Alison Victoria
Alison Victoria
Alison Victoria was (born in October 31, 1981) is an American television host and interior designer, most popularly known for being the first female host of the popular Crasher series on HGTV and DIY Network s.
Early Life and Career
Alison began that, her father inspired her admiration of Chicago homes. While growing up, he would take Alison and the rest of the family on long car drive around the city:
"I would see all these houses and I just would like dream of living in one of them one day.
It's an even bigger dream to be rehabbing a ton of them now."[21]
"Crashers"
The Crashers franchise included House Crashers, Bath Crashers, Room Crashers, Yard Crashers, and thanks to Alison, Kitchen Crashers was founded. She was originally a ghost designer for House Crashers, which meant she designed episodes but didn’t appear on-camera. She recalled seeing her logo on screen for "one split second." It eventually allowed her to pitch her own version of the show, Kitchen Crashers, and then went on to become the franchise's first female host.[21]
"Windy City Rehab"
During the Episode 4 of Season 2, Alison Victoria officially cut ties with business partner Donovan Eckhardt.
The decision to end the partnership came after Victoria discovered that Eckhardt had been withdrawing money from their shared business account and putting it towards his personal companies.[30]
While renovating an '80s style condo in downtown Chicago, Victoria was notified by Christine, who works as the duo's director of purchasing, that the amount of money allocated for the project's budget did not match what was currently in their bank account.
Victoria held a team meeting to get to the bottom of this.
During this meeting, Christine revealed that Greymark Development, which is one of Eckhardt's companies, requested payment for "general conditions."
General conditions are costs incurred during a construction project that don’t directly apply to the property, such as a trailer for the job site or site administrative costs.
Frustrated by Eckhardt's actions, Victoria asked Christine to pull a definitive record of all their account transactions.
In her audit, Christine revealed to Victoria that another one of Donovan's personal companies had also previously taken $180,000 from the account.[30]
During the episode, she said: "I just filed my first lawsuit against Donovan."
She also noted that she and Eckhardt were not in contact and only communicate through their lawyers.
She estimated to have spent almost $700,000 of her own money on projects due to Eckhardt’s mishandling of their finances.
She explained that filing this lawsuit against Eckhardt was expensive and she is aware that she could come out empty-handed from it.
However, her priority lies in clearing her name and defending her reputation.[31]
"Flipping Across America"
In June 2020, Victoria announced she would host a totally new show on HGTV called Flipping Across America. Victoria teased the upcoming series on her Instagram with a behind-the-scenes photo from the show. "NEW SHOW ALERT!! #FlippingAcrossAmerica, with yours truly... coming soon on @hgtv," she wrote. In a press release from HGTV, it is said that Flipping Across America will follow two sets of "well-known stars and flipping masters" as they each renovate a similarly priced house with similar renovation budgets. The twist is that these design teams will be working in different cities. Victoria, who will host, will guide viewers across the country through these flips in the making, proving how location, different budgeting strategies, and types of design can really affect the outcome. Ultimately this show will reveal the places where buyers really do get the biggest bang for their buck when it comes to flipping.[26]
"Ty Breaker"
The new HGTV show that is to be released in 2021, Ty Breaker, will bring Alison Victoria together with former Trading Spaces and Extreme Makeover: Home Edition host Ty Pennington. Ty Breaker will see Pennington offer his design skills to desperate families, as they try to decide whether or not to update their current home, or renovate a totally different house so that it better fits their needs. Pennington will try to convince each family to stay in the place they've called home for many years, while each episode will see either Alison Victoria, Grace Mitchell (One of a Kind) or Sabrina Soto (The High Low Project) attempt to lure each family away to a brand new property which can be renovated just for them. The eight-episode series is set to debut early in 2021.[28]
Controversy
January 2020
In January 2020, a Chicago couple who bought a $1.36 million home featured on Windy City Rehab were suing to try to force the show's hosts to take back the house, which they said was plagued by leaks and shoddy work. James and Anna Morrissey filed the lawsuit Dec. 30 in Circuit Court of Cook County, citing defective and shoddy work, breach of contract, breach of warranty and consumer fraud.[23]
The suit named TV hosts Alison Victoria and Donovan Eckhardt as defendants, along with Eckhardt’s Greymark Development Group, Alison Victoria Interiors Inc., two other related business entities and contractor Ermin Pajazetovic.
The lawsuit demanded the reversal of last March’s sale of the brick home at 2308 W. Giddings St. in Lincoln Square, plus $80,000 the Morrisseys said they paid for upgrades and landscaping.
It also sought unspecified damages for emotional distress and punitive damages.[23]
April 2020
In April 2020, Windy City Rehab was sued for fraud.
The lawsuit, filed in Circuit Court of Cook County by buyers Shane Jones and Samantha Mostaccio, names co-stars Alison Victoria and Donovan Eckhardt along with their companies and contractors. [22]
The suit also asks for a permanent injunction to force Discovery Inc.’s HGTV to take Victoria and Eckhardt off the air, saying it is "deceptive to portray them as "superstar experts" who create "compelling and stunning transformations."[22]
An attorney for Victoria said in an emailed statement that the lawsuit was without merit and that Victoria’s contractor was trying to complete repairs when Jones kicked him off the property.
