One day, a pop star met a home improvement network. And they knew that it was much more than a hunch: They needed to work together on an iconic home — the North Hollywood house once featured on "The Brady Bunch."
In the wake of Lance Bass's dramatic real estate heartbreak — his confirmed winning bid for the "Brady Bunch" house was canceled by the seller's realtor after HGTV made a more lucrative offer — comes a new report revealing that the devastated *NSYNC star might still get to be involved with the house's renovation in some way.
According to TMZ, sources close to the situation are saying that HGTV execs privately reached out to Lance on Aug. 7 after he diplomatically tweeted his congratulations to the network upon learning it was the mystery corporate buyer that won the house he said had been promised to him.
Though Lance and his own real estate broker had publicly made it clear they felt the seller's realtor had "used" Lance's nearly $3 million bid, which was well above the home's $1.885 listing price, to secure HGTV's belated offer in a "shady" deal, he had no hard feelings for HGTV itself.
"HGTV??! Aw man. I'd be pretty upset if it were anyone else, but how can you be mad at HGTV?? My television is stuck on that channel. Kudos HGTV, I know you will do the right thing with the house. That was always my biggest worry. I can smile again," he tweeted on Aug. 7.
The network returned the love a few hours later, responding on Twitter, "Aww, thanks @LanceBass. Consider yourself officially part of the HGTV bunch! Yours truly, HGTV (aka The Lance Bass Fan Club)."
HGTV and Lance now have plans to meet during the week of Aug. 13 to talk about how Lance could be involved in the property's future, TMZ reveals.
David Zaslav, the CEO of HGTV parent company Discovery Inc., told investors on a conference call earlier this week that the network had big plans to "restore the 'Brady Bunch' home to its 1970s glory as only HGTV can." The exec also promised that "we will bring all the resources to bear to tell safe, fun stories with this beloved piece of American TV history."
What, exactly, Lance would do remains to be seen, but TMZ has been told it could be anything from producing a show revealing the renovation to hosting it — and Lance is eager to be involved in any way he can.
Sources previously revealed that the former pop star, an accomplished house flipper who's a lifelong "Brady Bunch" superfan, had hoped to renovate the home's interior and renovate it to resemble the inside of the Brady family home that sitcom viewers knew and remembered from TV. (The North Hollywood house involved in the real estate drama was used for exteriors; interiors were shot on a soundstage.)