home and renovation shows might not be what they seem.

And we're not just talking about the phony house-hunting scenarios, or the obviously

manufactured drama.

Still don't believe us?

Hold onto your shiplap, here the reasons these HGTV shows are totally fake.

"Drumroll please."

Love It or List It

Love It or List It combines the house hunt and renovation genres, but with a twist: At

the end of each episode, homeowners decide to either live in their updated home or sell

it and move into an upgrade.

"And are you going to love it?"

"Or are you going to list it?"

"We are going to list it."

"Love it."

"List it."

"Love it."

But according to a Redditor who claims their aunt and uncle appeared on the show, producers

actually had them record both endings, and the network chose to air its favorite.

The Redditor also claims the show portrayed said aunt and uncle as having listed their

home, but in reality, they stayed put.

That story may or may not be true, but there have also been real-world legal ramifications

from the show's shenanigans.

"Oh my God."

In 2016, Deena Murphy and Timothy Sullivan from North Carolina sued the show citing a

variety of complaints, according to The Miami Herald.

Murphy and Sullivan alleged the show misappropriated their renovation funds and used a subpar contractor

who did questionable work.

The lawsuit stated,

"The show is scripted, with 'roles' and reactions assigned to the various performers and participants,

including the homeowners…

These characters are actors or television personalities playing a role for the camera,

and in this case none of them played more than a casual role in the actual renovation

process."

"We took out a substantial loan for this.

And, you know, put in some of our own money."

We're guessing they didn't "love it."

House Hunters

In 2012, real estate blog Hooked on Houses landed a major scoop when it alleged that

the fan favorite, House Hunters, was almost totally fake.

According to show participant Bobi Jensen, her experience was phony from top to bottom,

starting with the reason the family supposedly appeared on the series.

"I don't think there's any way that the show could actually follow someone, because real

house hunts take months."

Jensen claims that the producers made the family seem like they "desperately" needed

a bigger house, but in reality, they were simply upgrading and had decided to rent out

their existing home.

Next, Jensen revealed her family had already purchased the home they would supposedly be

"hunting" for.

This is allegedly a common practice for any HGTV show that portrays prospective homeowners

"shopping" for homes.

So did they just go around looking at listings and pretend they were interested?

Jenson revealed on the blog,

"The ones we looked at weren't even for sale…they were just our two friends' houses who were

nice enough to madly clean for days in preparation for the cameras."

And it looks like the show's spin-off series isn't any more authentic…

House Hunters International

"I think this move will test our relationship because I've never lived with a partner before,

so it will be really interesting to see what we both want."

According to HuffPost, a woman whose Mexican villa was portrayed as one of the "reject

properties" for prospective buyers on House Hunters International, also claimed that the

show,

"…Swapped in a younger couple to play the buyers…to appeal to a wider audience, and

steer away from the typical retirees that are often depicted."

Another show participant, Dr. Nate Lambert, wrote a Medium post about his experience.

He describes enjoying having his family's move to Fiji documented, but he also confirms

the phony home search.

He recounted how producers "overdramatized" a disagreement over kitchen views; and admits

the realtor was an HGTV plant, which he says had to be done due to the way the real estate

industry works in Fiji.

Property Brothers

"Let's get started.

We're gonna destroy your house."

Due to it's staggering popularity, Property Brothers is probably viewed as one of the

more authentic shows on this list, until you stop and think about its premise: Twin brothers

Drew and Jonathan Scott help buyers find and renovate a fixer-upper.

Yes, Drew is an actual realtor, and yes, Jonathan is a real-life contractor, but much of their

professional duty is farmed out to local professionals while they do what they really do best: nail

being TV stars.

"Do we look like twins anymore?"

"No."

Speaking with Popsugar, Jonathan revealed that just like many other HGTV shows, Property

Brothers works with "homeowners who have identified a house that they already like."

So, what does that leave for realtor Drew to do?

Be a TV star!

And what about those scenes where homeowners pop in on the reno to find Jonathan alone

in the house, toiling away on some demo or framing work?

Jonathan said,

"If we find that our budget is taking hits left, right, and center, I'll jump in and

do even more because I'm not charging for my time.

I'm never laying 5,000 square feet of flooring…

I have flooring companies, kitchen companies, and all of that jazz, but I can do and have

done all of the work."

So, this is really a show about a realtor who doesn't have to sell real estate, and

a contractor who only works when he has to.

We love it!

Fixer Upper

"You as excited as I am?"

Fixer Upper is the Waco, Texas-based home renovation show starring husband and wife

team Chip and Joanna Gaines, and it goes like this: He's the contractor, she's the designer,

and they work with a homeowner to flip run-down properties into dream homes.

Fixer Upper also has a pretty good reputation for being on the up and up when it comes to

the Gaines duo actually doing what they portray on the show…but there are a few discrepancies.

"It's your fault, you're the one that showed 'em the house."

First, the house hunt at the beginning of each episode is all for, you guessed it, show.

It's the same deal as House Hunters; HGTV wants folks who are already "under contract"

on a house, according to show participant David Ridley, who appeared on Season 3 of

Fixer Upper.

He told Fox News,

"They show you other homes but you already have one.

After they select you, they send your house to Chip and Joanna and their design team."

