Barrington Anthony Sayers
Watching an episode of the popular HGTV home-improvement show "The Unsellables," a middle-aged Toronto woman whose expensive midtown house had recently been left in shambles by an unscrupulous renovations contractor concluded that the program's affable co-host and carpenter, Barrington Anthony Sayers, might be just the right guy to clean up the mess.
But she may have been wrong, because after hiring Mr. Sayers, described as the program's in-house "trusty contractor," she's now been allegedly victimized twice - pressured so much to pay him for shoddy work that at one point she had to move out, it's alleged.
Owner and operator of a general contracting company called Anthony Sayers Custom Builder and Designer, Mr. Sayers faces charges of attempted fraud, harassment and extortion over what took place at the woman's house, near Yonge Street and Summerhill Avenue.
"She was very distraught about the whole thing, very upset," said Detective Rob Ermacora of Toronto's 53 Division, who is requesting that others who may have experienced difficulties with Mr. Sayers's company step forward.
The weekly "Unsellables" specializes in transforming tough-to-sell properties into hot tickets - "turning real estate lemons into lemonade" its web site boasts - and Mr. Sayers, 41, has been a fixture on it for more than a year, co-hosting the show with British television presenter Sofie Allsopp.
The show is not the first taste of fame for Mr. Sayers, a graduate of George Brown College, with 17 years of professional experience in the building trade. Previously he was the co-host of "Me, My House and I," which aired on the W (Women's Television) Network.
He was arrested on the weekend and after appearing in court Sunday, was released on an undertaking, with his next court appearance set for March 28.
Mr. Sayers has had no prior dealings with police.
Police allege that after the woman contacted Mr. Sayers in February, he dispatched two employees to rectify and complete the botched renovations.
"They just did awful work and she was kind of shocked," said police spokesman Constable Tony Vella.
Aside from the quality of the workmanship, it's also alleged the woman was billed for many more hours of work than were actually rendered, and that Mr. Sayers was insistent on being paid for all of them.
"He kept calling her wanting, 'Money, money, money,' to the point where she was actually afraid, and she moved out for a period of time," Constable Vella said.
HGTV is a division of Calgary-based Shaw Media, which did not immediately respond to a request seeking comment.