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'Extreme Makeover' reveal day

Designer Paul Dimeo autographs hard hats for volunteers at the 'Extreme Makeover: Home Edition' site in West Knoxville on Wednesday. This edition of the ABC show, featuring the Watson family of Knoxville, is expected to air nationwide during Thanksgiving. (J. MILES CARY/NEWS SENTINEL )

Photo by J. Miles Cary

Designer Paul Dimeo autographs hard hats for volunteers at the "Extreme Makeover: Home Edition" site in West Knoxville on Wednesday. This edition of the ABC show, featuring the Watson family of Knoxville, is expected to air nationwide during Thanksgiving.

(J. MILES CARY/NEWS SENTINEL )

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  • Daniel and Mandy Watson with two of their children Atley, 7, and Ava, 6, wave to friends and volunteers who helped build their new home during the reveal on Wednesday. The Watsons were chosen a week ago as the Knoxville family for an 'Extreme Makeover: Home Edition' show that will air during Thanksgiving on ABC. (J. MILES CARY/NEWS SENTINEL )
  • Mandy and Daniel Watson and their children head past the 'Extreme Makeover: Home Edition' television crew to their new home on Wednesday. The Watson family spent most of the past week on vacation in Florida while the Emmy-winning show — along with more than 4,000 local volunteers — demolished the family's dilapidated farmhouse on Robinson Road and replaced it from the ground-up. (J. MILES CARY/NEWS SENTINEL )
  • Mandy and Daniel Watson and their children head past the 'Extreme Makeover: Home Edition' television crew to their new home on Wednesday. The Watson family spent most of the past week on vacation in Florida while the Emmy-winning show — along with more than 4,000 local volunteers — demolished the family's dilapidated farmhouse on Robinson Road and replaced it from the ground-up. (J. MILES CARY/NEWS SENTINEL )
  • Silas Watson, 2, riding on his father Daniel Watson's shoulders, looks over the crowd of volunteers and friends at his new home on Wednesday. Silas was found abandoned, with neonatal tetanus, in Ethiopia before the Watsons adopted him. (J. MILES CARY/NEWS SENTINEL )
  • After the reveal fans of 'Extreme Makeover: Home Edition' line up to buy show tshirts.
  • The reveal is done so spectators line up to get on shuttle bus taking them from Robinson Road.
  • A side view of the new Watson family home.
  • The Watson family is about to enter their new home.
  • Volunteers lined up with their cameras to take photos of the Watson family as they wait for the reveal of their new home as part of the 'Extreme Makeover: Home Edition' on Wednesday. (J. MILES CARY/NEWS SENTINEL )
  • Crowd awaits the big reveal, scheduled for 10 a.m.
  • The Watson family's limo arrives.
  • Television cameramen crowd the Watson family limo as it arrives just after 11 a.m.
  • The television show crew films the crowd practicing the 'move that bus' chant.
  • Crews assemble planters and put them in place at the home's entrance.
  • The Extreme bus has been backed into place.
  • Crews added more gravel because the Extreme bus was a bit heavy for the muddy road.
  • The Extreme bus has been backed into place.
  • After a long night of work Steven Bets, left and Keith Lay contractors working on the 'Extreme Makeover: Home Edition' site in West Knoxville wait for the arrival of the Watson family to arrive and see their new home. The final push to complete projects is underway at the 'Extreme Makeover: Home Edition' site in West Knoxville. The new home is scheduled to be unveiled to the Watson family at 10 a.m. Wednesday morning, January 18, 2012 workers are mulching and pressure washing a driveway in 33 degree weather outside, and cleaning the wooden floors inside. A bright yellow wreath decorates one porch window of the home. The generators powering tall lights are loud and humming. The crowds of spectators numbering about 200 were standing behind barricades in front if the house, some with signs that say 'move that bus!' before sunrise. (J. MILES CARY/NEWS SENTINEL )
