PSU grads featured on 'House Hunters'

  Tuesday, November 11, 2014 2:00 AM
  News

Pittsburg, KS

For the past week, Pittsburg State alums Ugo and Amy Nwagwu have been enjoying some peaceful down time while on vacation on the Ivory Coast.

When they return to the U.S. on Thursday, they’ll welcome millions of people into their new home in Pittsburg.

Well … sort of.

The Nwagwu’s and their search for a new home will be featured on the hit TV show “House Hunters,” which airs at 9 p.m. Thursday, Nov. 13 on cable channel HGTV. Thursday’s initial airing will be the first time Ugo and Amy will see the final product.

“It’s exciting that we are going to finally get to see it, but it does make me nervous to see it at the same time as the rest of the U.S.,” Amy said. “I know what we said and did during the process, but it is amazing how editing can change everything.”

Ugo said being on vacation has helped calm some of their nerves, but not all of them.

“Being out of the country for the last week has helped put it out of my mind,” he said. “I keep telling myself that it’s no big deal. Only 98 million American households have access to HGTV.”

The couple said they plan to watch the episode alone in their new home.

“I had originally planned to have a viewing party with some friends and family,” Amy said. “We just found out the airing date a couple of weeks ago, and we had already booked our trip to Ivory Coast. As such, it will probably just be Ugo and I at home struggling to stay awake after hours of travel.”

Ugo earned a bachelor’s of business administration degree in banking and finance in 2003 and an MBA in 2005. Amy double-majored in accounting and finance, earning her BBA in 2008.

During the filming process, both received a crash course in the business of reality television.

“It was tedious but very interesting,” Ugo said. “There were five full days of filming, lots of takes and re-takes. But the crew they sent were absolute professionals and very personable. They made it a lot of fun for us. Some of them have also worked on marquee reality programming, so we got to learn how a lot of it works behind the scenes.”

Amy said they had to “basically cancel our daily lives” during the five days of filming.

“It was a really cool experience, and I’m glad we were able to have it,” Amy said. “We learned a lot about the ‘behind-the-scenes’ that goes into producing a TV show or movie. The crew we worked with had tons of interesting stories about their experiences and the process in general.

“I was afraid the days of filming were going to be awkward since the days would be spent with people we didn’t know, but the crew was fantastic and made us feel at ease,” she said.

While they were excited for the chance to be on the show, both said they were also a bit surprised to be chosen.

“I’d always thought the City of Pittsburg would be considered perhaps too small to interest them,” Ugo said.