Sex in the makeup chair, a relationship that flopped, and one very regrettable
tablecloth. It may churn out hit after hit, but HGTV has taken a few of its own.
HGTV has long been inclusive of the LGBTQ community and has proudly featured LGBTQ hosts,
highlighted LGBTQ homeowners, and promoted LGBTQ partners through their platforms. So when their
inclusive image was threatened by a pair of house-flipping brothers, the network took
quick action to shut down production on a show that they had already publicly committed to.
According to ABC News, brothers David and Jason Benham were slated to join the fall
2014 lineup with their show "Flip it Forward" when a liberal watchdog blog
amplified David's past anti-LGBTQ comments. At a 2012 prayer rally, David said he wanted to,
quote, "stop homosexuality and its agenda that is attacking the nation."
The following day, HGTV announced on Facebook that they would not move forward with the Benham
brothers' show. David acknowledged that his 2012 comments had caused him trouble in the past,
but insisted that HGTV already knew about it. He told ABC News -
"We explained it to them and we gave the proper context for my statements,
and they looked behind our eyes and said,
'they don't have any hate in their hearts for anyone, so we are going to give them a show.'"
"Never have I ever spoken against homosexuals
as individuals and gone against them - I speak about an agenda."
The brothers said HGTV told them that the cancellation
was a business decision and gave no further explanation.
When the curtain was pulled back on HGTV juggernaut "House Hunters," fans
were stunned to find out just how much of the process is totally contrived. In 2012,
"House Hunters" contestant and homeowner Bobi Jensen divulged on a blog called Hooked
on Houses that she had already purchased the home she 'chose' for the show. On top of that,
the other two houses belonged to friends who went along with the ruse and pretended
their own homes were on the market. "It felt like we just had a few days
to scrounge up some houses to look at, and it was our responsibilities to find the houses."
Jensen acknowledged that her story may not be how the show always operates because they
had difficulty finding for-sale homes to view, but her account forced a transparent
response from the network. A publicist for "House Hunters" clarified in a statement to
Entertainment Weekly that sometimes the homeowner has already purchased a home by the time the crew
is ready to film, so they have to stage some of the scenes. The statement read -
"We're making a television show, so we manage certain production and time constraints,
while honoring the home buying process.”
In 2012, The Washington Post reported that "House Hunters" had as many as 40 production
and camera teams around the globe at once to keep episodes coming, so managing the filming of that
many homebuyers is understandably complicated. The show's fans moved on quickly from the controversy,
though, and "House Hunters" did not suffer in popularity in the long run.
When Chip and Joanna Gaines joined HGTV in 2013, they had no idea how big their empire
would become in such a short time. In less than a decade, the network helped turn them from a
modestly successful house-flipping team into a mammoth lifestyle and media brand. But in 2017,
Chip's former friends and partners in the Texas real-estate company Magnolia Realty
filed a lawsuit against him. They alleged Chip fraudulently bought out their shares
in the company without telling them he had partnered with HGTV for a show.
Waco attorneys John Lewis and Richard Clark sought a $1 million payout and a return of
their ownership stakes or fair compensation for what they would have earned had they
not sold their stakes back to the reality star. Chip responded by later countersuing.
Chip Gaines arranged the buyout of $2,500 for each partner only two days before he announced
the HGTV deal, but he maintained that there was no way he could have predicted the sensational
popularity of "Fixer Upper." Chip was especially critical of his ex-friends for not reaching out
to him privately to resolve the matter before taking it to court. In 2020, the judge tossed
out the lawsuit against Chip Gaines, and in 2023, the countersuit was settled out of court.
In 2019, HGTV introduced "Windy City Rehab," a series that followed the team of Alison
Victoria and Donovan Eckhardt as they flipped properties around Chicago. Although Victoria
and Eckhardt started out as friends, things took a turn when Season 2 rolled around.
On top of the pair getting hit with multiple lawsuits from unhappy homeowners,
Eckhardt also was in hot water with the City of Chicago for cutting serious corners.
"The Buildings Department of Chicago had stopped work on over a
dozen of their renovations projects for violations."
According to Architectural Digest, his team reportedly worked without obtaining necessary
permits, didn't adhere to safety codes, skipped inspections, and the list goes
on. Eckhardt's company lost permit privileges and his contractor's license was suspended.
Victoria wasn't happy with this development, and by the middle of the second season,
Eckhardt parted ways with the series. He filed his own $2.2 million defamation
and libel lawsuit against Discovery Inc.'s subsidiary Scripps and the production company,
claiming that the show made him out to be the villain. Eckhardt and his attorney called
out Victoria's claims about the situation specifically. Eckhardt’s lawyer claimed -
"They knew they were relying upon an unreliable source based upon her prior
false public statements and based on the fact that she'd been sued multiple times for fraud."
Unfortunately for Eckhardt, Scripps won the battle. The judge ruled that the network is
protected by the First Amendment when it comes to the show's portrayal of
Eckhardt and maintained that there was no proof of malice on the company's end.
