Ben Napier nearly threw palms with a fan.
On the newest episode of The Heirloom Podcast with Josh Nowell and Jim Rasberry, the Dwelling City woodworker mentioned his affinity for storytelling and his expertise with fame — each of which led to a shocking story a few run-in he had on the streets of New York Metropolis.
Ben, who co-stars on his HGTV present alongside his spouse, designer Erin Napier, recalled a second from the early days of Dwelling City, earlier than the present grew to become tremendous well-liked. He was visiting Manhattan, a giant change from his typical small city environment in Laurel, Miss., when he encountered a person who he thought was in search of a struggle.
“We’re strolling down Fifth Avenue. We’re in a sea of individuals and we’re [crossing the street toward] one other sea. You understand, the hand [on the crossing signal] comes up after which it turns to the man strolling and we begin to cross,” Ben recounts.
“We began strolling throughout, and a man — who’s coated in tattoos on his arms, sporting dark-rimmed glasses and a Brooklyn hat — pops me on the shoulder, like stiff-arm.”
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Shocked by the cruel bodily contact, Ben says his shock shortly became a defensive intuition.
“So I am like ‘right here we go,’ and I flip, on this fight-or-flight mode,” he says. However when the tough-seeming stranger spoke, Ben was grateful he hadn’t taken motion.
“He says, in his accent, he says ‘Dwelling City, love your present man,'” Ben remembers.
Whereas lately, he is extra used to followers approaching him and Erin in public, on the time, the present was newly launched and fewer broadly recognized, leaving Ben in considerably of a state of shock on the remark. “I used to be like, ‘Thanks! Wow! That is actually cool!'” Ben says.
Not on the offensive, he naturally struck up a dialog with the person earlier than they parted on a lot friendlier phrases.
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The newest season of their Dwelling City spinoff, Dwelling City Takeover, aired its finale on Sunday. The present noticed Erin and Ben in Sebring, Florida, the place they have been shocking deserving people with house makeovers and serving to enterprise house owners revitalize their storefronts.
“You might inform there are individuals who actually adore it they usually care about it, and components of it are doing properly,” Erin instructed PEOPLE in March. “However the downtown, particularly, was fifty or sixty p.c shuttered.”
The collection beforehand helped revitalize the small cities of Wetumpka, Ala. and Fort Morgan, Colo.