At this point we can all move past the fact that nobody is actually "discovering" their

dream home for the first time on camera.

But is everything else on Fixer Upper genuine?

According to Country Living, yes, except if a homeowner wants to keep the furniture used

for staging, they have to buy it.

That seems fair.

Just so long as it's never revealed that Joanna doesn't actually love shiplap.

The HGTV Dream Home

The HGTV Dream Home Giveaway has been going strong since 1997.

But if you're picturing the lucky winner moving into their stunning new digs and living in

the lap of luxury, think again.

"You just won the 2014 HGTV Dream Home."

According to The Wall Street Journal, almost none of the winners can afford to keep the

home because of the huge tax liability, which is estimated to be around 40 percent of the

total value of the house.

In fact, out of eight previous winners by 2004, only one actually retained ownership

of the property.

"It was gonna be like it's gonna cost you a million dollars to keep your free home."

This exact situation occurred for 2005 winner Don Cruz, who wasn't able to satisfy the tax

liability he estimated at $800,000.

Cruz tried to make it work anyway, choosing to reject the option of taking cash and other

prizes, and living in the house for almost two years before letting it lapse into foreclosure.

He told KLTV that by the time he gave up the house, he'd sunk into $1.43 million in debt.

To state it simply: In order to win and keep the HGTV Dream Home, you already have to be

rich, otherwise you've basically won a giant cash prize and the opportunity to be photographed

in a particularly lovely house for a few minutes.

Yard Crashers

HGTV's landscape renovation show Yard Crashers has one of the best concepts of all time:

The host walks into a big box home improvement store and randomly selects an unsuspecting

customer for a stunning backyard makeover.

A dream come true.

"How about takin' me home right now?"

Unfortunately, dreams aren't real, and apparently neither is Yard Crashers according to one

Redditor who says their "good friend" was selected for the show because his sister "knew

the producer," so they staged the supposed "random" encounter at Lowe's.

On top of that, the Redditor also claims that some concrete work done by the show wasn't

exactly top notch, and that his friend ended up having to sink even more money into the

makeover to fix structural issues.

Again, this could all be hearsay.

But host Chris Lambton did tell Popsugar that they screen participants for attitude, and

that they chat up "at least 15-20 people" before finally casting a homeowner.

Call us crazy, but we're not sure how "surprised" the lucky homeowners are to talk to the guy

who has a camera crew in tow and who just rejected a dozen other shoppers.

Designed to Sell

Thanks to Hooked on Houses becoming the go-to destination for HGTV participants to air their

grievances, we also know that Designed to Sell, the show that gave homeowners a budget

of $2,000 and a pro design team in order to stage their house for the market, is also

fake as a plastic ficus.

"Thank you so much Designed to Sell, I have had several offers on the house, I'm so excited,

I'm moving into the city, this has been awesome."

According to one homeowner, her house was not even on the market and would not be for

over a year, but the show cast her anyway.

As a result, producers staged a fake open house at the end of the makeover process that

was entirely attended by the homeowner's friends and family.

On top of that, she said that when the crew came through for what would essentially be

the "after shots," there was incomplete work they had to avoid filming.

Designed to Sell also took a page out of Love It or List It's playbook, allegedly having

homeowners shoot multiple endings: one saying their house sold "thanks to the makeovers"

and one saying they haven't sold yet, but they've "seen a lot of interest."

Wow.

Curb Appeal: The Block

In 2013, The A.V.

Club spoke with Atlanta resident Cenate Pruitt about his experience on Curb Appeal: The Block.

While Pruitt claimed he had…

"Nothing but love for the production crew and the contractors for busting their humps."

…He did expose a few ways in which the show fudged his reality.

For starters, the establishing shots, which are supposed to be exterior shots of the surrounding

neighborhood, were nowhere near Pruitt's house.

Pruitt also claimed the crew carefully avoided shooting a quote, "sub-crackhouse monstrosity"

near his home.

He also claimed the host,

"Would park his convertible, walk around…then drive off."

But aside from all of the "TV magic" that went into making Pruitt's episode, he suffered

possibly the biggest manipulation after a retaining wall the contractors put in to prevent

flooding, had the complete opposite effect.

Though the show sent contractors out multiple times to try to fix the problem, the basement

still floods routinely after heavy rain, leaving Pruitt to feel like the "fun" he had with

the crew maybe wasn't worth it.

He said,

"I just wish things had been a little better planned."

Beachfront Bargain Hunt

"Oh my gosh look at that water."

"It is a beautiful view."

"Gorgeous view."

Beachfront Bargain Hunt is basically House Hunters International if it only went to American

cities with gorgeous coastlines.

And just like that fake HGTV house-hunting show, this one also requires its participants

to already own the house they're supposedly shopping for.

And thanks to Outer Banks realtor Johanna's blog about her experience with the show, we

can report on a few other small facets of fakery, as well.

"Waterfront is a must-have.

Something with a deep water lagoon perhaps for a nice-size boat."

"What size boat do you have?"

"I don't have a boat."

Probably the oddest thing Johanna had to say was that producers told her not to use the

word "nice," and that they were so serious about it, they even had to "start several

scenes over" when she accidentally used the term.

Johanna also said that although there was no script, they were made to re-enter each

room two to four times, repeating the exact same phrasing they used the first time, to