The Most Unexpected Celebs To Pop Up On HGTV Shows

The stars of HGTV have made cameos on one another's shows from time to time and competed in the likes of "Rock the Block," but every now and then, someone outside the ecosystem comes in, and Hollywood aficionados and home decor enthusiasts alike get their fix. From Gwyneth Paltrow and Brad Pitt to a very famous family with two members making appearances, let's take a look at some of the more surprising celebrity features over the years. 

Of course, celebrities aren't a complete novelty on HGTV. Obviously, there's a whole show dedicated to them being able to surprise loved ones with new homes in the form of "Celebrity IOU." Nevertheless, one star whose appearance on the show had us doing a double take was the aforementioned Paltrow. The Goop founder was featured back in 2021, with a goal to overhaul her longtime assistant's home. The wellness queen even surprised the "Property Brothers," Drew and Jonathan Scott, by helping them demolish the kitchen. "I think he would be impressed," she quipped of how her assistant might react to her taking such a hands-on approach with the HGTV stars. 

Unfortunately for those who hoped Paltrow might give a full debrief of the behind-the-scenes of the show, she didn't. In fact, the night the show aired, both she and her assistant joked on their Instagram Stories that it was on after their bedtimes and that they didn't know how to see it. And, for viewers who were confused about certain details (both Redditors and Instagram users have been concerned about Kevin Keating's sleeping quarters, which weren't shown on the show), Paltrow hasn't responded to those, either. Well, at least we have video evidence of the star angle grinding a staircase railing!

Another star who made a surprising appearance on HGTV? Allison Janney, who also used the platform to renovate her longtime assistant's home, and it's safe to say that if the comedian ever wanted to make a return to the network, she'd be welcomed with open arms. 

One of the many reasons HGTV fans loved Janney's 2020 stint on "Celebrity IOU" was that she arrived to help the Property Brothers clad in a red evening dress and construction boots. "'Allison Janney demolishing things with a sledgehammer while wearing a red evening gown' is an unexpected, but very cool, sentence," quipped one fan on X (formerly Twitter). Another joked that it was grounds for a coup. "I'm calling on the federal government to seize The Property Brothers' show and give it to Allison Janney," they quipped. 

Many of Janney's fans also loved getting a look at her close relationship with her assistant. "You never had to meet Allison [Janney] to know [she] was a super nice person," an X user gushed. Still another wrote, "Twenty years of inspiration on both sides — such an inspiration. I saw the episode, it was great!" At least at the time of this writing, Janney hasn't returned to HGTV, though some believed there was some hope for that. After all, in addition to her getup for one scene of the show (she also sported a chic jumpsuit in another), she also made a number of comments about how much she enjoyed getting involved in the construction process. "I'm not skittish or shy about tearing things apart. I love breaking things up. It's so much fun," she said (via People). Maybe a coup isn't that far-fetched after all!

Throwing things back to the very first episode of "Celebrity IOU," some were no doubt surprised to see that Brad Pitt was the very first star to make an appearance on the show. However, longtime fans of the star will probably recall that he has a fairly lengthy track record when it comes to home construction, having spearheaded the Make It Right initiative to rebuild a community in New Orleans badly affected by Hurricane Katrina. Sadly for Pitt, his reputation took a knock after many of those homes began experiencing potentially very dangerous defects, but clearly the situation didn't stop him from trying to do something kind for a friend years later. 

As with Janney, Pitt's episode was a major hit, with the movie star even getting emotional in one scene as he explained why it was so special to have a picture of his friends' parents in her new guesthouse. A number of netizens took to social media to gush that he came across as super genuine and said they were impressed by how helpful he was in the process. Over on Reddit, a fan even gushed, "Brad Pitt seems like a chill a** dude." 

Well, according to Drew and Jonathan Scott, that really was the case behind the scenes. "He wanted everybody to feel like he was spending some time getting to know them ... at the very end he remembered every single person's name on the production crew and on the construction crew. He remembered everybody and wanted to make sure that they knew how grateful he was for what was happening," the latter told People. As with the other stars who've appeared in the show, Pitt hasn't returned to the network, but we can dream, right? 

