“Treat yo self” was Retta’s tagline in “Parks and Recreation.”

And that’s just what a New England couple did when they won a $150,000 home renovation from HGTV after their Vermont home was deemed the “ugliest” in America.

Hosted by Retta, HGTV’s “Ugliest House in America” sees the comedian travel across the country to “tour properties nominated by their owners as the ugliest home around,” per the show description. In the finale, HGTV designer Alison Victoria surprises the winners with a total home renovation.

On the season 7 finale, which aired Feb. 4, homeowners Brooklyn and Dylan teared up when they saw their remodeled Vershire, Vermont, home. (HGTV did not provide last names.)

The couple and their three sons were introduced in episode four when Brooklyn explained the house “is our nightmare.”

Retta named the home “Mishmash Hodgepodge.”

The bright orange and blue house— three stories high, built on stilts, and 3,344 square feet, per the show description — may have been deemed the ugliest in America by HGTV, but the view is gorgeous. It sits on 14 green acres, with panoramic views of the White Mountains.

“Is there a significance to the colors?”Retta asked of the bright exterior.

“At least you never get lost when you’re driving up to it,” Dylan quipped. The family said they had lived in the home for 10 months when they appeared on the show.

As for the chaotic inside, Dylan said, “We definitely want to make it less circus-like.”

There were green monkeys carved into the cabinets and birds carved into the staircase railing. The primary bedroom and bathroom ceiling was thatched. Parts of the interior were painted in blocks of yellow, orange, and blue.

“I feel like I need to center myself,” Retta said.

She pointed out that the living area had built-in couches made of stone and concrete. “I look at your couches and I think: hemorrhoids,” she joked.

After looking into their mirror-filled bathroom, Retta remarked, “This is sensory overload. This is a fifth-grade project.”

Retta pointed to the thatched ceiling in the primary bedroom: “You’re asking for mice.” Walking into the upstairs bathroom, her eyes popped, as she took in another thatched ceiling. The couple shared that spiders kept them out of the bathtub.

At the end of the episode, Retta dubbed the home a “mishmosh hodgepodge color-block animal sanctuary.” She scored the Vermont house a 6 out of 6 for appearance on the “Ugly Meter.”

In last night’s finale, we learned that of the 15 houses Retta toured this season, the Vermont house was “uniquely ugly.”

She and Victoria announced to the New Englanders: “You have the ‘Ugliest House in America!’” as confetti rained down.

Victoria pointed out that the land they sit on is “amazing…This could be very picturesque… The view’s ridiculously beautiful,” the designer said. “I want the outside of your home to be as beautiful as the property it sits on.”

Walking inside, Victoria suggested leveling out “wonky weird” floors in the conversation pit area, taking out the bird carving on the stair handrail, taking down the plastic sheeting wall of the primary bedroom, and redoing and thatched “tiki-hut-kind-of-feel” ceiling, among other things.

“I don’t know where to start,” she told the camera. “This is seriously one of the wildest, craziest, ugliest houses that I’ve ever taken on.”

After demolition and remodeling, the couple was brought blindfolded before the house for the big reveal.

Gone was the orange and blue paint. “It’s like a painting behind your house,” Victoria said of the green woods and hills. “And now your house is part of the painting.”

“This doesn’t even look like the same house,” Brooklyn said touring the interior.

The primary bedroom, totally redone, now boasts sliding glass doors to an outdoor hot tub. They also see a madeover patio area with a new walkway.

“I am blown away,” Dylan said.

“It reminds me of a fairy forest house,” Brooklyn added. “And I love that.”

Lauren Daley is a freelance culture writer. She can be reached at [email protected]. She tweets @laurendaley1, and Instagrams at @laurendaley1. Read more stories on Facebook here.

Lauren Daley is a longtime culture journalist. As a regular contributor to Boston.com, she interviews A-list musicians, actors, authors and other major artists.

“It’s completely unforeseen, completely shocking, and outrageous that he would be detained,” said Will Lambek, an organizer with the Vermont advocacy group Migrant Justice.

ICE did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Seven Days first reported his detention.

