<p>very disappointing news.</p>
<p>[HGTV</a> House Hunters fake - chicagotribune.com](<a href=“http://www.chicagotribune.com/entertainment/ct-ent-0619-house-hunters-fake-20120618,0,7667731.story]HGTV”>http://www.chicagotribune.com/entertainment/ct-ent-0619-house-hunters-fake-20120618,0,7667731.story)</p>
<p>Have read some recent articles on this and many concur that “who cares” - the draw of the show is trying to guess which of the 3 they actually end up picking. I always thought it had to be somewhat rehearsed - some of the people aren’t very good actors!</p>
<p>I’m not surprised. Who buys after looking at just 3 homes? Also, like abasket says, some of them are awful actors and even if they disagree on everything wind up picking the same house.</p>
<p>I’m shocked, shocked reality TV is less than real. </p>
<p>And BTW, I don’t care. Still enjoy looking at the interiors, even though it always amused me that we’re supposed to believe house hunters look at three homes, and decide to purchase one of them, all in one day. (All too often the couples are wearing the same clothes throughout the looking/decision process.)</p>
<p>I agree with who cares. The most “faked” one has to be property brothers, though. Or maybe Love It or List It… not sure which is the worst acting…LOL</p>
<p>Doesn’t matter, I love them all. I particularly love Holmes on Homes, not sure if that can possibly be real. I know some contractors are shady, but still…</p>
<p>The premise of the show was always a frustration to me. I could not relate to someone who looked at three homes, and then made an intellectual decision based on the pros and cons of each home. The two homes I have purchased were chosen on an emotional level. I “knew” the moment I walked into the house that I was going to buy it. There was none of this, it’s going to be a difficult decision, I don’t know how we are going to decide, oh what are we going to do crap. </p>
<p>So finally, a long time ago, I did a search and learned that indeed the shows were faked. During that search I also learned that the house without furniture was the house that the buyers decided on, because that was the house the buyers already purchased before the show was filmed. So now I have fun watching the show and listening to the comments made that are supposed to throw you off, knowing all along which one they will decide on.</p>
<p>I was surprised, but guess I shouldn’t have been. This frees up some of my life. Guess I’ll go back to the Weather Channel.</p>
<p>And now, they have Celebrity House Hunters. Watched one episode of a celebrity wife going through 3 expensive homes. At the end, she chose one that she would be “willing to take celebrity husband through” - what? I just watched that whole show of 3 what-is-not-perfect homes to see the one you are just willing to put on the list?? Haha.</p>
<p>Another viewpoint:</p>
<p>[If</a> House Hunters Is Wrong, I Don’t Want to Be Right | Entertainment | TIME.com](<a href=“http://entertainment.time.com/2012/06/13/if-house-hunters-is-wrong-i-dont-want-to-be-right/]If”>If House Hunters Is Wrong, I Don’t Want to Be Right | TIME.com)</p>
<p>I always assumed these were the 3 out of many they might have seen and I knew it was somewhat after the fact due to production pressures. So, what about the late great Canadian version of Property Virgins with Sandra? They often mentioned seeing many homes over time.</p>
<p>Actually - I care. </p>
<p>There’s no good reason the show couldn’t be done on the up and up or a prominent disclaimer made that the show is not a reality show but rather is a made-up drama.</p>
<p>I won’t watch the show anymore.</p>
<p>barrons, I have a mutual friend with Sandra Rinomato, and apparently, that show was as close to reality as one of these shows can get. They often looked at more than three homes, but obviously the show can’t film more than three. What occasionally happened also was that the couple decided to keep looking because they didn’t find what they wanted. I like Sandra. She has a new show called Buy Herself, which I’ve only seen once so can’t really comment on it but I have to say that I am not a big fan of the new Property Virgins.</p>
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<p>I love Mike Holmes. He is very educational about planning and how to hire someone to do work. And he has good, but not outrageous taste. </p>
<p>Remember, he is in Canada for most of the shows (not all), and regulation is a little different there. </p>
<p>Having done a major reno to our home, I can tell you that yes, there are WAYYYY more shady contractors that you would want to imagine. Especially in states that do not require licensure/registration. And there is very little that authorities can to do protect consumers. I can’t tell you how many contractors just walked off our property without giving us an estimate when we requested copies of their licensure and insurance, they would turn and walk off the property. Nothing else said.</p>
<p>Alwaysamom:</p>
<p>Sandra’s show, “Property Virgins”, did indicate at times that more than 3 houses were viewed and there are times when no decision is made so on the surface it seems somewhat ‘real’. I don’t care for Sandra as a host since I think she’s very condescending towards the ‘buyers’ and acts like a ‘know-it-all’ even in markets where she has no experience but maybe that part’s real too and just her personality.</p>
<p>GladGradDad, it’s funny but I always think that Sandra shows remarkable restraint with the people on the show. 
These ‘virgins’ who want it all but only have a budget of $200,000 kill me, and my guess is that she’d like to say “are you crazy?!” I know she did some shows in the U.S. but I haven’t seen many of those. I prefer the shows here in Toronto where I know the neighborhoods she’s viewing. I’ve only met her a couple of times in a social setting through my friend and she was a very pleasant person. Not know it all-ish at all.</p>
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<p>That’s why I said as close to reality as you’ll get.</p>
<p>The show that drives me crazy is Love it or List it. Every single show is the same formula - an opposing view couple, Hilary being happy with the budget until, inevitably, Eddie finds some disaster lurking that will eat up the budget so that she can’t do what she’s promised, then the couple overreacting and either screaming at her or at each other, then, of course, being happy with the outcome. I’m not convinced that the houses they view are actually for sale because the signs are fake. It’s a very annoying show. Reno or Relocate is pretty much the same show, also annoying.</p>
<p>I like Sarah Richardson’s shows and Bryan Baeumler’s, who was stopped at a red light next to me the other day. I like seeing the design ideas, even if they’re not always to my taste. It’s interesting to me that so many of these shows are Canadian.</p>
<p>I miss “Designed to Sell”. A $1000 budget to spruce up a very tired house. Sometimes much of what they did was de-clutter and move furniture around, but I liked it. I picked up a few tips from that show.</p>
<p>I love Sandra. I would want someone who would be realistic with me about my options. I can’t stand the new Property Virgins and only watch it when it’s with Sandra.</p>
<p>I was watching maybe a week ago on a Saturday morning and there was a show where two designers were given two $600k homes and a $90k budget to decorate 3 rooms (living, master bedroom, kitchen I think) and then potential buyers decided which was better. Not sure what it was called, but I loved it and I would watch again! Of course the designs/styles were way too much for me, but then I’ll probably never be in a position to buy a $600k home.</p>
<p>ETA: vlines-we did a major kitchen reno several years ago and found out something similar. Our contractor did a good job on most of it, but he also did some things he didn’t really know how to do well and some things are shoddy workmanship as a result.</p>
<p>I used to watch HGTV a lot, but it was mainly to see what houses in other parts of the country/world looked like, prices they sold for, etc. So I really didn’t care that the shows are faked. However, I finally got tired of hearing the phrases “open concept” and “but it’s not granite”, so I mostly stopped watching, except for Selling New York, which I love.</p>
<p>I like house hunters international. Shows what a spoiled snooty lot we are. One woman from Texas actually said, only one toliet in the master bath? While some people were wow, this is very traditional!!!</p>