HGTV's D'Arcy Carden And Sherry Cola Talk Exploring Caves And Pitching Batman Porn For 'Dreamy' New Show

Writing about TV and movies on a regular basis for so many years has in some ways lessened the likelihood that I'll achieve true escapism with either medium. HGTV's Wild Vacation Rentals checks all the boxes, however, a declaration made while actively writing about it. Co-hosts D'Arcy Carden and Sherry Cola playfully remind viewers how easy it can be to turn off the rest of the outside world, possibly while inside a house shaped like a camera, or a B&B where the second "B" might stand for "Batcave."

Airing weekly on HGTV, and streaming next-day via HBO Max subscription, Wild Vacation Rentals takes Carden and Cola — a top-shelf cocktail if I've ever heard one — to the most whimsical, unique and downright surreal spots where any paying customer can lay their adventurous head. The hosts go into each new location totally unaware of what they'll be enjoying, with cameras capturing their every reaction and impulse, and in the end, only one house can be deemed a Must Stay, even though they all generally appear to be glorious, if sometimes costly. No skeezy joints on display here.

As seen in the video above, when I spoke with D'Arcy Carden and Sherry Cola (whom we'll hopefully see sharing the screen again in Nobody Wants This Season 3) ahead of Season 1 debuting on the 2026 TV schedule, I had to ask if they could let me know their favorite locations. While the former chose a specific house, the latter spoke very lovingly of an entire city visited in the latest episode, "Florida Gets Wild," and got no arguments.

• CINEMABLEND: What was each of your favorite places, and what impressed you the most?
  • D'ARCY CARDEN: I think my favorite place was a place we went to in Austin called The Bloom House. Could that be my favorite place, Sher? I think it is.
  • SHERRY COLA: Interesting, because if that came to you right away, what came to me right away was just the city of St Augustine.
  • D'ARCY CARDEN: Oh, yes, St Augustine. We fell in love with St Augustine.
  • SHERRY COLA: I have chills! No notes! It was just so beachy and chill and quaint. And there was the nature. The food! Forget about it.
  • D'ARCY CARDEN: Yeah, we really, really were tickled and surprised by St Augustine. We loved it. We made them let us stay there an extra day. We actually, it was our one request. 'Can we please do one more day?' But, yeah, as far as the houses, there were some really spectacular houses. But this one in particular, The Bloom House, really kind of blew my mind. A piece of art that you could live in. You'll see it.
  • SHERRY COLA: Yeah, no matter how you sit and spin it, this was such a fantastic thing that D'Arcy and I got to do.

St. Augustine, Florida is where they spent the night inside a house constructed from nine shipping containers, and decorated to the gills, the max, and the nth degree combined. While there, the C(arden) & C(ola) Hosting Factory chowed down on some delectable seafood while there, and if the entire experience was enough to have them stick around the city for an extra day, I can believe it.

It isn't only the vacation rentals that get wild in this show, as the conversations are also pretty out there. The premiere episode featured possibly the fanciest cave dwelling to exist outside of fiction, which naturally sparked a joke about making Batman-themed erotica. It's what everyone was thinking, and if you say you weren't, that's hogwash.

In any case, I did bring up that moment from the episode during our chat, and the jury is out on whether or not such cinema was ever filmed there. Thankfully, the conversation steered away from that particular avenue before Sherry Cola brought up the "small intestines of the earth." I was also happy to learn they were essentially given the reins to do as they pleased.

• CINEMABLEND: To talk about that cave, could a Batman porn legitimately be shot in there, or would it be a disaster?
  • D’ARCY CARDEN: It may have already happened there. Yeah, we don't know,
  • SHERRY COLA: Yeah, yeah, yeah. Well, we pitched it. We pitched it. We're like, 'Okay, has it been done? Because we want to be the first.' But what a cool thing. The fact that there are live caves, just in this country, and we got to be in...we got to sleep inside one. This is really like a bucket list kind of experience and journey, and the ripple effect of, like, 'Okay, you step out of your comfort zone, you stay somewhere that you wouldn't normally stay. And then through that, you're exploring the insides, the small intestines of the earth. You know what I mean? It's a ripple effect of adventure. And for me, I kind of hesitate sometimes when it comes to crawling into a cave crevice, but D'Arcy was doing it. And she really opened me up to be a little more daring as well. So that was really special. Yeah, she was climbing. She was climbing.
• CINEMABLEND: Were you allowed to just do that? Was there a schedule, or were you sort of in charge?
  • D’ARCY CARDEN: Sherry and I have never really done anything like this before, and it really was just ready, set, go. It was like, 'Walk in the door and we will follow you.' Our camera crew - teeny-tiny camera crew - incredible. Amazing. Could shoot - I don't know - a documentary. Like, a World War II documentary. That doesn't make sense, but you know what I'm saying? They're so talented and capable, and they would just let us go anywhere and follow us. It was like a big playground.
  • SHERRY COLA: It really was. Talking about it, it was so dreamy. I mean, it was just like a little family on the road. Home videos that our parents used to make of us in Costco, but bigger and better.

I doubt we'll get to see that particular cave show up in Matt Reeves' The Batman Part II or anything. Honestly, I don't think it would be very good for a porn, either, because of all the hanging bits one could bop their head against. (I know what they're called.)

Without any R-rated moments involved, Wild Vacation Rentals is already one of my favorite new shows of the year, and is the kind of silly and entertaining TV that I can't get enough of. Be sure to tune in Tuesday nights at 9:00 p.m., so I can keep living vicariously through D'Arcy and Sherry into Season 2 and beyond...