Tendo, 41, has become a prominent community organizer in Vermont since relocating to the state in 2021.

An ordained Pentecostal minister, he has said that he faced political persecution and torture in Uganda after his charity, Eternal Life Organization International Ministries, criticized the Ugandan government. He has said that forces aligned with the authoritarian Museveni regime cut off two of his fingers, and that his brother and uncle were killed due to their political activities.

“The missing fingers on my left hand are a constant reminder of this brutality,” he wrote in a testimonial for his employer, the University of Vermont Medical Center.

A federal immigration judge denied Tendo’s asylum application in 2019. He spent two years in an immigration detention center in Texas — and later sued the Department of Homeland Security over his treatment there. Investigators for the department’s Office for Civil Rights and Civil Liberties have acknowledged wrongdoing.

Tendo has garnered support from prominent politicians. In 2020, US Representative Jim McGovern, a Massachusetts Democrat, wrote a letter signed by 44 members of Congress urging the federal government to release him.

In a written statement Wednesday, all three members of Vermont’s congressional delegation said they were “horrified” to learn of Tendo’s detention and called on the Trump administration to return him to Vermont and ensure due process.

“People like Pastor Tendo are exactly who our asylum system is meant to protect,” wrote Senators Bernie Sanders and Peter Welch and Representative Becca Balint.

Since relocating to Vermont, Tendo has appeared at an ICE facility in St. Albans for regularly scheduled check-ins — often accompanied by crowds of supporters. At one such check-in last July, he told the Globe he felt particularly nervous “because the agency we are dealing with is unpredictable.”

“The wave of fear, the kidnappings that have been happening, really, really make it very hard, even though you know you’re not a criminal,” he said.

Tendo had been scheduled for another check-in this Friday, according to his attorney, Brett Stokes. He had recently filed motions to reopen his asylum case, citing worsening conditions in Uganda, and for a new stay of removal.

Melissa Battah, executive director of Vermont Interfaith Action, said supporters had planned to accompany Tendo to Friday’s check-in. She called ICE “cowards” for detaining him in advance.

“Why send agents out and terrorize a community? To do what? To flex muscles? To show force?” she said. “This is not what a government should be doing to its people — to people they’re entrusted to serve and protect and take care of.”

Jacob Berkowitz, president of the UVMMC Support Staff United labor union, said Tendo had been working as a licensed nursing assistant while attending nursing school and moonlighting at the Shelburne facility.

“He’s the type of person we want around. He’s the type of guy we should have in this country,” Berkowitz said. “If only we all were in service to community, as Steven is, our country would be in a better place.”

Paul Heintz can be reached at paul.heintz@globe.com. Follow him on X @paulheintz.

The Vermont Department of Tourism and Marketing is funding 15 organizations through the Grants for Relocation Outreach Work program, according to a community announcement from the department.

The grants support efforts to attract and retain new residents.

The program, known as GROW, is considered a strategic investment in Vermont’s workforce and community vitality, said Lindsay Kurrle, secretary of the Agency of Commerce and Community Development, which oversees the department.

“By investing in locally led relocation and retention efforts, the program helps communities grow and reinforces the connections that keep new residents here,” Kurrle said.

The GROW program has two tracks: relocation and retention. Some organizations received grants for both tracks.

The relocation track supports the state’s relocation lead generation and distribution system via ThinkVermont.com. Grantees are required to connect with and follow up on leads of potential residents interested in moving to their area. Activities can include creating regional marketing assets for out-of-state advertising campaigns.

The organizations receiving relocation track grants are:

• Addison County Economic Development Corporation
• Brattleboro Development Credit Corporation
• Chamber & Economic Development of the Rutland Region
• Franklin County Industrial Development Corporation
• Green Mountain Economic Development Corporation
• Lake Champlain Regional Chamber of Commerce
• Lamoille Economic Development Corporation
• Montpelier Downtown Community Association
• Northeast Kingdom Chamber of Commerce
• Out in the Open
• Southwestern Vermont Chamber of Commerce
• Vermont Professionals of Color Network