I love HGTV

Nebb

My city doesnt seem large to me, but i suppose its all relative. I have lived NEAR the toronto area for so long that everything else seems small in comparison. The 2 cities I lived in during college were under 45-75000, which seemed painfully small to me. 130000 is the perfect size for me, big cities make me anxious. The house prices were a bit better there but the unfortunate part is that the jobs were sparse and the ones that you could get sucked so there wasnt much incentive to stay there.

tidetravel

Yeah, EiC ruined that show for me.  It's ALL staged.  She posted about it over on E a few days ago.

emilyinchile

Sorry Tide...I feel bad about ruining it, but then people ask how it works, and I haven't figured out a way to answer the question without telling the truth.

number55

How bad is it Emily? I figure that it is all set-up...did you pick a place in the end?

tidetravel

Don't feel bad about telling the truth!  (unless you're ever on Extreme Home makeover, and want to reveal that they don't ACTUALLY build a house in 7 days).  I didn't really watch the show a lot, but it figures that it would all be staged.

Nebb

In Response to <a href="http://forums.theknot.com/Sites/theknot/Pages/Main.aspx/wedding-boards_snarky-brides_love-hgtv?plckFindPostKey=Cat:Wedding%20BoardsForum:17Discussion:5ba2c643-720c-4403-97b2-8d1e8aebfb72Post:66fee3cf-3320-4fb4-8cf3-bafd041f2bd6">Re: I love HGTV</a>:
[QUOTE]Sorry Tide...I feel bad about ruining it, but then people ask how it works, and I haven't figured out a way to answer the question without telling the truth.
Posted by emilyinchile[/QUOTE]
can you repost what you said there? Im curious. Did you look at way more than 3 places? That always seems weird to me, they MUST look at more. There is no way I would only look at 3 places and buy one of the three just because that was all I had to choose from.

tidetravel

Number here's the link to the thread in which it was discussed, starting around page 5. 

http://forums.theknot.com/Sites/theknot/Pages/Main.aspx/wedding-boards_etiquette_fff-lff_.4

emilyinchile

Do you really really want to know? I'm going to at least put it below, so if you don't want to know, scroll over the rest of this without reading.















Everyone who goes on the show apparently has to either own or be closing on a property already to guarantee a happy ending, or at least that's what they told me. We had bought our place 1.5 years before we filmed, and they told us anything up to 2 years was ok. They contacted me through my blog, and I figured once I said we already owned we'd be out, but they told us that actually it was a good thing. The properties we saw were properties that "our realtor" (he really is a realtor, but he wasn't our realtor when we bought) currently has that were within our budget/general idea of what we'd looked for so that it would be a fair comparison among the three properties, but they weren't places we had actually looked during our search back in 2008.

number55

I think I might be confused...you bought a place you had already bought(en!)?

emilyinchile

Number, you're not confused. We already owned our place - where we currently live - and we just pretended to look at our place + two other properties and then "chose" ours. You don't actually buy anything on the show.

Nebb

But it always looks way different after theyve "moved in" than when they view it? What did you do, redecorate after you "bought it"?

number55

In Response to <a href="http://forums.theknot.com/Sites/theknot/Pages/Main.aspx/wedding-boards_snarky-brides_love-hgtv?plckFindPostKey=Cat:Wedding%20BoardsForum:17Discussion:5ba2c643-720c-4403-97b2-8d1e8aebfb72Post:21108490-a155-490c-994a-07ab25054dc8">Re: I love HGTV</a>:
[QUOTE]Number, you're not confused. We already owned our place - where we currently live - and we just pretended to look at our place + two other properties and then "chose" ours. You don't actually buy anything on the show.
Posted by emilyinchile[/QUOTE]

<div>hun...wow...very interesting. I have the same question as Nebb though...is that why many of the places are empty?</div>

emilyinchile

I don't know how they do that because I doubt the film crew flies there twice. My only guess is that maybe if people were planning to paint anyway, for example, and they agree to go on the show before that, they'd film the tour of the property, then have painters come in for a day or two while they're off filming their tours of the other properties, and then film the "after." Or if it's just a case of changing furniture, that's easy to fake. I don't actually know if I've seen one where it was majorly different, can't remember.

Ours looked the same, we just had a moving crew come and move all our furniture into the guest room/building hallway/storage space so it was empty for our "before."

number55

I can't wait to watch your episode Emily...

