Leslie Jones Is Coming for Your Terrible Vacation Rental
If you have ever booked a vacation rental based on stunning listing photos, only to arrive and find yourself standing in a space that looked nothing like the promise of those carefully filtered images, you are not alone. In fact, you may be about to watch your experience play out on national television. Saturday Night Live alumna and stand-up comedian Leslie Jones is channeling years of road-trip rental horror stories into a bold new HGTV competition series called Roast My Rental, set to premiere on July 24, 2025.
Pairing Jones's legendary, no-holds-barred comedic style with the renovation expertise of HGTV fan favorite Jasmine Roth, the show promises to be equal parts hilarious roast and serious property makeover — a combination that feels almost tailor-made for the age of online reviews and short-term rental culture.
What Is 'Roast My Rental' All About?
At its core, Roast My Rental is a competition series that targets some of the most cringeworthy, poorly reviewed, and deeply disappointing short-term vacation rental properties across the United States. Jones and Roth travel to these struggling homes, assess what has gone wrong, and work to transform them into properties that guests actually want to return to — and rave about online.
The concept taps directly into one of the most relatable frustrations in modern travel: the gap between a listing's glamorous marketing photos and the grim reality waiting on the other side of the front door. As Jones herself explained in an official statement, "Millions of people check into vacation rentals each year, but sometimes what's posted online is not reality. There are rentals with great photos, but the reviews tell a very different story, and I'm gonna find out why."
That combination of investigative curiosity, comedic bluntness, and genuine desire to fix problems is exactly what makes the premise feel fresh. This is not just another home renovation show — it is a reckoning for vacation rental owners who know something is wrong but have not been able to identify or address the root cause.
Leslie Jones: The Perfect Host for This Job
What makes Jones such an inspired choice for this series is the depth of personal experience she brings to the role. As a comedian who has spent decades performing on the road, staying in countless rentals along the way, she has an insider's understanding of what guests actually need versus what owners think they are providing.
"As a comedian who's been on the road for years, trust me, I've stayed in a lot of rentals and have seen the good, the bad, and the 'oh hell no,'" Jones noted. That lived experience gives her credibility beyond the laughs. She is not a celebrity parachuting into a topic she knows nothing about — she is someone who has genuinely suffered through subpar rentals and emerged with both opinions and a sharp sense of humor about them.
Jones is perhaps best known for her long run on Saturday Night Live, where she became one of the show's most distinctive voices, as well as her work on the 2016 reboot of Ghostbusters and her widely praised Netflix stand-up specials. Her willingness to be loud, direct, and unfiltered makes her perfectly suited to call out property owners in a way that is funny without being cruel — which is no small feat.
Jasmine Roth: The Renovation Expertise Behind the Laughs
Of course, roasting a rental is only half the equation. The other half is actually fixing it, and that is where Jasmine Roth comes in. Already a well-established presence in the HGTV universe, Roth brings serious design and renovation credentials to the partnership. Known for her work on Help! I Wrecked My House and her thoughtful approach to functional, stylish spaces, she provides the technical backbone that turns Jones's observations into actionable transformations.
Together, the two form a compelling odd-couple dynamic: Jones spots the problems with comedic precision, and Roth figures out how to solve them with design intelligence. It is the kind of on-screen chemistry that HGTV audiences have come to love — complementary skill sets wrapped in genuine personality.
Why Vacation Rental Quality Matters More Than Ever
The timing of Roast My Rental could not be more fitting. The short-term rental market has exploded over the past decade, with platforms like Airbnb and Vrbo making it easier than ever for property owners to list their homes for guests. But that explosion in supply has also led to a significant inconsistency in quality — and guests have grown increasingly vocal about their disappointments.
- Misleading listing photos remain one of the top complaints among short-term rental guests worldwide.
- Poor cleanliness, outdated furniture, and non-functional amenities consistently drive down review scores and repeat bookings.
- Owners who invest in honest, thoughtful improvements routinely see stronger occupancy rates and higher nightly prices.
- A single viral bad review can damage a rental's reputation for months or even years.
In this environment, a show that directly addresses the gap between guest expectations and owner delivery is not just entertaining — it is genuinely useful. Vacation rental hosts watching the series are likely to come away with practical insights about what matters most to guests, even when the lessons are delivered with a side of comedy.
What to Expect When 'Roast My Rental' Premieres
With a July 24 premiere date locked in, HGTV appears to be positioning Roast My Rental as one of the network's signature summer offerings. Viewers can expect the format to follow a familiar competition arc — properties are evaluated, owners receive pointed (and likely hilarious) feedback, renovations are undertaken, and some form of judgment is rendered on the final result.
What sets this show apart, however, is the emotional honesty underpinning the comedy. The vacation rental owners featured are not villains — they are people who tried, fell short, and asked for help. Jones's own statement makes clear that these owners have willingly invited scrutiny because they want to do better. That self-awareness adds a layer of genuine warmth to what could otherwise be pure mockery.
A Fresh Voice in the HGTV Lineup
HGTV has always excelled at finding hosts who bring personality and passion to home-focused content, and Leslie Jones represents a genuinely new kind of voice for the network. She is not a designer, a contractor, or a real estate agent — she is a traveler, a consumer, and a comedian who has something real to say about the spaces we pay to inhabit.
Paired with Jasmine Roth's steady renovation expertise, Roast My Rental looks set to deliver exactly what HGTV audiences love: dramatic before-and-after transformations, relatable real-world problems, and hosts whose chemistry makes every episode feel like an event. Whether you are a vacation rental owner looking for tough-love advice or simply a viewer who has ever been burned by a misleading listing, this is one series worth marking on your calendar.
Roast My Rental premieres on HGTV on July 24, 2025. Check your local listings or streaming options to tune in.