  • Landscaping crews seed the lawn next to the 'Extreme Makeover: Home Edition' site in West Knoxville on Wednesday, in preparation for the big reveal. (J. MILES CARY/NEWS SENTINEL )
  • Volunteers wash a Ford Explorer that was donated to the Watsons by the 14 Knoxville Ford dealers. Jerry Duncan Ford, Lincoln Inc. supplied the vehicle.
  • Spectators hold a sign that says, 'It's great to be a Tennessee Volunteer.'
  • Spectators hold a sign saying 'Move that bus!' and other signs as they await the unveiling of the Waston's new home.
  • The 'Extreme' camera is being rolled off the back of a truck.
  • A painter performs some last-minute touch ups on the 'Extreme Makeover: Home Edition' house in West Knoxville. The home was revealed to the Watson family a little after 11 a.m. on Wednesday. (J. MILES CARY/NEWS SENTINEL )
  • Crews spraying grass seed in side yard.
  • Workers lay plywood to create a walkway to the home over the mud.
  • Spectators continue to arrive and volunteers work up to the last minute to ready the Watson home for the big reveal.
  • It is more than 90 minutes until the trademark, 'move that bus,' and plywood is down to create a walkway to the home over the mud.
  • This view is of a production-only area, filled with trucks and other equipment.
  • The crowd in the media tent.
  • Mud from this week's rain remains on the property.
  • Volunteers carry a swing set to the playground area.
  • 'Extreme' tv crews enter the house.
  • With just hours before the reveal, this is the scene at the 'Extreme Makeover' site.
  • Designer Paul Dimeo autographs hard hats for volunteers at the 'Extreme Makeover: Home Edition' site in West Knoxville on Wednesday. This edition of the ABC show, featuring the Watson family of Knoxville, is expected to air nationwide during Thanksgiving. (J. MILES CARY/NEWS SENTINEL )
  • Christy Monahan, left, and Angela Hawkins take photos of the 'Extreme Makeover: Home Edition' site in West Knoxville on Wednesday. The crowd was estimated to be between 800-1,000 as they waited for the big reveal for the Watson family. (J. MILES CARY/NEWS SENTINEL )
  • A volunteer cleans the wheels of a new car that the Daniel and Mandy Watson family will receive when they see their new home on Wednesday. Over 4,000 volunteers participated in the 'Extreme Makeover: Home Edition' build in Knoxville. (J. MILES CARY/NEWS SENTINEL )
  • Volunteers carry in the last of the sod for the lawn in front of the 'Extreme Makeover: Home Edition' site on Wednesday, hours before Daniel Watson, his wife, Mandy, and their three young children were introduced to their new home. (J. MILES CARY/NEWS SENTINEL )
  • An adjoining duplex for the nonprofit Restoration House of East Tennessee was also built on the 'Extreme Makeover: Home Edition' site in West Knoxville. The nonprofit, founded and run by the Watsons, serves single mothers and their children. (J. MILES CARY/NEWS SENTINEL )
  • Volunteers clean up the 'Extreme Makeover: Home Edition' site before the big reveal on Wednesday. (J. MILES CARY/NEWS SENTINEL )
  • Hundreds of people turned out in cold weather to watch Daniel and Mandy Watson and their children arrive at their new 'Extreme Makeover: Home Edition' home on Wednesday. (J. MILES CARY/NEWS SENTINEL )
  • A painter performs some last-minute touch ups on the 'Extreme Makeover: Home Edition' house in West Knoxville. The home was revealed to the Watson family a little after 11 a.m. on Wednesday. (J. MILES CARY/NEWS SENTINEL )
  • As spectators watch, Ty Pennington, host of 'Extreme Makeover: Home Edition,' reaches to open the door of the limo bringing the Daniel and Mandy Watson family to their new home on Wednesday. The Watson family spent most of the past week on vacation in Florida while the Emmy-winning show — along with more than 4,000 local volunteers — demolished the family's dilapidated farmhouse on Robinson Road and replaced it from the ground-up. (J. MILES CARY/NEWS SENTINEL )

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