Rehab Addict Returns: Nicole Curtiss Journey Back to HGTV After a Personal Setback

After a three-year hiatus, HGTV's popular show 'Rehab Addict' is back with a new season, set to premiere on June 24th. The show, hosted by Nicole Curtis, will feature two new projects: restoring a poorly-flipped 1890s property in Wyoming and a Detroit home that has been invaded by squatters.

In an exclusive interview with PEOPLE, Curtis shared that a difficult experience in her personal life became a turning point for her, leading her back to her HGTV roots and these two wild new projects. "I had a setback in my life that just rocked me to the core," she says. "I had to make a decision right there and then like, 'Okay, we're going to let this affect us for a very long time, or we're going to pick it up and go.'"

One evening in July 2022, Curtis decided to travel from her home in Detroit to the Greek island of Corfu that same night. However, she had a heart-stopping realization when she boarded her flight: she had left her wallet behind. "I didn't have a credit card on me. I had $72 of change in dollar bills stashed in my bag," she says. "I landed in Paris without a wallet. I thought, well, you know what? This is it. This is my test. I'm going to figure it out."

Fortunately, a friend was able to transfer her some money via Western Union, and she made the most of her one-day layover in Paris. She put on her running shoes, ran around the Eiffel Tower, and biked around the Champs-Élysées. But the spur-of-the-moment bucket list choices didn't stop there. She bought a house online that night in Wyoming, a 1980s flip gone wrong that was in need of some major help.

The chaotic trip only escalated from there. The next morning, she overslept and missed her connecting flight from Paris to Corfu. She was faced with two options: get stuck in Paris for the next week or turn around and go back to the States and dive into her new project. She chose the latter and made it to Salt Lake City where her wallet was FedExed to her by the same helpful friend who had transferred her money.

In the upcoming ninth season of 'Rehab Addict,' Curtis restores both the Wyoming home and the troubled Detroit property that had been invaded by squatters. She calls the new episodes "an evolved version" of the show, heading in a new direction from where the original and her spinoffs left off. "I'm no longer this little poor mommy in Minneapolis driving around with this pickup truck with two dogs and a kid," she says. "But I'm still me, I'm still Nicole Curtis from Detroit, and I want you to save that building and we're going to do it."

One person who does appear on season 9 is Curtis’ ex-boyfriend Ryan Sawtelle, who works as a carpenter on the Wyoming property. "We were together a long time and I was very close to his family," Curtis explains of why she invited him on the show. "So we never really stayed out of contact."

Curtis is staying mum on whether she’s currently seeing anyone romantically, saying "I keep my private life private and because I think there's been some very traumatic moments in my life that weren't so private." She has been vocal about her advocacy for the rights of breastfeeding mothers and her decision to continue breastfeeding her son Harper at age 3 drew criticism from some and became a point of contention in her legal fight with ex-partner Shane Maguire. The former couple reached a custody agreement in October 2018.