The Team Heads to Maine Tonight on Extreme Makeover: Home Edition

The Team Heads to Maine Tonight on Extreme Makeover: Home Edition 1/6/08

"EXTREME MAKEOVER: HOME EDITION" HELPS A LOVING FAMILY BATTLING AUTISM RENOVATE THE DECREPIT AND HAUNTED HOME THAT HAS BEEN IN THEIR FAMILY FOR OVER 100 YEARS

The Ray-Smith family of Milbridge, ME, received the exciting news that Ty Pennington and the crew will renovate and hopefully appease the ghosts in their haunted home, a family heirloom, in just seven days on "Extreme Makeover: Home Edition," SUNDAY, JANUARY 6 (8:00-9:00 p.m., ET) on the ABC Television Network.

Brittany Ray and Ron Smith first met in nursery school. After attending separate colleges, they came back together and were married in 1994. Both valuing education and wanting to give back to their community, they retreated back to their hometown of Milbridge, a town founded by Brittany's great-great grandparents, to become teachers and active community leaders.

With accumulating school loans and other bills, the family had no choice but to move into the family home that has been passed down for generations. The home which is over 100 years old and built by Brittany's great-great grandparents is spooked with a slew of problems: an outdated septic system, no insulation, a cracking foundation, an outdated furnace is outdated which overheats, a leaky roof, freezing pipes, and ancient electrical wiring that is a fire hazard and one of the more dangerous and serious issues. If the extremely unsafe condition of their home weren't enough, the Ray-Smith house seems to be haunted, likely by the ancestors of Brittany Ray. With an affinity for sharp objects, they have come home to find a pair of scissors standing upright on the counter, or shirt pins balanced in a circle in a candle. On one occasion, they were awakened in the middle of the night to discover the furnace turned up as high as it could go, driving the temperature in their home to 100 degrees.

In addition to the struggles they face with their home, they also contend with high medical bills as their son, Thomas, suffers from Autism and doctors fear their other son, JoJo, may be Autistic as well. Both Ron and his daughter, Bayley, suffer from Hypolipidemia, a condition causing extremely high cholesterol, which resulted in fatal heart attacks in Ron's mother and brother.

The dangers lurking in this house are scary, and the family has come to realize the entities in the house are merely trying to help them understand how unsafe their home is and that it is time to do something about it. In this episode, Ty and the designers of "Extreme Makeover: Home Edition" will renovate this family jewel to create a safe environment for this family, their ghosts, and the newest member of their family, an adopted daughter from China.

While Ty and the designers, local builder Broughman Builders and hundreds of volunteers and workers are rebuilding their home, the Ray-Smith family will go on vacation to Walt Disney World. The design team for this episode of "Extreme Makeover: Home Edition" will feature team leader Ty Pennington and designers John Littlefield, Didiayer, Paul DiMeo, John Littlefield and Eduardo Xol.

The series is produced by Endemol USA, a division of Endemol Holding. It's executive-produced by Denise Cramsey. David Goldberg is the president of Endemol USA. "Extreme Makeover: Home Edition" is broadcast with Spanish subtitles via secondary closed captioning. This program carries a TV-PG parental guideline.

This episode of "Extreme Makeover: Home Edition" will be available on ABC.com the day after airing on the network for users to watch online.

Source: ABC Press Release