What The Biggest HGTV Fans Don't Know About Sin City Rehab

Alison Victoria's journey to HGTV stardom began when she was cast as the star "Kitchen Crashers," which aired for several seasons on the DIY Network, under the same corporate umbrella as HGTV. In 2019, she was tapped to bring her design and renovation skills to HGTV hit "Windy City Rehab," in which she revitalized once-beautiful homes in her native Chicago that had fallen into disrepair. After five successful seasons, she was cast in some of the network's other hits, including the HGTV competition series "Rock the Block" and "Battle on the Beach." Victoria returned to HGTV in the fall of 2025 with a new series, "Sin City Rehab," which followed her as she relocated from Chicago to Las Vegas, beautifying Vegas homes the way she had in her earlier show. 

"HGTV viewers know Alison Victoria never backs down from a challenge and the pressure will be palpable as she makes the jump from the Windy City to Sin City," said HGTV's interim head of content, Betsy Ayala, in a press release. "Lucky for us, what happens in Vegas won't stay there as cameras capture this real estate rollercoaster ride of seven-figure investments and glitzy transformations." It's a no-brainer that Victoria's legions of fans would follow her to her new endeavor; when the dust settled, her Vegas-based series was the third most-watched series on HGTV. Read on to find out more about this new project and discover what even the biggest HGTV fans might not know about "Sin City Rehab."

There's a reason why people can't stop watching HGTV, which was evident when viewers were first introduced to Alison Victoria via "Windy City Rehab." At the time, they were likely to have made the assumption that she's a true Chicagoan, through and through. And while that is certainly true, it's also a fact that she first began to make her mark as a designer in an entirely different location: Las Vegas, Nevada. It was there that she attended university, landed her first design job, and even launched her own design firm. As a result, "Sin City Rehab" represents not only a fresh start, but a full-circle return to the city where she began her career. "I moved here when I was 19. I went to college out here," she told Country Living. "I started my design firm out here. I got my first clients out here. I did my biggest job out here, designing, like, a casino."

Understandably, Las Vegas has continued to hold a place in her heart during the decades that have passed since she first moved there. "Some of my most important years were out in Las Vegas, and most people didn't know that and don't know that," Victoria told House Beautiful of returning to the city where she launched herself as a designer. "I always had a house out here and I always kept a life out here," she added, "but I would just mainly kind of pop in and visit." 

June 2024 was a momentous time for Alison Victoria, marking a decisive move in her career that effectively placed her in the driver's seat. That was when she announced the launch of her own production company, Briefly Gorgeous Productions. Viewers today are often presented with reality shows that are, for the most part, bursting with fakery, Victoria promised that he series she produced would counter this trend. "Television should be more than just performance art," she said in a statement to Variety. "It should be a window into real lives, real stories, and real emotions. We're tired of the superficial and staged. It's time to peel back the curtain and reveal the authentic, vulnerable souls behind every captivating story."

The first project to emerge from her new production company was "Sin City Rehab," in which she served as both on-camera star and behind-the-scenes producer. The series, she told House Beautiful, was the culmination of a long-held dream to bring her design skills to Vegas for an HGTV show. "I've been wanting to do 'Sin City Rehab' for years and years and years," she said. "When I finally pitched it [with my production company], it was perfect timing."

While Alison Victoria has always loved Chicago, the Windy City didn't always love her back. That much was evident based on the flurry of lawsuits involving her messy split with her one-time "Windy City Rehab" contractor Donovan Eckhardt, to say nothing of the non-stop grief she experienced from the city's building department over permits. The truth about the scandals plaguing "Windy City Rehab," she said, was that it all combined to drag her down emotionally and suck the joy out of her life. "I just needed to get out of there. I wasn't my happiest self; I wasn't living my best life," she admitted when speaking with House Beautiful. 

The stress she was under while working in Chicago, and the unhappiness it fostered, put a dent in her creative life force. "When I'm happy, I'm my most creative self," she explained. "My creativity was dying in Chicago, and I felt that in my work." Those brief trips to Vegas have always served to revitalize her, and returning there on a permanent basis — as of 2025 — had done wonders for her mood. "It's a place I've just always come to relax and recharge and have a little moment of reprieve," she told the Las Vegas Review Journal's Neon magazine. "And now, it's my real life ... I love this valley more than anywhere I've ever lived."

