Dishing the dirt with 'Clean House' diva Niecy Nash

Clean House" host Niecy Nash, far right, along with Mark Brunetz, a decorator;Trish Suhr, a yardsale expert; and Matt Iseman, a handyman. SHNS photo courtesy The Style Network "Clean House" host Niecy Nash looked at the ungrateful woman and was ready to throw down.

"I thought, 'Can I slap this woman on TV and get away with it?' " she deadpans in a phone chat.

During nearly 100 episodes, Nash and her makeover show hadn't encountered anyone who outright complained about the results - a newly cleaned home, new furniture and a redecorating - except for the Los Angeles-area mother. When the woman started crying tears of regret, Nash was already at her wit's end.

Now in its sixth season, "Clean House" (10 p.m. EST Wednesdays, The Style Network) has dug through tons of garbage, cleaned away piles of dirt and sold thousands of dollars' worth of junk in yard sales to benefit folks who want to get their homes in order.

It's an addictive hour of television as cameras go into America's unkempt homes and try to straighten out what Nash refers to as other people's "foolishness."

She gets help on her messy missions from Mark Brunetz, a decorator; Trish Suhr, a yard-sale expert; and Matt Iseman, a handyman.

The woman who hated what they had done represented one of the rare moments on a home-makeover show. In the show's defense, the woman and her daughter were leery of the whole process to begin with. They didn't want to let go of their possessions and have their home reworked. But they allowed "Clean House" to proceed anyway.

By the time the big reveal came, Nash had had enough.Why did "House" producers allow the episode to be aired? "They like that kind of drama," Nash observes.

Nash didn't "back slap" the ungrateful woman, though she jokingly says she fought the urge to do so. Though Nash is known for her streetwise humor on the show, she's never gone as far as assault. Slapping a participant might be a TV first, though. Certainly, Ty Pennington has never done it on "Extreme Makeover: Home Edition."

But then, Nash, a comedic actress also known for Comedy Central's "Reno 911!," is not your typical hostess. She shoots from the hip and rarely misses.

Feel-good "House" has its share of tears from grateful families, but not without Nash giving them a strong and straightforward talk about their cluttered ways.

In many cases, however, all that talk may be going out one ear. Nash figures about 40 percent of the people the show helps go back to their old ways. Within weeks, the newly restored order is gone.

Meanwhile, Nash is motivated to make sure her home is tidy.

"It's not because I am a super-neat person," she says.

"I have a sense that, someday, my show will show up at my door and say, 'Hey, it's 'Clean House.'

"Oh, no! I'm like, 'Kids, pick that up. Pick that up! I don't want "Clean House" coming over here.'"