By Erin Ivory, WGN Channel 9 News
CHICAGO — Twin brothers from Chicago might just be the next “Property Brothers”’ for HGTV.
Anton and Anthony Downing have two passions: fighting fires and flipping houses. In uniform by day, the two spent their off hours renovating homes along the same blocks they grew up on.
“We grew up right off 87th and the Dan Ryan, not far from where we renovated our first property,” Anton said. “Just being home like that…we didn’t have to go to other cities to do this show. We were right here where we grew up.”
Their determination to give back to those neighbors caught the attention of HGTV producers who gave the duo a shot at their own show titled “Double Down.”
“We see the whole city looking for this,” Anthony said. “We get it. We’re home grown.”
They said it wasn’t that long ago they were kids walking to school past boarded up homes. Fixing them is more about pride than profit.
“You can see their eyes as they look at the house we’re working on,” Anton said. “I hope they feel that ‘Hey, on my block there’s a nice house.’ That their neighborhood is nicer because of what we’re doing.”
The Downing Brothers get one shot to convince HGTV producers to give them their own weekly show. The pilot of “Double Down” airs this Saturday on the DiY Network at 10:30 a.m. central standard time. If they get enough viewers, the brothers get their own show. You can find the DiY network on:
- Comcast: Channel 240
- Dish Network: Channel 111
- DirectTV: Channel 230
- Wow: Channel 269
- AT&T UVerse: Channel 454
This article originally appeared on WGN Channel 9 News.
