People Are Furious at HGTV's "Love It or List It"
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A post shared by Love It or List It (@_loveitorlistit) on Apr 30, 2016 at 3:48pm PDT
After binge-watching HGTV for years, we've learned not to trust everything we see on TV. (We mostly tune in for the home makeovers, not the drama, anyway.) But are certain scenes actually faked?
Last year, aReddit chat took on this question, asking people who have been on reality TV shows in the past to confess what's real and what's fake. One user wrote in with a surprising response about HGTV'sLove It or List It:
My aunt and uncle were on "Love It Or List It" and they had them record both endings and the network chose which one they thought was best. They are still in the house and they love it, but the show says they listed it.
So basically, if this claim is true, we watch the whole show waiting for an outcome that may or may not be accurate. Half the fun of watching Love It Or List It is to see the competition between designer Hilary and real estate agent David.
Another user chimed in to say that a friend of theirs was on the show in Raleigh, North Carolina. Many homeowners chose to participate just to get a discounted remodel, not because they're considering selling their homes, he said. Here's how the show works, according to his friend:
1. As mentioned, nobody wants to list their house—they just want a free renovation and to be on TV. However... 2. ...the show only pays for 50% of the work they do on your house, and the producers do what they want for TV and don't really respect the homeowners' wishes. 3. They shoot a bunch of episodes in one market at a time, so they use one set of contractors for all of the homes. If they get behind on the work on a given home, they pretend that the work is done so they can wrap on the episode, then they take the crew with them to the next house. You then have to live in an unfinished renovation until the whole set of episodes is finished and the crew can get back to you. This can be months or not at all.
In fact, Deena Murphy and Timothy Sullivan, who were featured on an April 2015 episode,sued the show's producers and contractors over "shoddy work and unfair trade practices" in 2016.
A post shared by Love It or List It (@_loveitorlistit) on Apr 16, 2016 at 12:22pm PDT
Of course, these are just a few opinions. Julia Sweeten, owner of popular real estate blog Hooked On Houses, also interviewed Marci, a North Carolina homeowner who was on Love It or List It, and it sounds like she had a positive experience on the show.
Marci and her husband, Matt, sought help from the HGTV show after realizing they didn't have funds to do all the remodeling they wanted in their charming yellow cottage. Their makeover lasted for seven weeks, and they only peeked inside their home at the beginning of the renovations, and after they were complete. (The show requires homeowners to move out during the remodel.)
"Meeting David and Hilary was a thrill and they have every bit of that back and forth repartee as you would expect having watched the show," Marci told Julia. "They were both truly quite fun to work with."
When it came time for the final reveal, they really were surprised to see what their home looked like; their reactions were completely real. While the couple decided to sell their house in the end, they didn't do so until after their episode already aired.
Julia explains: "My spy reports that another neighbor's house was chosen as one of Matt and Marci's three options to buy, and they spent an entire day shooting in it." So, it seems the show sometimes stages homes that aren't actually for sale.
"You really do have to take the information on these shows with a grain of salt," Julia added.
A post shared by Love It or List It (@_loveitorlistit) on May 23, 2016 at 7:38am PDT
We hope you're relaxing this weekend, like these two are! 👆🏻#loveitorlistit #saturday
A post shared by Love It or List It (@_loveitorlistit) on Mar 5, 2016 at 8:24am PST
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