The lawsuit focuses mainly on a garage behind the property at 1700 W. Wabansia Ave. in Bucktown that Jones and Mostaccio wanted specially renovated so that Mostaccio could do individual pilates training and film videos to stream for her fitness business.
The couple claims the garage work was never properly completed, the lawsuit alleges, and the work that was done was without a building permit, leading the city to shut down the site.
The garage was left exposed to the elements and had rotting wood, damaged drywall and damaged electrical wiring, among other issues, the lawsuit said.
In addition, the couple found various other problems on the property, including electrical outlets in the kitchen not up to code, water infiltrating the exterior walls of the home and garage, poorly pitched landscaping, cracked concrete load-bearing columns on the corner of the house and a "sewage" odor and mold in the basement, the suit said, citing close to $102,000 in needed repairs.
The lawsuit claimed Victoria and Eckhardt, who paid $780,000 for the property and sunk another $520,000 into renovations, were desperate to unload the home.
Victoria’s Chicago attorney, Daniel Lynch, said the garage contractor "was in the process of finishing his work when Mr. Jones called it off and ordered the contractor out of his home. Mr. Jones then decided to make unwarranted demands for money" including a longer list of repairs. He added: "They had an inspection before they purchased and were fully satisfied at the time. Their claims against Discovery Inc./HGTV have no legal merit and appear to have been added simply to sensationalize the pleading, not because they have any real hope of prevailing."[22]
The difficulties Shane Jones and Samantha Mostaccio faced in renovating the home were displayed on the show in an episode titled "House of Horrors" because the home was "full of disasters."[22]
June 2020
In June 2020, Windy City Rehab was sued for fraud again.
The latest lawsuit alleged Alison Victoria and former partner Donovan Eckhardt ran a "deliberate and fraudulent scheme to misappropriate" $3 million in funds, the Chicago Sun-Times reported. The suit, filed in Cook County by Michael Ward Jr. and his father and brother, alleged that the stars grossly mismanaged "nearly every project they were associated with," and Eckhardt lied about having pull with the Chicago buildings department.[24][25]
Ward Jr. also challenged Gramenos’ claims that Eckhardt was solely responsible for the multitude of issues, which has resulted in at least four lawsuits and their ban on filing new projects with the city’s building department.
"Alison has claimed that she was caught unaware by Donovan’s fraud - notwithstanding her own secreting of funds from closing proceeds," the lawsuit said.[24][25]
The Ward family claimed it invested $3 million for a 50% stake in Alovanward LLC, which funded seven projects in all.
The Wards say they’re owed nearly $2 million as well as punitive damages.
Eckhardt didn’t comment, but Gramenos repeated her claim that Eckhardt was the licensed developer and contractor on the projects, and Gramenos merely did design work.
"The projects did not deliver the financial results that everyone was hoping for," her lawyer Daniel Lynch said, adding that she also lost a lot of money on the projects and has not been able to obtain key documents from Eckhardt.[24][25]
July 2020
In early July 2020, Gramenos dropped a civil fraud lawsuit against an Oak Park notary public she accused of forging her name on financial documents, according to paperwork filed in Cook County court.[27]
As part of the June 30 agreement, notary public Adriana Rodriguez will not sign Gramenos' name to any document or notarize any document with Gramenos' purported signature for five years.
Gramenos said she was "engaged in a cooperative enterprise with Rodriguez's employer," but did not name the employer in her Feb. 18 suit against Rodriguez.
"As a result of Ms. Rodriguez's cooperation, additional information regarding the situation as a whole came to light," attorneys for Rodriguez and Gramenos said in a joint statement.
"As a result, the parties have come to an amicable resolution whereby Ms. Gramenos will dismiss the litigation pursuant to an agreement addressing the concerns that led to the filing of the lawsuit.
The parties have agreed to resolve the lawsuit amicably and no liability has been found."[27]
The lawsuit dismissal came two weeks after Gramenos and Donovan Eckhardt were sued for alleged misappropriation of funds by a Chicago-area family who said they invested $3 million in their venture and were not paid as they should have been.
Gramenos said in her suit against Rodriguez that an audit began when she learned an investor had not been paid.
Gramenos determined her "signature had been affixed by others without her knowledge or consent to a large number of documents, including loan documents, operating agreements and lien waivers," according to the suit.
Gramenos accused Rodriguez of signing some of the documents herself and notarizing them.
She said in the suit that other documents appeared to be forged by someone else.[27]
Personal Life
In 2013, Alison Victoria married her husband Luke Harding.[20]
On September 28, 2020, Victoria put her Chicago home on the market.
The asking price is $2,295,000.
According to the property listing, the masonry brick and limestone single-family home boasts “design treasures sourced from Parisian markets and hand-crafted work by local artisans.”
The home has at least five bedrooms and a recreation room.
The master suite takes up half of the second floor.
And the home has three outdoor spaces, one out back with a wood-fired brick pizza oven and a built-in grill, one above the garage and a rooftop deck.
Public records show Victoria purchased a home at the same address in 2016 for $660,000 and built a new house on the land in 2018.[29]