HGTV's 'House Hunters' will feature couple's home search in Wichita

For the first time in its 19-year history, HGTV’s “House Hunters” will showcase a home search in Wichita.

The episode, which will likely air this fall, features Wichita transplants Alex Novotny and his fiancé, Christopher Roberson.

Filming for the episode took place in February and early March.

The couple looked at as many as 50 homes in the Wichita area, they said, but the episode will only show the traditional three.

Novotny said he had been looking for a Wichita house since October, and had made offers on three others before settling on the one featured on “House Hunters.” Their real estate agent both before and during the show was Stephanie McCurdy.

“One thing about Wichita, and I don’t know what’s happening right now, but houses go on the market and they’re gone,” Novotny said. “If it’s a good house you have to jump on it.”

So how did “House Hunters” come to Wichita?

Novotny, who said he grew up watching the show, had contacted HGTV about applying for “House Hunters” years ago, when he and Roberson both lived in Dallas.

Their hook: Both Novotny and Roberson moonlight as aerial burlesque performers. Novotny performs with aerial silks and Roberson specializes in the Lyra ring.

The network was interested in the burlesque-performer angle, Novotny said.

“We did a couple phone calls with them, sent them circus videos, made a casting video,” Novotny said. “It was probably a couple of months to get through the process of applying and HGTV saying they’re greenlighted.”

But then, Novotny moved to Wichita to take a software developer job with Koch Industries, and the house hunt was put on hold.

Once Novotny decided to buy a home in Wichita, he contacted “House Hunters” again — and they were still interested.

Roberson, who was still living and working in Dallas, had been driving to Wichita to see homes with Novotny on the weekends.

A film crew of four — a sound engineer, camera person, director and production assistant — spent five days in Wichita filming the episode with Novotny, Roberson and McCurdy.

Those were typically 12- to 14-hour days.

“I just didn’t realize how hard filming days would be — you’re basically on your feet all day,” Roberson said. “It’s already kind of a stressful period being the homebuyer, because you’re trying to buy a home, move and figure out your life.”

The film crew was “definitely shocked” at how cheap homes are in Wichita compared to other filming locations, Roberson said.

“For your money you can get a really quality home with good square footage, fairly updated,” Roberson said.

Their budget was $250,000.

What they were looking for, according to Novotny: "a house that had great entertainment potential, space to practice aerial acrobatics, and located close to the heart of the city."

When the crew wasn’t filming Novotny and Roberson in Wichita homes, it was filming them doing aerial performances.

“That was our focus outside of house-hunting,” Novotny said. “I’m also on the board of Positive Directions, and they filmed me doing some of that.” Positive Directions is a local HIV-prevention nonprofit.

Anyone who’s seen “House Hunters” knows there’s always a conflicting list of what each person wants in a new home.

Roberson said he “just wanted to be close to a Sprouts (Farmers Market) and a Chipotle.” Novotny wanted to be decently close to the Koch campus.

But which of those wishes will be granted?

You’ll just have to watch the show, they said.

“We both have very strong opinions and we have no problem voicing them, so there is a lot of that (in the show),” Roberson said. “There’s a lot of playful conflict, and that’s not just for the show. That’s just our dynamic.”

"House Hunters" has filmed in Kansas City multiple times, as well as in Pittsburg in 2014, but this is the first time in 147 seasons that an episode has been filmed in Wichita.

No airdate has been announced for the episode yet, but Novotny estimates it will be in either August or September.

We'll let you know when an official airdate is announced.

This story was originally published June 28, 2018 at 2:05 PM.