Ben and Erin Napier on the Biggest Lesson They’ve Learned in 5 Years of ‘Home Town’ (Exclusive)

Ben and Erin Napier have become familiar figures to HGTV fans through their show Home Town, which features their ventures renovating homes within Laurel, Mississippi. Their fifth season premieres Sunday night and continues an almost five-year run of episodes that began with the pilot episode “Big Renovation in a Small Town” on Jan. 24, 2016. The Napiers’ profiles have risen in the years since they’ve become beloved reality TV stars. However, there’s a huge lesson that they’ve learned in that time that keeps them grounded. As Ben told PopCulture.com most humbly in December, “nothing beats family.”

“No, nothing’s more important. No job, no nothing,” Erin said in agreement. “Nothing is more important than our daughter and making her our priority and our friends and our family who’ve been there way before there was a TV show.”

Echoing the sentiments, Ben added: “I’ve got three brothers, and something I won’t compromise on is spending time with those brothers. If there is an opportunity, I will move heaven and earth and whatever else it takes to make that happen. And then I think that that’s the biggest thing. And then maybe that’s the case with anybody as they grow older and they get more established (and) invested in their work.”

At the end of the day, the couple, who are parents to 3-year-old Helen, don’t care what extra income they might sacrifice by passing up on an opportunity to spend time with their loved ones. To them, the time they have with their family is priceless. “This is a very demanding job,” Ben said. “Our time is precious. I mean, [family time] is way more important to us than the money we get paid to do the show. Yeah, that time that we spend with family is vital.”

As for how they got here, it all started when the pair met in December 2004 at Jones County Junior College. After just a few days of getting to know one another, they quickly realized they were soulmates. They tied the knot just under four years later, on Nov. 22, 2008. Down the line, the pair’s bond only got stronger as they launched Home Town. Looking back, the Napiers don’t think they’d have got to where they are today without the support of one another.

“None of this would’ve ever happened if we hadn’t been together,” Erin said. “I think that there is something, there’s an alchemy between the two of us that is not possible if we had met anyone else. And I wouldn’t be interested in being in front of a camera if I didn’t have Ben beside me because he’s like my security blanket and I’m an introvert and he loves to talk. He loves to know people, and it’s harder for me, but because he does it with me, I can do it, too.”

Home Town‘s Season 5 premiere airs Sunday at 8 p.m. ET. The show will air in that time slot each week, with new episodes also appearing on discovery+, Discovery Inc.’s streaming service launching on Monday. A discovery+ spinoff, Home Town: Ben’s Workshop, will also premiere Monday when the service launches.