As the population grows bigger and bigger in cities, some people have opted out of having a common lifestyle in order to adopt more simple lives in less populated areas. However, it’s never easy to just adapt and get used to a life off the grid, but that’s when the “Homestead Rescue” cast comes to help.
By helping out troubled homesteaders, the Raney family puts their expertise into helping people all around the US to make their dream of having an alternative lifestyle a reality.
Nonetheless, we know it’s been some time since “Homestead Rescue” was renewed, leaving us with many questions regarding the show’s future, and its stars’ whereabouts.
So where is the Raney family now? Are they coming back to TV and what about their life off-screen? Take a seat and discover it here!
What Is The Cast Doing Now?
Up until the fourth season wrapped up in late 2021, “Homestead Rescue” has regularly premiered at least one season per year on Discovery. However, seeing that it’s been a while since new episodes aired, it’s a good time to wonder what the Raney family is doing nowadays.
Marty Raney
When we watch a show centered on homesteads, the least we expect is to see some country-style people in it. While Marty Raney certainly fits said description, he’s definitelymore than just a guy who wears fine cowboy hats and has a nicely trimmed mustache.
As an experienced survivalist and master of everything that is needed to bring back to life even the most battered homesteads, the family’s patriarch Marty Raney is definitely the right man for a show as special as “Homestead Rescue”.
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Whether it’s because of his charismatic personality, dedicated work ethic or enthusiasm for helping people in need, there’s no doubt that Marty gained the audience’s heart since appearing in the show for the first time. His charm hasn’t faded in the least though, as his social media has accumulated almost 100,000 followers combined, on top of being featured on big platforms such as Fox News or the Alaskan-based KXD News 13.
Regarding his future in the show, in mid-2022 Marty was announced to be busily filming the fifth “Homestead Rescue”s season. Other than that, he’s apparently just living a normal Alaskan life, often sharing pics on social media of the local wintery landscapes, and of his recently-adopted Siberian wolf puppy whom he named Maggie May.
Misty Raney
Unlike her father, Misty Raney is unfortunately not as active on social media as her followers would like her to be. Although by mid-2022 it’s assumed our favorite farmer is working alongside her family in making the fifth season of “Homestead Rescue” a reality, there’s not a lot to say about her professional whereabouts outside that.
While it seems there’s no way to know what Misty has been up to in recent times until she eventually comes back to TV, her posts from early 2022 hint she was having a good time vacationing with her husband Maciah Bilodeau, and son. Hopefully, Misty will be more active online once “Homestead Rescue” returns.
Misty Raney is always up for a challenge.
Stream your favorite #HomesteadRescue episodes anytime on #discoveryplus.
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— Discovery (@Discovery) March 19, 2021
Matt Raney
Fortunately for “Homestead Rescue”s most dedicated fans, Matt Raney isn’t shy from telling his followers what he’s been up to. As seen on his social media, Matt enjoys the simple pleasures of living in Alaska, by attending fairs, local events, hiking, skiing or simply taking pics with puppies.
His wife Katie is also quite open on the internet, letting us see that she and her husband spend quality time harvesting honey, and improving their natural photography skills. Regarding their children, the birth of their youngest baby Ruby in late 2021 was featured in the fourth season of “Homestead Rescue”, taking Matt away from working in the season’s final projects to take care of their baby girl.
Despite his brief absence in the previous season, in July 2022 Matt was also confirmed to be filming the new season of “Homestead Rescue”, much to the joy of his fans.
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What Is “Homestead Rescue” About?
Even if its name is self-explanatory, “Homestead Rescue” is certainly more than just a show about painting walls and nailing some wood together.
While making the best out of the Raneys individual skills, “Homestead Rescue” is first and foremost a show about family unity, and working together as a team. Even so, introducing the audience to the lifestyle of many people who choose to live off-the grid independently, also delivers an important message about modernity, and appreciating what’s most important, or at least that’s what Marty believes: ‘I think about things that are ostentatious, things that lack substance, things that fall under what people call the American dream. For a lot of us, it doesn’t bring happiness’, he said in an interview with Hollywood Soap Box.
The show’s goal is not only to ease people’s struggles at adapting and making their homesteads work, but also to explore the proprietors’ stories. and their reason for leaving behind their common city life in order to live off the grid, according to Marty: ‘I admire anyone that does it, and I’ll help most that ask me to come assist them in succeeding’, he affirmed, making clear that “Homestead Rescue” is about people, their stories and their lives.
How Was It Created?
Considering the fact that “Homestead Rescue” is not your usual property flipping show, it’s natural to assume that making the project a reality must have been a difficult task. However, it apparently wasn’t that way.
Prior to “Homestead Rescue”, Marty Raney was already familiar with the entertainment world, having appeared in other Discovery projects, written TV treatments for the network, and pitched a couple of shows for them as well.
Having already created the show’s concept and contacted Raw Productions, then Discovery offered the surprised Marty to be a star in it, quickly convincing him to say yes due to the compelling, innovative concept of the show: ‘I was like, man, this is too good to be true: I get to build, I get to help people, real people, with real needs’, he told Reality Blurred in 2016.
It became a family affair when after a month of broaching the subject with his four children, he finally convinced Matt and Misty to join the show. Marty also argues that making “Homestead Rescue” as authentic as possible was his priority all along, sealing the deal when the producers finally accepted his terms.
