HGTV Star Returns After Years Away Following ‘Setback That Rocked Me to My Core’

Rehab Addict‘s Nicole Curtis is back with a new purpose after a devastating “setback.”

Ahead of the June 24 return of the HGTV show, Curtis spoke to PEOPLE about how something that “rocked [her] to the core” eventually led her to taking on a bucket list project.

“I had a setback in my life that just rocked me to the core, and it was one of those moments where I thought, how do I get through this one?” Curtis told the outlet.

While the HGTV personality is keeping the incident private for now, she shared that it led her to make a decision about her priorities. “I prayed on it and it was just devastating for me,” she said. “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.’”

It was Curtis’ spur-of-the-moment trip to Paris in July 2022 that eventually led to the new season of Rehab Addict, as she checked off item after item on her bucket list. “I was like, ‘Okay, what am I doing?’ I went out that night, I bought a house online ’cause I was like, ‘I’m going to knock off all my wish lists tonight. We’re doing it,’” she recalled.

The Wyoming house was a 1890s flip gone wrong, and while the HGTV star was well within her expertise taking on the project, she said the timing and her personal circumstances made the purchase a bit unconventional. “This house needed me and I needed this house,” she said.

It’s that home that Curtis will restore during the upcoming ninth season of Rehab Addict, which will also feature a Detroit property that was previously home to squatters. The new episodes are an “evolved version” of the show and its spinoffs, Rehab Addict Rescue and Rehab Addict: Lake House Rescue.

“I’m no longer this little poor mommy in Minneapolis driving around with this pickup truck with two dogs and a kid,” Curtis explained. “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.”

“I think everyone will be so excited, because you see a lot of familiar faces,” she continued of the show’s comeback. “All the guys on my crew that [viewers have] loved over the years, they’re back. We’ve all stayed friends, and they’re here.”

Rehab Addict premieres on June 24 at 9 p.m. ET on HGTV.