I have friends who are filming Dinner Party Wars next week...Nebb, have you ever watched it? I don't know if it airs in the States though...

Nebb

It always says 6 months later, 1 month later, etc etc. I guess thats just a lie?

thats kind of hinky.

emilyinchile

Yes, it's a lie. Ours is going to be I don't know how many months later, and supposedly the whole time we're touring properties I'd just moved here and we were engaged but not married. In the after, we're married and have our dog. In real life, I moved here in 2007, and we got our dog and bought the apartment in 2008.

number55

In Response to <a href="http://forums.theknot.com/Sites/theknot/Pages/Main.aspx/wedding-boards_snarky-brides_love-hgtv?plckFindPostKey=Cat:Wedding%20BoardsForum:17Discussion:5ba2c643-720c-4403-97b2-8d1e8aebfb72Post:29fdefa2-847d-4d81-9fc4-8e24fdcfa3ed">Re: I love HGTV</a>:
[QUOTE]Yes, it's a lie. Ours is going to be I don't know how many months later, and supposedly the whole time we're touring properties I'd just moved here and we were engaged but not married. In the after, we're married and have our dog. In real life, I moved here in 2007, and we got our dog and bought the apartment in 2008.
Posted by emilyinchile[/QUOTE]

<div>yeah, that kinda bugs me...will you blog about the lies?</div>

reddy123

I was just about to say that H and I watch that show to make fun of it (pompous asses like nebb said), but now I feel bad with Emily on it!

Emily- Have you seen the episode? Do you look like a pompous ass? Did you pick the one with no plumbing?!(I hope you don't take offense, just wondering)

ETA: ahhh, you haven't done it yet?

Nebb

In Response to <a href="http://forums.theknot.com/Sites/theknot/Pages/Main.aspx/wedding-boards_snarky-brides_love-hgtv?plckFindPostKey=Cat:Wedding%20BoardsForum:17Discussion:5ba2c643-720c-4403-97b2-8d1e8aebfb72Post:5692c846-a919-42da-b8ad-7521686abbf5">Re: I love HGTV</a>:
[QUOTE]I can't wait to watch your episode Emily... I have friends who are filming Dinner Party Wars next week...Nebb, have you ever watched it? I don't know if it airs in the States though...
Posted by number55[/QUOTE]
Ive never watched it, I think its sort of weird. I dont like all the snooping in their stuff and weird behavior. I occasionally watch come dine with me, but I usually turn it off once they start eating and the guests get there haha.

katiewhompus

I always wondered if they had somewhat of a script. When H and I were looking at houses it got to the point where we'd walk in and just say yes or no. I don't think we ever had discussions about wallpapers, paint, etc.  It was just "yes we want this house" or "next!".

number55

In Response to <a href="http://forums.theknot.com/Sites/theknot/Pages/Main.aspx/wedding-boards_snarky-brides_love-hgtv?plckFindPostKey=Cat:Wedding%20BoardsForum:17Discussion:5ba2c643-720c-4403-97b2-8d1e8aebfb72Post:5523bbd4-9ea1-4dfe-8390-bf10829012fc">Re: I love HGTV</a>:
[QUOTE]In Response to Re: I love HGTV : Ive never watched it, I think its sort of weird. I dont like all the snooping in their stuff and weird behavior. I occasionally watch come dine with me, but I usually turn it off once they start eating and the guests get there haha.
Posted by Nebb[/QUOTE]

<div>I've really only watched it once and I didn't love it...I agree with the snooping and I don't know how I would feel about people tearing apart my life/house/food on national tv.</div><div>
</div><div>Here's the thing...when you sign up for reality tv you pretty much give the producers free reign...well my friend is going on the show with her roommate. He is gay. And he is a teacher. No big deal except he is not 'out' to most of his staff or any of the kids (it is kinda dangerous for us to do as middle school teachers)...why he is risking being outed this way is BEYOND me...</div>

reddy123

What made you want to be on the show? Did you have to send in a tape to audition?

katiewhompus

The show that always makes me sad is when they show the people in their houses, then them in their new house and the new owners in their old house. Normally it's a little old lady who has raised 5 kids and 10 grandkids and lost her husband and then a young couple comes in and drastically changes the house and she cries.
Never go back to a house once someone else has changed it, you will not be happy!

emilyinchile

Our episode airs in January, but they don't have an exact date yet. We haven't seen it and won't see it until after everyone in the US because they don't send us a DVD until after it airs. I hope we don't look like pompous asses, but we probably look ridiculous. There's no script, but you have to be really high energy and just talk and talk and talk, so I kept saying "great, let's go!" in response to our realtor saying it's time to see the bedroom/kitchen/next house, and H said "yeah" to everything I had to say about the property.