On their way to the top, Chip and Joanna Gaines' ride to fame has involved multiple
controversies. Another setback came in 2018 when Magnolia Waco Properties, LLC,
the parent company of "Fixer Upper," was assessed a fine by the Environmental Protection Agency,
or EPA, to the tune of $40,000. The EPA also required them to shell out
$160,000 for lead-related cleanup costs. The company was dinged for violating the
Toxic Substances Control Act and the Lead, Renovation, Repair, and Painting Rule.
Given the serious risks that come with lead exposure, it shouldn't come as a surprise that
the EPA has strict rules when it comes to dealing with older homes that contain lead paint. Chip and
Joanna's company got in trouble after failing to adhere to a number of these rules in nearly three
dozen home renovations. According to the report, they did not post signage to keep crews safe,
hire a lead-certified renovator, properly cover or close off work areas to minimize exposure to
paint chips, or educate homeowners about potential lead contamination.
A company spokesman, John Marsicano, stressed that the Gaines took the
violation very seriously and wanted to do the right thing for their crew, homeowners,
and the community. Marsicano said in a statement that Magnolia Homes would continue to, quote,
"be proactive with our efforts to ensure total compliance moving forward and remain
committed to raising awareness in our community and our industry."
For decades, the network has featured impressive home remodels that keep viewers
coming back for more. However, HGTV renovations don't always hit the mark,
and there have been more than a few dissatisfied homeowners. "Love It or List It" contestants Deena
Murphy and Timothy Sullivan filed a lawsuit against production company Big Coat TV and
the show's chosen contracting company in 2016. According to Murphy and Sullivan,
the work not only fell short but cost them more than they bargained for.
According to the couple, out of the $140,000 they paid to Big Coat TV for the job, $85,000 allegedly
went toward the renovations, whereas the rest went to the production of the show. Murphy and
Sullivan also voiced concern about the choice of contractors because of unfavorable reviews
they had seen on Angie's List. They weren't given a choice, and the couple claimed that
Big Coat TV's business model left them with subpar work on the home that made it unlivable,
including low-quality materials, water-damaged floors, and windows that had been painted shut.
Following the remodel, Murphy and Sullivan were not able to sell the house without having to
spend more money on fixing the damage, so they took the production company to court. Big Coat
TV also countersued the couple for breach of contract, libel, slander, and product
disparagement. According to The News & Observer, the dispute was eventually settled out of court.
In 2013, HGTV introduced us to not one, but two house-flipping power couples:
Chip and Joanna Gaines on "Fixer Upper" and Tarek El Moussa and Christina Hall
on "Flip or Flop." While both duos found great success with their respective shows early on,
the two popular couples saw their paths diverge significantly.
Shortly after "Flip or Flop" debuted, El Moussa and Hall experienced some major
life changes. After being diagnosed with both thyroid and testicular cancer in 2013,
El Moussa underwent treatment. Then in 2015, Hall and El Moussa welcomed their second child,
but despite that, they decided to separate the following year.
According to People, the separation announcement
came a few months after police responded to a call involving a gun at the El Moussa
home. Though El Moussa downplayed the incident as a misunderstanding
initially, they eventually cited it as the beginning of the end of their relationship.
The pair continued to make the HGTV show "Flip or Flop" while
they weathered divorce and remarriages simultaneously.
"It's part of who we are and what we do,
and for us to just throw everything away, it just wasn't worth it."
They stuck with the show for a while, but in March 2022, a little less than a year after they
got into a particularly nasty on-set argument, El Moussa and Hall announced "Flip or Flop" was done.
HGTV's patriotism was called into question in 2013 after an online tutorial recommended
using an American flag as a tablecloth for the Fourth of July. The backlash was immediate,
and the network removed the post and issued a formal apology for the suggestion,
which would be in violation of the U.S. Flag Code. Specifically,
section 176 of the code states that the flag must not touch anything beneath it
or be displayed in a way that it can be easily soiled. In a Facebook post, the network stated -
"This was a regrettable use of our flag and it never should have happened. […] We want to
assure our fans that HGTV is proud of the American flag and everything it symbolizes for our people."
HGTV's family-friendly image took a hit when Carter Oosterhouse, lifestyle expert and star
of the 2007 series "Carter Can," was accused of sexual coercion by a former employee in
2017. As reported by The Hollywood Reporter, Kailey Kaminsky alleged that he propositioned
her multiple times to perform a sex act when she worked as his makeup artist in 2008. She stated
that she continually declined until he threatened her job. After she gave in to his request, he
allegedly continued to proposition her every time they worked together, and she became increasingly
uncomfortable with the dynamic until she had to be hospitalized for a stress-induced stomach ulcer.
Oosterhouse, who has been married to actor Amy Smart since 2011, denied the accusations,
maintaining he and Kaminsky had a consensual relationship. He went on
to claim they had over a dozen consensual sexual interactions and told The Hollywood Reporter -
"I would have never done anything that I was not sure was mutually agreeable."
Although Oosterhouse wasn't working with HGTV at the time that the allegations surfaced,
the network was quick to address the news. HGTV said in a statement -
"While we have not been in production with Carter Oosterhouse on an HGTV series for many years,
we take matters such as this very seriously. We do not tolerate harassment of any kind."
If you or anyone you know has been a victim of sexual assault,
help is available. Visit the Rape, Abuse & Incest National Network
website or contact RAINN's National Helpline at 1-800-656-HOPE (4673).