Which house will they choose? The one that’s spacious but far from work, the one that’s in a good area but very small, or the fixer-upper that’s way under their budget? House Hunters, presented by HGTV, showcases a family’s quest to find a place to call home, but it seems that the televised process might be even more staged than anticipated.
Some scripting feels expected for any flavor of reality TV and inside reports from various titles confirm as much. It ups intrigue, gives the supposed mundane spontaneity of life an exciting plot, and gives the crew a path to follow. But a new Reddit post has some insights into just what the staging process looks like – and the surprising depths it penetrates. According to them, sometimes every minute can be faked. How?
‘House Hunters’ supposedly films even less reality than expected for reality TV
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By its own synopsis, House Hunters follows a family needing to move elsewhere as they search for a new home. The process sees the titular hunters walk through three properties that have benefits and downsides to them before they choose which is just right for them; each episode condenses this grueling process into under half an hour. And, according to one Reddit post, a majority of those scenes can be entirely faked, staged just for film and nothing else.
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“My family and I were on an episode of HGTV’s House Hunters,” claimed one user. “In reality the entire thing was staged. Like literally every detail. We had already owned the home for six months when our realtor was contacted by HGTV. Neither of the other two homes were even for sale. Every scene was shot several times. The ‘three month’ follow-up just showed us in different clothes in our actual home and was shot the same weekend… Bizarre experience. I haven’t been able to look at reality TV the same way since!”
Logistics to bringing ‘House Hunters’ to life
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Another Reddit user asserts “You have to be closing on a house (or already closed) to get cast.” They also have a buyer think of something negative for each property – as well as vocalize these negative points to the realtor, real or fake, for the show. Some immersion-breaking tidbits have circulated, such as “knowing the house before it’s picked and all that,” but others also provide a lot of logistical gymnastics to consider.
For example, a realtor or home seller would want positive coverage for their property, and being immortalized as one of the rejected houses from the HGTV series could be a mark against them. Then there is the innately long process of not only choosing a house but then securing it as well, which is not reflected in the show. Additionally, homes go on and off the market constantly and between this schedule and the schedule of home buyers during their three-month checkup, there is a lot to coordinate and account for. Still, the formula has proved gripping enough to draw in 25 million viewers to the series per month as well as different spinoffs. Do you watch the HGTV hit? Or would you rather list it – wait, wrong show.
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