Number, I blogged about the filming and just very vaguely referred to the fact that it's staged (http://emilyinchile.blogspot.com/2010/08/not-your-average-weekend.html). Obviously I was never told not to say anything, which is why I am saying things here, but since they found my through my blog, I don't feel like it's a great idea to write an entire blog post detailing how it's all fake - might make them a bit angry, and they were perfectly nice and professional.

Nebb

In Response to <a href="http://forums.theknot.com/Sites/theknot/Pages/Main.aspx/wedding-boards_snarky-brides_love-hgtv?plckFindPostKey=Cat:Wedding%20BoardsForum:17Discussion:5ba2c643-720c-4403-97b2-8d1e8aebfb72Post:876817dd-bdf4-479a-8bdf-fd21d6ed3487">Re: I love HGTV</a>:
[QUOTE]In Response to Re: I love HGTV : I've really only watched it once and I didn't love it...I agree with the snooping and I don't know how I would feel about people tearing apart my life/house/food on national tv. Here's the thing...when you sign up for reality tv you pretty much give the producers free reign...well my friend is going on the show with her roommate. He is gay. And he is a teacher. No big deal except he is not 'out' to most of his staff or any of the kids (it is kinda dangerous for us to do as middle school teachers)...why he is risking being outed this way is BEYOND me...
Posted by number55[/QUOTE]
That just seems reckless to me, why would you do that? I dont know why someone would do something that could intentionally affect their life in a negative way, just to be on a stupid show.

emilyinchile

In Response to <a href="http://forums.theknot.com/Sites/theknot/Pages/Main.aspx/wedding-boards_snarky-brides_love-hgtv?plckFindPostKey=Cat:Wedding%20BoardsForum:17Discussion:5ba2c643-720c-4403-97b2-8d1e8aebfb72Post:2dcaef12-8446-4031-bd2e-838e6154abe1">Re: I love HGTV</a>:
[QUOTE]What made you want to be on the show? Did you have to send in a tape to audition?
Posted by reddy123[/QUOTE]

They found my blog, explained how it worked and how much we would get paid. It was enough to make it worth it for me. I am kind of embarrassed about being on TV, that wasn't the appeal for us.

Once they'd told us the basics and we said we were interested, we had to send in a video of both of us just kind of introducing ourselves to a) show that we speak fluent English and b) show that we are not painfully boring and can be energetic on camera.

reddy123

That would drive me crazy, not being able to see it before the masses.

Nebb

Can I ask, do they pay you to be on the show or is it just a "let us into your life, the end" type of thing?

number55

In Response to <a href="http://forums.theknot.com/Sites/theknot/Pages/Main.aspx/wedding-boards_snarky-brides_love-hgtv?plckFindPostKey=Cat:Wedding%20BoardsForum:17Discussion:5ba2c643-720c-4403-97b2-8d1e8aebfb72Post:b16dfb15-9d15-4f98-be84-54d46179f085">Re: I love HGTV</a>:
[QUOTE]In Response to Re: I love HGTV : That just seems reckless to me, why would you do that? I dont know why someone would do something that could intentionally affect their life in a negative way, just to be on a stupid show.
Posted by Nebb[/QUOTE]

<div>I know!  DH and I joke that we would never be on the show because we are boring. We aren't over the top or exciting or ridiculous. That is also probably why I have NO interest in going on a show like that!</div><div>
</div><div>Apparently they had a 'trial' run at home for a couple of my friends and he had a total meltdown and left the house, upset with his partner (in the show, not his boyfriend)...anyways, knowing him as I do, you can't deny that he has fairly gay tendencies in his mannerisms (or rather, he has mannerisms that are often generalized as being 'gay')...I can't for a minute imagine that one of the other guests won't at least think (and possibly talk about) it.  I just wonder if it is worth it to get 15 minutes of fame (on food tv!) if there is a chance you will be outed or mocked...</div><div>
</div><div>Not my cup of tea...</div>

emilyinchile

They paid us. I would never have done it if they hadn't paid us - it was fun (our film crew was nice, which made it fun), but it was also 3.5 really long days of filming, and I just am not that much of a famewhore.

Not sure if you were talking about the other show, if so then just ignore me