On the Subject of The Property Brothers
Do you ever watch that show on HGTV called ‘Property Brothers’? I love that show. The brothers are pretty hot, though I prefer to designer brother over the realtor one, which doesn’t make much sense since they’re twins. (Speaking of shows with hot male relatives, HGTV has started a new show featuring cousins called ‘Cousins On Call’. Must be the new trend.)
But I do have one burning question…Do the people who go on the show ever watch it? I’m serious. Have they seriously never watched? Because every episode is the same. I mean, exactly the same. They take the couple to the “fancy” millions dollar house. Make them fall in love with it…then tell them they could never in a million years afford that house. The couple acts surprised.
Only they do this every episode. Why is the couple they surprised that the first house they’re shown is not one they could buy? Then they’re taken to absolute dumps and they act horrified. They refuse to believe that the dumps could ever match the brilliance of the million-dollar home. Again…have they never watched the show? Because that’s what they do every single episode. The dump house will turn out amazing in the end. Even if they try to fake everybody into thinking it won’t work when they find a sneaky water pipe that no one expected to be behind that wall or secret wiring that wasn’t supposed to be here.
So are the people “required” to act like they don’t know the scoop? Is that in the contract?
“You must act surprised when they tell you the House Beautiful home will never be your home.”
“You must pretend to believe the ugly duckling home will never be transformed into a beautiful swan home.”
“You must be appropriately amazed that they do exactly that.”
Just wondering…
Kristin Wallace Author 
Hey, Kristin. Thanks for the Twitter follow. .
I’ve never watched the show that you’re referring to, but, I’ve often wondered if some of these shows are staged. Do you know what I mean?
Cecelia I’m sure many of these shows are staged. Some may be more “scripted” than anyone knows.
Yeah. I just think it’s misleading to viewers, showing reality-type shows that are partially (or fully) staged/scripted. At least the producers/directors should be honest about what they are doing. But, then, I guess they’re afraid of losing viewers if they tell the truth.
I live in Toronto where the show originated. I inquired about being on the show and toured many homes that were actually on the show.
I can say 100% say that the entire show is staged. The only thing that isn’t staged is the renovation. Everything else is fiction created for the show
I read an interview with Jonathan and Drew Scott where they said they are usually shooting about 9 or 10 episodes at once over a 6 month period. They have multiple renovation sites going at once, all in the same city. They use a network of realtors in the city who often refer clients to them who they think would be a good fit for the show (and usually come into it having no idea that they will HAVE to buy a fixer to be on the show). A lot of people do not watch HGTV. It makes sense to me!
Here is one article i found:
http://shine.yahoo.com/decorating/property-brothers-behind-scenes-002600630.html
I’ve been searching out the same questions. I found on one website where yahoo interviewed Jonathan, that Drew works w/a team of local realtors who bring him clients to be on the show, most of whom don’t know the premise of the show and therefore are always surprised And reluctant to do a fixer-upper.