How To Get Onto The Show?
While people who dream of stardom sometimes never get the lucky chance to appear on TV, for some other less ambitious people, that opportunity just presents itself in their life.
The latter is the case of Wren and Ini, a young couple featured in “Homestead Rescue”s second season. Based in Ozark County in Missouri, Wren and Ini never intended to appear on TV, so they were quite skeptical when the offer to do so came to them through Instagram’s direct message.
Although the couple admittedly laughed it off at first, they later researched the show’s name, and found good opinions about it. That’s how they ended up frequently visiting their town’s library to be interviewed through video call, given that their homestead didn’t have internet access: ‘We treated it all like a joke, honestly, but all along Ini said we’d be chosen. This all happened in the span of a month’, said Wen to Ozark County Times in 2020. Only a couple of weeks afterwards, scouts visited their place to verify details, and less than a month later, Marty Raney and his children were ready to repair and improve their homestead.
Now that the show is evidently more famous and successful than when Ini and Wen were in it, the selection process has surely become more strict. Even so, that shouldn’t stop people from trying.
Production Process
According to second season homesteaders Wen and Ini, the production process starts just a couple of weeks after being accepted into the show by Discovery and Raw TV. In their case, site managers and directors were the first ones to ever visit their property, also checking out the general area in order to plan where the resources for the project and possible business deals could possibly come from.
Some weeks afterwards, a 20-person crew arrived at their place to set the filming equipment in place, on top of securing some other commodities for the staff. The last ones to arrive at Wen and Ini’s homestead was the Raney family, who inspected the place before giving their approval, and letting the magic finally take place.
Apparently, Wen and Ini’s description of the show’s process is the usual way of approaching every project for the Raneys. As Marty told Reality Blurred in 2016, these prolonged inspection processes are necessary to avoid choosing homestead they wouldn’t be able to improve in 10 days: ‘If you’re there to assist them to live off-grid or be a successful homesteader, you see areas immediately that we can address’, he affirmed. If given the green light by both producers and the Raneys, it’s for sure that the homestead will be in the show.
Who Helps With The Builds?
Besides determining if a project is viable to appear in the show, the extensive inspections led by “Homestead Rescue”s staff are done in order to determine costs, and find resources for it.
By looking out for constructors and businesses located within reach of the homesteads, the show’s staff lower costs of production and building. Such was the case of Scout Construction LLC, a small company which offered to help the Raneys to lead a project for the show in Mansfield, Ohio.
According to the business’ owner Josh Mobley, he was initially contacted by “Homestead Rescue” producers through Facebook: ‘they needed a general contractor with at least four carpenters. I told them we could accommodate that’, he told RichlandSource.com, but also admitting that he doubted the legitimacy of the project, after knowing it was for a TV show.
Weeks later he was contacted again, and soon enough they were the leading contractors to repair the Broadheads’ homestead, featured in the show’s fourth season. However, Mobley himself affirmed that while his team’s help was needed for labor and providing tools, the Raneys worked alongside them all along: ‘(they) do a lot of their own work. It’s surprising how much of their own stuff they do’, he affirmed.
Even though it’s unknown if the projects’ costs are covered by the show itself, or by sponsored business, it’s relieving to know that everything we see in “Homestead Rescue” is so carefully planned.
Marty’s Career & Controversies
One of the things we love the most about the Raneys, is how multi-talented they are, especially when it comes to Marty. As seen in the show, the family’s patriarch is not only an experienced homesteader, but also knows his way with carpentry and construction.
However, most people don’t know that prior to “Homestead Rescue”, Marty was already well involved with the entertainment industry. In 2013, he debuted in the show “Ultimate Survival Alaska” during its three seasons. The fame he obtained through that show allowed him to start the “Ultimate Adventure with Marty Raney”, a touristic service in which Marty himself guides his customers through some of the most extreme but wonderful destinations in Alaska.
That being said, Marty’s career as a musician is actually well known, but not for good reasons. As it happens, back in 1997 he released an album entitled “Strummit From The Summit”, which became a topic of discussion in 2020 after online users noticed that the album’s song “Adam & Steve” included some messaging deemed as homophobic.
Seeing the controversy caused by it, “Homestead Rescue’‘s production company, Raw TV, denied having any knowledge about the song, and affirmed that it didn’t represent the company’s ideals. However, while some people feared that the controversy might cause the show’s cancellation, not long afterwards, “Homestead Rescue” was renewed for a fourth season.
Is The Show Real?
When it comes to “Homestead Rescue”, there are mixed testimonies from former homesteaders, who either testify the show’s authenticity or outright deny it. While in the case of Wen and Ini from Missouri, they reaffirmed the show’s genuineness for the positive impact it had in their property, other cases such as that of Kim and Josh Zabec from the first season make us believe some things aren’t what they seem.
According to the Zabecs, they regret ever letting the show feature their homestead Revolutionary Roots Farm, feeling they were unfairly portrayed in it, on top of allegedly setting up some situations to create drama. For these reasons, the Zabecs filed a lawsuit against “Homestead Rescue” and even though it’s unknown what happened to the case, the couple’s animosity towards the show hints that not everything is as rosy as we thought. Nonetheless, no matter which scandal they’re involved with, it doesn’t seem that the Raneys will be taken away from TV anytime soon, to the obvious relief and enjoyment of loyal fans.
