Owners say home damaged in name of makeover

Gary and Sharon Rosier only wanted a new garage. Instead, they say, their Chicago-area home was practically ruined for a Fox TV reality show.

The couple and their three children were approached by Hollywood scouts at a Chicago boat show in 2004. The scouts said they were looking for families with special needs who could benefit from "up to $1 million" in home improvements. Steven, then 16, had been in a wheelchair since a 2003 snowboarding accident.

The Rosiers said they would love to have an attached garage, so Steven wouldn't have to navigate an icy ramp during winter. But they said Rocket Science Laboratories, the production company, encouraged them to think bigger.

A boat? A bigger home? A house by the lake? Rocket Science told them to draft a wish list, according to a suit the Rosiers filed later.

The family asked for three new bedrooms and a bathroom atop a three-car attached garage, along with amenities including a dishwasher and more closets.

Rocket Science faxed a contract to the family. Sharon Rosier said she wanted an attorney to review it but said she was told they had one hour to sign it, and any delay would jeopardize the makeover.

They signed. Four days later, a crew arrived to chronicle the project. With cameras rolling, the Rosiers learned that most of their house was about to be torn down.

Gary Rosier, a carpenter, had built their oak cabinets by hand. He and Steven had cut the planks and laid the wooden floor just before Steven's accident. They had constructed a wooden deck for their above-ground pool and spent years landscaping the yard.

The Rosiers didn't think they had any choice but to go along with the plans, they said. They were whisked off to Wisconsin in an RV the next day while their home was being rebuilt, accompanied by a camera crew and show host Jay McGraw, son of TV psychologist Dr. Phil McGraw.

Producers of the show, which aired briefly as "Renovate My Family," had them rehearse the "reveal," the moment when they first saw their renovated house. There would be emotion, but not the kind the producers had hoped.

"When we saw the house and the old garage still standing we wanted to cry from devastation," Sharon Rosier said. "We did retakes three or four times because our expression was not good enough."

The house looked nice from the outside, but inside was a different story.

New dormer windows made it look as if a second story, with bedrooms, had been added, but it was just for show. The couple also alleged other problems, including floors that buckled and electrical, heating and plumbing problems such as the installation of a washing machine without a drain. Oak cabinets had been replaced by laminated pressboard. Their yard had been leveled; their pool was gone. And the garage was still detached.

The lawsuit filed by the family against Fox Broadcasting Co. and Rocket Science was settled out of court for undisclosed terms. Representatives of Fox and the production company declined to comment.