The first project that Alison Victoria undertook for "Sin City Rehab" was a very personal one: her own home. Interestingly, that particular renovation took place years before "Sin City Rehab" made its HGTV debut, with the process unfolding in a fourth-season episode of "Windy City Rehab." As she explained in that episode, the big difference between this reno and the others that viewers had witnessed on "Windy City Rehab" was that she would be forced to take a hands-off approach; since her schedule only allowed limited time in Vegas, she was forced into an overseer role, while delegating most of the responsibilities she'd typically take on herself. "I'm hoping that this is a six-, seven-month job, maximum," she said at the time.

Of course, she pulled it off with aplomb, resulting in a decor style that combines some of her favorite places on the planet: Mexico's Cabo San Lucas and the Old World flair of the Mediterranean. "I really was inspired by one of my favorite hotels in Cabo San Lucas, and then also a lot of vibes from Italy," she told Realtor.com. Victoria described her Spanish-style Vegas home as being designed for both relaxing and indulging. "It wouldn't be my house without a bar," she said to Yahoo! Life of the home's centerpiece, a stunning antique bar that she rescued from a defunct Chicago speakeasy. 

When Alison Victoria decided to officially call Las Vegas her home, devoting herself to renovating homes for new HGTV series "Sin City Rehab," she did so with little fanfare. "I literally up and left," she told House Beautiful, admitting that she did feel some sadness in leaving behind "the most beautiful dream home" that she'd meticulously renovated and designed to her own exacting specifications — and which she left completely furnished, with her clothing still hanging in closets. "I just was like, 'I'm out,'" she said.

Since taking up residence in Vegas, she's noticed a significant shift in her quality of living when compared to what she experienced while living in Chicago."It's my sanctuary, like being on vacation every day," she gushed. According to Victoria, her Chicago abode was truly her dream house, but Vegas offered a different kind of lifestyle, one that Chicago simply could not. "The sun is shining every day," she told Realtor.com of her new home, adding, "Vegas is the dreamiest life. I wake up every day in a place that I love so much, in a home that just feels like I'm on vacation 24 hours a day." Another big difference she highlighted was that in Chicago, she was only able to enjoy her home's outdoor spaces during the warmer seasons — something that isn't a factor in Vegas. "I get to enjoy my outdoor space all year," she added.

As both star and producer of "Sin City Rehab," it's clear that this new show is Alison Victoria's baby, far more than anything that she'd ever done in the past. As a result, both the risks and the rewards are amplified — infusing Victoria with emotions that are decidedly mixed. "It is a feeling of excitement, a feeling of fear," she told Country Living. "It's a feeling of vulnerability. But mostly it's exciting."

That excitement is something that viewers of "Sin City Rehab" will see when they watch, as Victoria tackles a variety of projects that range from small home redesigns to multimillion-dollar renovations for large commercial clients. "People are gonna see I'm really trying to establish myself in the city and I'm running across problems right away," she told House Beautiful. Another key difference that viewers will see in "Sin City Rehab" compared to "Windy City Rehab" is that the scale is so much larger. As Victoria told Realtor.com, Chicago homes are typically built on small lots, limiting the size of the palette she was able to work on. In Vegas, however, the concept of space is far different. "I have so much more room out here to design and to be creative," she said.

For Alison Victoria, "Sin City Rehab" presented a different kind of design challenge than Chicago-based "Windy City Rehab." In the latter, her mission was to resurrect older Chicago homes, infusing them with modern-day flair while retaining and embracing the vintage elements that made those houses so special in the first place. In "Sin City Rehab," however, Victoria found herself dealing with Las Vegas homes that — even though they were situated in some of Las Vegas' more historic neighborhoods — were significantly younger than those she encountered in Chicago. 

According to Victoria, the somewhat homogenous nature of homes built in Vegas presented both a daunting challenge and a rare opportunity. "The houses start to all look the same on the outside and not all that different inside," she told TV Insider. "I thought I would love to show people how to infuse history into these homes, even though they may not be as old as the homes in Chicago." Her secret weapon in achieving this is her signature design style, which combines vintage pieces with modern aesthetics. "I take the heart from objects of the past and add in the optimism of the future to create something new," she told Athleisure. "It's eclectic and full of life, but it's design that accentuates the way we live now."

The truth about "Windy City Rehab's" Alison Victoria is that she is not one to shy away from sharing all the travails of her more fraught renovations. When fans were reintroduced to her in "Sin City Rehab," it was obvious from the first episode that she was ready to showcase all the drama, particularly now that she was steering the ship through her production company. "There is comedy, tragedy, and triumph in every story," she told Athleisure. 

