Ty Pennington is returning to HGTV for the new season of Battle on the Beach, despite previous rumors that the renovation show had been canceled.
The former Extreme Makeover: Home Edition host, 60, will serve as a mentor on season five of the competition show, the network announced Monday.
Premiering June 1, the seven-episode season features Pennington, his Rock the Block co-star Sarah Baeumler and 100 Day Dream Home host Mika Kleinschmidt as mentors working with a two-person team and a $100,000 budget to overhaul dated waterfront homes in South Carolina across seven weeks.
The new designs will be judged by Renovation Aloha duo Tristyn and Kamohai Kalama — whose show is currently being sued for showing native Hawaiian burial remains on TV — for the cash prize of at least $50,000.
The show’s return comes after reports emerged last summer that the network had pulled Battle on the Beach off the air after Warner Brothers Discovery, the owner of HGTV, announced its plan to split into two publicly traded companies.
An entire slate of home improvement shows were axed in the move, including Christina on the Coast, Married to Real Estate, Farmhouse Fixer, Bargain Block and Izzy Does It.
Former host Alison Victoria said on her podcast at the time that Battle on the Beach “did not get picked back up” for a fifth season. Victoria called the move “sad, because it was like adult spring break.”
She went on to criticize the show’s editing, adding: “It was so fun and funny. Then all of a sudden, I watched the episode, I’m like, well, where’d all that go? I get it, it’s a lot of content to try to put into 42 minutes, but where is it? Where’s the great editing? You’ll lose a show that way. I truly believe that.”
Victoria starred as a mentor on the show for four seasons alongside Pennington and Taniya Nayak.
Neither Nayak nor Victoria appear to be returning for the show’s fifth season. Neither designer returned The Independent’s request for comment.
HGTV did not return The Independent’s request for comment about the network’s decision to renew the show after months of speculation about its cancelation.
Battle on the Beach premieres with a two-hour episode June 1 at 9 p.m. on HGTV. Episodes will air the following day on HBO Max.
