What happens when a destructive hurricane like Katrina or Sandy shakes a house to its core? It needs to be “JACKED!” – that is, lifted so that the foundation can be repaired. Led by Jeremy Patterson, the new series, which begins tonight on Discovery at 10pm, profiles a number of homes that have been severely affected by natural disasters. Patterson opened up to Crave readers about his job and the show as well as how he personally feels about being profiled on television.
CraveOnline: Tell us about the new series “JACKED!”
Jeremy Patterson: It’s an awesome series that follows me and my family and my crew jacking houses out of harm’s way after storms have passed through. When we grew up all my daddy did was move buildings – he’d move houses for commercial developments and jack homes up after natural disasters.
What’s the most challenging thing about your job?
When I get to the job site the first thing I think about is… “What am I going to eat for lunch?” (Laughs)
And what do you usually have?
Whatever we can find in the area.
But no, our job is a huge challenge. We’re doing stuff to homes that the homes are not made to do – we’re jacking up homes that aren’t meant to be jacked up. Homeowners have an emotional attachment to their houses. People are crying and I’m a pretty lovey fat guy so I hug it out – I want to jack their house and jack their spirits.
How do you feel about the way in which you and your job were portrayed?
Discovery did an awesome job of profiling us and bringing reality to TV – the drama, the scariness, all of it. They really showed how awesome and scary and downright dirty the job is.
And what will it be like seeing yourself on TV for the first time?
The most exciting thing is, it gives us an opportunity for people to see the hope and closure that comes with jacking homes. It goes from scary to wow. There’s a lot of fun and humour in it too. I was on the edge of my seat watching it the whole time and I was the retard on TV doing it!
How did Discovery find you?
I guess I just stand out because I’m loud and outspoken.
If you hadn’t gone into this line of work, what career path might have you chosen?
This is a family business. My 16-year-old boy works for us and he’s actually jacking a house right now. I can’t visualize doing anything else in life. You’ve gotta do what you love. Some people need an alarm clock to wake up for work in the morning, but I pop up at 4am because I’m excited every day to get up.
