"I just needed to get out of there:" Sin City Rehab's Alison Victoria opens up about leaving her home in Chicago

Sin City Rehab, which premiered on September 17, 2025, on HGTV, promises to showcase Alison Victoria's design journey in Las Vegas, navigating entrepreneurial challenges, handling difficult contractors, and flipping homes.

Alison is a native of Chicago, where she built her business starring in HGTV's Windy City Rehab for five seasons.

She revealed she went to Las Vegas when she was 19 years old and started her business there at 22. Therefore, her most important days were spent in Vegas, which many people are unaware of.

Opening up about her struggles and challenges in Chicago, Victoria tells House Beautiful that the winters felt longer, darker, and life got harder due to multiple lawsuits and the building department over the years.

She was not living her best life, being her happiest self and needed a break from all the chaos and conflicts in her life in Chicago. She explains the feeling,

"I don't know how to explain it. It's like you're in a relationship, right? I was in a relationship with the city that I loved and lived in, and then it didn't treat me well."

Victoria left her dream home in Chicago to flip houses in Sin City Rehab

Alison Victoria, along with her contractor, Donovan Eckhardt, faced a series of lawsuits, and the legal drama that stretched for years had a lasting impact on her mental health.

This was the reason for her dying creativity in Chicago, as she reveals,

"When I'm happy, I'm my most creative self. My creativity was dying in Chicago, and I felt that in my work."

The 43-year-old designer is now living in a Spanish-style villa in Henderson, Nevada, describing it as her sanctuary, which she conceived with her signature style.

Also, her move to Las Vegas shortens the distance to her partner in Malibu, who is only a 45-minute flight away. 

While she has been living permanently in Vegas for roughly a year, she left her most beautiful dream home in Chicago with all her clothes and fully furnished.

She has put the house on the market and hopes to sell it fully furnished while maintaining her design team in Chicago to rebuild her business.

Commenting on the Sin City Rehab series plan, Victoria shares,

"I've been wanting to do Sin City Rehab for years and years and years. When I finally pitched it [with my production company, Briefly Gorgeous Productions], it was perfect timing."

In Las Vegas, she aspires to redefine residential design, one home at a time. Victoria wants to reflect the unique charm and historical significance of the city, demonstrating that not every home has to look the same.

"It doesn't have to all be modern and glass and metal and, you know, just super, super stark design," she says.

Unlike the glamour of the Strip, Sin City Rehab focuses on older buildings tucked away in historic neighbourhoods, as Victoria says,

"It doesn’t have anything to do with the Vegas people think they know. It's about the Vegas that locals know. It's about the Vegas that I know and have known for 25 years."

Alison promises viewers a glimpse into hidden corners of the city rarely seen on TV.

She claims that people are going to be astonished while witnessing homes that no one had any idea existed in Las Vegas, and then watching her infuse them with character, charm, and history.

Along with her residential projects, Victoria is setting her sights on commercial opportunities in Las Vegas.

She recalls that one of her first major projects was a $160 million expansion on the Silverton Casino, which she entirely designed from scratch.

She is excited to expand her business in different ways, returning to commercial and restaurant designing.

In the premiere of Sin City Rehab, viewers see Victoria dealing with the real challenges of adjusting to a new city.

She networks with a major hotel and resort company while tackling a client project complicated by a stubborn contractor.

Emphasising the importance of standing her ground, she adds,

"As a woman in this business, you gotta stand your ground. You've got to protect yourself number one, and protect your clients, because if I'm trying to build my reputation out here in Las Vegas, I'm not gonna let someone try to scare me out of it."

Stay tuned for more updates.