New Kids collaborate on a major home project.

Knight had his brother and bandmate, Jordan Knight, by his side on his spinoff show, “Farmhouse Fixer: Camp Revamp,” and the superstar siblings also paired up for “Rock the Block,” first as guest judges and later, teammates.

While they didn’t win their Season 6 competition, Jonathan says the renovation experience won over Jordan. The two have been dabbling in more design projects together ever since, including a possible renovation reality TV show featuring both brothers.

“We pitched a [show about] renovating '80s houses and the timing couldn't work out, but my brother, after doing ‘Rock the Block,’ he's got the renovation bug,” reveals Jonathan.

“He's actually renovating his house now so, yeah, he's got the bug,” he adds. “He loved being on ‘Rock the Block,’ so who knows?”

Though Jonathan’s next step may be unknown, for now, he’s happy that the time has arrived to bring back “Crashers” so he can continue the fulfilling renovation work he's been doing for decades and will be loving forever.

“It's such a great feeling. It really is,” he says. “It's the perfect time to bring back the show. It's been so fun.” 

“Crashers” premieres Monday, June 8 at 10 p.m. on HGTV and streams the next day on HBO Max and discovery+.