After first meeting on the HGTV series Barbie Dreamhouse Challenge<\/a>, it wasn’t until years later that Victoria, 43, and Lofaso, 48, were able to collaborate on air \u2014 with the two coming together to give a much-needed refresh to the Tournament of Champions<\/a> winner’s new (but outdated) property.<\/p>\n While the two are now sworn besties \u2014 with Lofaso saying she had full trust in Victoria’s direction and design skills \u2014 the restaurateur admits to PEOPLE there was one specific element of the final look that left them divided.<\/p>\n “Alison and I only disagreed on one thing,” Lofaso says, revealing that she was initially turned off by Victoria’s use of fake flowers in her home.<\/p>\n Warner Bros. Discovery\/HGTV<\/p>\n From Left: Antonia Lofaso with Alison Victoria on ‘Sin City Rehab’<\/p>\n Victoria then explains that before the final reveal (which is seen on the episode), she kicked Lofaso out of the house so she could stage it. “I decorate it and I’m buying all these fake plants,” she says of going to Home Goods to buy what Lofaso claims was “$5,000 worth of fake plants.”<\/p>\n “She was so adamant that we’re returning all of them,” Victoria recalls. “I mean, you should have seen her. She was so confident in her stance and there we were loading up piles of fake plants, going to every HomeGoods in the valley.”<\/p>\n The home renovation expert then explains that she was planning to buy the purchases back from Lofaso and use them in another house. But before she could, Victoria recalls Lofaso telling her, “No, you can’t have any of them. I’m keeping them all. I love fake plants.”<\/p>\n “She’s fully turned me into a fake plant lover,” Lofaso confirms.<\/p>\n Funnily enough, the fake plants were the only issue while Victoria taking on Lofaso’s kitchen was not \u2014 despite the client being an acclaimed executive chef and owner of multiple restaurants.<\/p>\n Warner Bros. Discovery\/HGTV<\/p>\n From Left: Alison Victoria and Antonia Lofaso on ‘Sin City Rehab’<\/p>\n Never miss a story \u2014 sign up for PEOPLE’s free daily newsletter<\/a> to stay up-to-date on the best of what PEOPLE has to offer\u200b\u200b, from celebrity news to compelling human interest stories.<\/p>\n In fact, Lofaso had no worries going into the renovation process. “We didn’t really have any drama because I am in the same position that Alison is \u2014 but only as a chef. And so it’s always so strange when my years of experience is questioned and somebody is like, ‘No, I’m not sure.’ And so for me, going into this, I was like, ‘She is the expert. I have seen what she’s done,’ ” the chef explains.<\/p>\n She adds that one of Victoria’s gifts is just being able to understand clients. “She gets people immediately,” Lofaso says. “The biggest compliment I can give her is that she reads people within 30 seconds into being in a room with them, understands who they are and then delivers.”<\/p>\n Victoria, meanwhile, admits there were some nerves on her end because this the first time “I ever designed for someone like Antonia.”<\/p>\n “I’ve had a lot of wannabe chefs and, and people who think they know their way around a kitchen,” she continues, noting that when it comes to Lofaso, “she and I just live such parallel lives in two different spaces that marry so perfectly together. So it was like I was learning from her along the way. You know, ‘How does she use the kitchen? How does that change the design? How do I look at it differently?’ And very rarely does that happen.”<\/p>\n Warner Bros. Discovery\/HGTV<\/p>\n From Left: Alison Victoria and Antonia Lofaso with her boyfriend and her father on ‘Sin City Rehab’<\/p>\n But given that Victoria has become known for her kitchen designs \u2014 just see any episode of Windy City Rehab<\/a> or her seasons of Rock the Block<\/a>, when she takes home the kitchen challenges \u2014 this was a space she was going to excel in no matter what. And so, “to design a kitchen for a chef who has never given herself what she deserves, I was like, ‘I’m putting everything I’ve got into this one because I love this person and she deserves it,’ ” she says.<\/p>\n That’s when Lofaso jokes that the designer brought a Tony Robbins energy to the project, making reference to the prominent life coach and entrepreneur. “She Tony Robbins’d me so many times because she was like, ‘You need this light for your kitchen.’ And I’m like, ‘But it’s too much.’ And she’s like, ‘You know you f—ing have the money, just spend it. You’re gonna love it,’ ” the Top Chef alum recalls, acknowledging she’s not one to spend money on a home given that she’s always on the road or “running around.”<\/p>\n If Lofaso had one request, it was “big cabinets and a lot of storage.” As she explains, “I have pieces of equipment that are not normal sized, you know, for like a regular person’s kitchen. Everything is extra large and I have so many things.”<\/p>\n Luckily for Lofaso, Victoria delivered \u2014 and the results of the renovation can be seen on Sin City Rehab.<\/p>\n Sin City Rehab airs Wednesdays at 9 p.m. ET\/PT on HGTV, with Lofaso’s episode, “The Bottom Line,” premiering Wednesday, Oct. 15.<\/p>\n![\"Warner](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/d3816127e6a9f4a2aaa6c3c529ca2ad2.jpeg\"\/)
<\/p>\n![\"Warner](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/145318d34d4f986a7095177eb8788162.jpeg\"\/)
<\/p>\n![\"Warner](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/838ce241b5197eb40db9c1dcfe0dfcf2.jpeg\"\/)
<\/p>\n