Next up, Viola Davis, who made the most of "Celebrity IOU" by using the show to give her best friend a fabulous new pad. In the 2020 episode, Davis explained that her bestie, whom she'd actually lived with while they studied at Juilliard, deserved a treat after pouring so much of herself into others. "Every once in a while, I think the giver can get exhausted and drained and depleted and needs to be reminded that they're a gift to people too. So, this renovation of Michelle's home is my gift to her," the EGOT winner said (via People). Davis' episode continues to be a fan fave, with some Redditors listing her episode as one of the best they'd seen.

Other than it being a great way to spoil her best friend, it's not all that surprising that Davis would get involved in "Celebrity IOU" or any home improvement show for that matter. After all, her own home has been spotlighted by Architectural Digest, with the actor and her husband Julius Tennon highlighting all the ways in which it honored their love story, their travels, and was just a place that brought both of them joy overall. Even the garden was inspired by "The Secret Garden," which Davis said she'd adored reading as a child. 

As fans of Davis will know, she experienced devastating poverty in childhood. With that in mind, whether through HGTV's "Celebrity IOU" or Architectural Digest, we're thrilled any time we get to see her involvement in a gorgeous design project, and we're not alone. As one YouTube commenter gushed, "Knowing the way Viola grew up after reading her memoir and how rough she and her family had it, it makes me happy to see her be able to live lavish and thrive." 

Perhaps it shouldn't have been that surprising when Kate Hudson made an appearance on HGTV in 2022. After all, she'd already made it clear she was a fan of the network in general a few years prior. As People reported back in 2019, the "Running Point" star had given Joanna Gaines a shout-out in an Instagram Story that showed she was watching one of her and Chip Gaines' many TV shows. 

Of course, Hudson's HGTV debut wasn't actually on "Fixer Upper" or any of its spinoffs, but on the star-studded "Celebrity IOU," and she and her daughter Rani Rose Fujikawa worked alongside the Property Brothers to redo her fiancé Danny Fujikawa's mom's garden and patio. In light of her love for other HGTV shows, it was no shock that she was keen to get involved, and at one point during the demo portion of the reno, she told the about-to-be-destroyed porch, "Thank you for all the wonderful shading you gave us, but you're gone" (via People). She also told Drew and Jonathan Scott, "Demo is like a bucket list thing. I've always wanted to take s*** down." Back to the adorable bonding moments with her daughter, they worked on the garden together, which Drew pointed out was fitting as Rani regularly spent time gardening with her grandmother. However, the youngster was also quick to point out that she had a green thumb wherever she went. "We love gardening at my house, too," she informed the HGTV personality.

In an Instagram post to promote her episode, Hudson called working with the Scott brothers "a beautiful time." Well, the results were gorgeous, and it gave her and Rani Rose an opportunity to give Danny Fujikawa's mom a more functional garden, so we'd have to agree there. 

Sticking with the mother-daughter theme, some may be aware that Kate Hudson's mom, Goldie Hawn, had a stint of her own on "Celebrity IOU" in 2025, getting a friend's kitchen and living area redone so the friend could spend more time with her family while she cooked. As some Redditors pointed out, Hawn wasn't as physically involved in the demolition process as some of the other stars who made their HGTV debut, which could have been because of her eye health, which wasn't great at the time. Of course, it could also plausibly have had something to do with the fact that she was in her late 70s. 

All that said, Hawn certainly didn't hang back from the renovation process. Rather, she said she'd be the project's director, and was even given a director's chair to point at whatever Drew and Jonathan Scott should remove next (with a glass of champagne in hand, naturally). Hawn and the "Property Brothers" stars also choreographed a fun dance together for Instagram, proving that even if she sat out some parts of the process, she still brought her signature sparkle (and dance moves) to the renovation. 

Writing about the experience in another Instagram post, Hawn gushed that she'd been thrilled to gift one of her oldest friends with something so special. "Tonight's episode is all about gratitude. After 40 years of love and support, it's my turn to help create a beautiful space for someone who means the world to me. So grateful to @propertybrothers for making it happen!" she wrote. We're grateful, too, because the only thing that beats seeing a home makeover by the Scott twins is witnessing Hawn telling them how to go about it while sipping on champers.