Inside HGTV Star Alison Victoria's Friendship With Ty Pennington

If you've ever been sucked into watching house renovations on TV (and we've all been there), you know who Alison Victoria and Ty Pennington are. Victoria, an interior designer by trade, crashed through walls on DIY's "Kitchen Crashers" from 2011-2016, did guest-stints on Travel Channel's "Hotel Impossible," then shifted to HGTV where she's appeared on "Rock the Block," "Ugliest House in America," and headlined her own show, "Windy City Rehab." 

Pennington started as a spiky-haired carpenter on his first TLC show, "Trading Spaces," from 2000-2004 (he returned for episodes in 2018), then went mainstream when he took on the role of host for ABC's "Extreme Makeover: Home Edition" from 2003-2012. He moved to Food Channel for "American Diner Revival" in 2015, and with a few other pit stops along the way, eventually landed at HGTV as a craftsman and designer with his own show, "Ty Breaker." And that's where he and Victoria first combined forces.

The designer was invited to do an episode of Pennington's show in 2020, where the two competed against each other to win a family's vote on their renovations. They hit it off, and Victoria appeared twice more on "Ty Breaker." Realizing they had a good thing going, HGTV tapped the stars to team up for "Barbie Dreamhouse Challenge" in 2023, and for "Battle on the Beach," where they've been mentoring house renovators since 2021. But Pennington and Victoria don't just get along when the cameras are rolling — they also have a close friendship in real life.  

Ty Pennington is known for being a joker, and his hijinks are regularly captured on camera for HGTV audiences on shows like "Ty Breaker." His friend and oftentimes co-star Alison Victoria has shown her appreciation for his sense of humor on more than one occasion too. Ahead of her second appearance on his show, she posted a note on Facebook, along with a photo of her and Pennington. "When two crazy people get together to design houses it's probably going to be pretty fun to watch," she wrote. "Love this show. Love this guy."

The competition between mentors and their mentees on "Battle on the Beach" can be intense, but Pennington and Victoria always manage to have fun on the sand. During promos for the show, they've indulged in matching "Baywatch"-red bathing suits, rolled around on a boat mimicking Duran Duran's "Rio," and even played a game of "Never Have I Ever." 

The duo have also shared what their friendship is like behind the scenes of shows like "Battle on the Beach." In a video Victoria posted to Instagram, Pennington is filming himself as he wanders through a house, ending with surprising his co-star on the treadmill. The two naturally dissolve into laughter together at his antics.

Alison Victoria and Ty Pennington have been supportive of each other over the years, and aren't afraid to show their affection for each other, especially on social media. When Victoria became Instagram official with her new partner Brandt Andersen, proving she had moved on from her relationship with ex Luke Harding, Pennington was there to comment on their cool style. And when Pennington posted a video from a tropical vacation with his wife Kellee Merrell, Victoria declared her love for the couple in the comments.

They are also big fans of each other's careers. As Pennington was working on his HGTV show "Ty Breaker," he considered who his guest competitors would be. When he met Victoria, he knew it would be a good match. "Talk about a firecracker. She's like an M-80," he shared with Pop Culture. "I loved how unfiltered her responses were to anything."

And when HGTV tasked the duo with creating a room for Ken in a real-life Barbie Dreamhouse, it was the perfect plan as far as Victoria was concerned. "Ty is one of my best buddies, so who better to do this with than a real-life Ken!," she gushed to Media Village. "I'm with this icon in my industry, who is a surfer with all these hats he likes wearing."