Originally posted Monday, August 12, 2019 by RODNEY HO/rho@ajc.com on his AJC Radio & TV Talk blog
The fearsome Atlanta threesome - Dalen Spratt, Juwan Mass and Marcus Harvey - have landed a new show on the Travel Channel and dubbed it "Ghost Brothers: Haunted Houseguests."
The eight-episode series features the trio - who are not technically brothers but close frat buddies - visiting homes of families who suspect their residences are haunted. The Ghost Brothers try to figure out what’s going on while providing advice, humor and comfort.
The first two seasons on the much smaller Destination America sister network had the Ghost Brothers visiting mostly abandoned or well-known places where ghosts are known to inhabit. They spent much of the time running around being scared and cracking jokes.
In this case, Dalen said, they will be interacting with these family members and play investigators to seek answers.
They will also do research on the home and the neighborhood using historical records and interviews with long-time residents to piece together why a spirit might be hanging around.
"It shows our maturation," said Juwan, an Atlanta resident who runs both a production company and fashion line Loren Spratt with his business partner Dalen. (Barber-to-the-stars Marcus was not available for the interview, traveling with Nas as his hair guy.) "It offers a humanizing aspect and it requires a different level of finesse. The stakes are higher. We are dealing with people and their emotions."
The original series featured their camaraderie but now, Dalen said, the show will get to hear Marcus talk about being a father, Juwan show off his nurturing side and him consoling the kids and their fears.
But it doesn’t change how viewers perceive them: Marcus is the funny, goofy one. Juwan emotes sexiness. And Dalen is the natural-born leader.
Dalen said after their first series aired, at least 100 families emailed or contacted them on social media seeking help with their own haunted homes. “That’s where the idea came from,” he said.
He also realized that many people feel embarrassed to talk about paranormal activity in their midst for fear that others will see them as nutty. Juwan said it takes courage for many of them to go on TV about this.
Dalen said both his grandmothers’ homes were haunted. At the home of his grandmother on his mom’s side, the cabinet doors would open by themselves at 5 p.m. every day like clockwork. “My mom had eight sisters,” he said. “They all told the same story.”
He said his experiences doing “Ghost Brothers” reflect things he has seen in movies.
“It would feel like something I saw in ‘The Conjuring’ or ‘Paranormal Activity,’” Dalen said. “There’s a scene in ‘The Conjuring 2’ where an old ghost is rocking a chair. We’ve seen that happen ourselves.”
Travel will air some of the original 2016-2017 Destination America “Ghost Brothers” episodes on Friday, August 16 before introducing the new one at 9 p.m.
Juwan said he thinks the show works well now on Travel Channel because the network has doubled down on paranormal shows. Its lineup now includes “Paranormal: Caught on Camera,” “Ghost Adventures,” “The Dead Files” and “Portals to Hell.”
TV PREVIEW
“Ghost Brothers: Haunted Houseguests,” debuts Friday, August 16 at 9 p.m. on the Travel Channel
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