In that debut episode of "Sin City Rehab," Victoria found herself in a somewhat unique situation: the homeowners she worked with — her very first clients in Las Vegas — had already hired a contractor. As viewers saw, Victoria and the contractor did not see eye to eye, and their butting of heads placed the two on a collision course. "This was a big headache," she told TV Insider of the experience. "It was nothing but conflict and pushback. This is how he has always done it and always will do it. Not be able to think outside the box. It was a huge hurdle to face right when I got here." However, it's fair to say that Victoria is no pushover and will give back whatever's thrown at her, and then some. "Unfortunately, that's part of the job," she said of personality conflicts that can pop up during renovations. "I absolutely work too hard to be treated so poorly by someone."

As the first project from Alison Victoria's production company, Briefly Gorgeous Productions, "Sin City Rehab" represents a template for the kind of reality TV that she wants to bring to viewers. "With a commitment to truth at all costs, Alison Victoria and her team are dedicated to showcasing the unfiltered and unapologetic human experience," the firm's website declared. "Sin City Rehab" delivered on the promise of authenticity laid out in her company's mission statement, bringing viewers an unvarnished, warts-and-all look at what really takes place when renovating a Las Vegas home. "I know it resonates with people because who wants to watch a bunch of bulls**t where everything is happy and pretty," she told TV Insider. "Not in this business."

While Victoria acknowledges that there is indeed a vast audience for so-called reality TV that leans heavily into scripted artifice, those are not the viewers that she's looking to capture. "Some people want to see real life," she added. "I've never wanted to shy away from things that might feel icky because they feel icky to me and I'm going through them. Why do I want to hide them from my viewers?" 

In 2024, Las Vegas welcomed more than 41 million tourists, not just from the U.S. but from all over the world. These visitors typically spend their entire vacation on the city's famed Strip, home to luxurious hotels, glitzy casinos, and a plethora of entertainment options. Yet when Alison Victoria envisioned her concept for "Sin City Rehab," she realized that most people had never seen the Vegas that she had fallen in love with. So, she showcased areas of the city that would be utterly unfamiliar to most viewers — even those who'd visited the city repeatedly. 

"What I love about this show is that it has nothing to do with the Strip," she told House Beautiful. "It doesn't have anything to do with the Vegas people think they know. It's about the Vegas that locals know. It's about the Vegas that I know and have known for 25 years." She promised that viewers would experience a taste of Las Vegas unlike anything they'd ever experienced. "People's minds are gonna be blown, because you get this amazing real estate portion of it where you get to tour these homes that no one would ever think were in Las Vegas, and then watch me just infuse them with character and charm and history," she added.

For those who regularly watched Alison Victoria rehabilitate vintage Chicago homes during all those seasons of "Windy City Rehab," it would be easy to assume that her new Las Vegas-based series would be the same show but in a different setting. That assumption, however, would be entirely wrong, as Victoria revealed when speaking with Realtor.com. "Yeah, there's a huge difference. You know, Chicago is known for its architecture. Chicago has a big history to it, right? These homes in Chicago are 100-plus years old, and the oldest home in Vegas is, like, 50, right? It's like, history — that's the difference," she said.

Another big difference she highlighted is that the level of red tape she encountered in Vegas was significantly lower than what she'd faced in Chicago. As a result, "Sin City Rehab" afforded the opportunity to let her creativity run wild, without bureaucratic encumbrances putting up roadblocks every step of the way. That, she promised, will play out in the series in ways that will dazzle viewers. "And then every week is crazier, bigger, glitzier, more glamorous, riskier," Victoria gushed. "It's a wild ride."

Judging by what Alison Victoria divulged about "Sin City Rehab," it's fair to say that fans of her earlier HGTV series are likely to be surprised by what they encounter in her new show. Interestingly, Victoria admitted that she herself experienced some surprises from the process — including the level of dishonesty she came across when re-entering the house-flipping fray. "It surprised me when it came to, you know, I'm trying to get back in the flipping game. I'm trying to get my foot in the door, and I come across a lot of shysters," she told Realtor.com. "And I guess I don't realize, like, it's a lot."

In that process, she also encountered another surprise with the realization that returning to the flipping game was not as simple as she'd anticipated. "[Flipping is] not so easy to try to get back into it. And that's the journey you get to watch me go on," she added. While all the problems she encountered could be seen as contrived, that was far from the case. "And I think it's interesting because people might think, 'Oh, drama, drama, drama,'" she told House Beautiful. "It's like 'No, this is real life.'"