The guest, a widower who had recently lost his wife, became involved in the episode after being surprised by his daughter, multiple reports indicate. According to Daily Mail - Home, Craig Phillips described the show's mechanics as involving the person whose house is being decorated genuinely not knowing about it, but one family member knowing to set it up and provide access. The daughter took her father out so the crew could work, but he became upset and insisted on returning home, according to multiple reports.
According to Daily Mail - Home, Craig Phillips described how the daughter rang the producer to report her father was insisting on coming home, but he could not return immediately because the house was in its worst state with everything ripped out. The father refused and took over the car to drive back home, multiple reports indicate. When the father arrived, he was really angry and very upset, and saw a skip with the majority of their furniture broken to pieces, multiple reports indicate.
One [episode] sticks in mind that just really went downhill - I think it was South Wales way.
The episode ultimately never made it to air. According to Daily Mail - Home, Craig Phillips described it as a horrific and sad day, but he loved doing the show and is not putting it down. He does not know the full ins and outs, but the matter went beyond the producers and up to the head at ITV, according to multiple reports.
It was the only show where the crew physically worked on and were never allowed to go back into the house, multiple reports indicate. Craig Phillips believes ITV had to go back on additional days and put back as best of what was in there, according to multiple reports.
The way the mechanics of it worked is that the person whose house we're doing genuinely didn't know about it - it's a surprise for them. However, one member of their family did know because they have to be a part of it to set it up and give us access.
On this day, the poor girl takes her dad out so we can get on with the job. During the day, he started getting a little bit upset and wound up. He was like, 'Take me home now,' and she was like, 'No, Dad, let's stay out.'
The producer had to tell the girl to have a serious conversation with him and explain that we were doing a 60 Minute Makeover - it was going to be great. The producer told her to reassure him, saying, 'If you don't want to be on camera, we won't film you at the end, but please let us do what we started out to do.'
It was a horrific day - it was really sad. It is a very hard job. I loved doing it - I'm not putting the show down. But it was such a horrible day to see someone so upset and angry when you're only trying to do good for them.