Secrets From Reality Makeover Shows
If you binge reality TV like makeover shows and home renovation series, you’ve likely thought about what it would be like to make an appearance of your own. Would you get the transformation of your dreams? How scripted are these shows? What’s it like after the film crew leaves? We’ve found out the answers to all of these questions and more, thanks to the help of people who have been open about their stories. The general consensus: these shows often make people’s lives worse than before. From Property Brothers and House Hunters to Restaurant Impossible, the classic favorites can have some sinister outcomes. But there are a few shining moments, and we’ve found those too. The few people who have had their lives change for the better make these shows at least somewhat worth it.
Restaurant Impossible Makes Terrible Design Possible
Let’s ruin your opinion of Restaurant Impossible. For those of you who have never seen the show, chef Robert Irvine has only two days and $10,000 to save failing restaurants. By transforming the design and the menu, they can stay in business. But with a low-quality budget and a limited timeline, there’s not much you can do but downgrade the restaurant’s existing meal options and take away any of its charm.
This Reddit user remembers the time when the show came to a local restaurant. Its comfy chairs, dark wood, and stained glass windows were promptly replaced with uncomfortable chairs and enough coats of white paint to make you feel like you’re dining in a psych ward.
Not Quite a Fairy Tale
And lowball budgets aren’t the only way that renovation shows cut corners. As long as the final design looks good on film, producers don’t care how it’ll function for the people using it every day. Even with the best intentions, the end result isn’t doing anyone justice. One woman tells the story of her family going on a home renovation show when she was a kid.
Her room was one of the three that the producers decided to decorate. Although they transformed it into a pretty fairy woodland, it was all for show. The murals on the wall peeled off quickly and the designs didn’t hold up. Not the fairlytale ending we were hoping for.
Striving to Be the Best Version of Yourself
Makeover shows that rely on competition can quickly become toxic. Even though you should always try to compete against yourself, it’s easy to compare yourself to how others are doing. Programs like The Biggest Loser can make contestants feel like they’re never good enough, even if they’ve lost dozens of pounds and are in the best shape of their lives.
One contestant in her city’s local version of the popular weight-loss competition didn’t let the show get to her head. Even though she was the first one eliminated, she was proud of herself for following a healthy diet and exercise regimen instead of taking on a crash diet. This is an accomplishment that deserves to be celebrated!
Paying for Your Public Humiliation
Not going to lie, one of our guilty pleasures is watching makeover shows like What Not to Wear. We’ll admit that one of the most entertaining parts of the show is that we can judge the style of the people getting makeovers. Sure, it’s a little humiliating on their part, but they’re getting a free makeover out of it! Seems like a fair give and take.
But participants on the show have to pay up in more ways than one. Aside from giving up their privacy, they also have to provide the $5000 for the makeover! Usually, family and friends will take care of the costs. That begs another question: Who would spend thousands of dollars to publicly humiliate someone they care about? The show should be called Who Not to Trust.
This Calls for a Lesson in Time Management Skills
There’s no doubt about it: Producers are often given insanely unrealistic time frames to complete major renovations for their shows. Since desperate times call for desperate measures, they frequently leave their renovations unfinished. But it’s pretty embarrassing that they resort to tape and staples to hold their design concepts together.
In one episode of a home makeover show, the crew and producers had 3 weeks to film and redesign. We’re no experts but this seems like enough of a timeline to produce at least a decent end result. In the end, curtains were stapled to the wall instead of hung with curtain rods, only half of the wall was painted, and empty cardboard boxes wrapped with fabric were used as “tables.” Seems like this team needs a planning book.
Hotel Hell Makes for Hellish Memories
Following the same theme as other makeover and renovation shows, Hotel Hell knows how to turn up the drama by updating a hotel that no one would stay at into one that visitors will remember. It’s too bad that guests remember their stays in the made-over hotels for all of the wrong reasons.
One guest spent a night at a hotel that had been on the show but discovered that the room didn’t live up to its grand transformation. The outdated bathroom was untouched and never even featured on the show. The new decorations looked and felt cheap… how charming. And the fancy new bed linens were soon replaced with the old ones.
Keeping Up With the Joneses
Home renovation shows are especially skilled at selling the American Dream: With the help of the producers, a deserving family can now live in their dream home! While each episode always ends on a positive note, the aftermath of shows like these is rarely documented. That’s because real life isn’t as simple as giving someone a house and living happily ever after.
One widowed woman and her family appeared on an episode of Extreme Makeover: Home Edition, receiving a beautiful home that she and her children loved. The problem is that maintaining a home like that is much more expensive and difficult, from property tax and electricity to higher water bills. She soon realized she wasn’t able to afford it.
Know Any Good Pirate Jokes?
What did the pirate say when he got cold? Shiver me timbers! What has 8 legs, 8 arms, and 8 eyes? 8 pirates. Why did the pirate buy a phone? To make booty calls! What’s a pirate’s favorite fish? A swordfish. How do you make a pirate angry? Take away the “p.” What socks do pirates like? Arrrgyle.
All of these pirate jokes are just the tip of the iceberg, but you can’t tell them at your restaurant unless it’s appropriately pirate-themed. One bar remodel show turned a local pirate bar into the generic, swanky new bar these programs often design. But the owners weren’t about to starrrrve the customers of their pirate charm. Shortly after the renovation, all of the pirate decorations returned.
You’re Special in Your Own Way
Growing up, our parents always told us we’re all special in our own ways. Sure, maybe your older sister was better in school than you were, but your eye for design was unrivaled by anyone you knew. The same goes for your home. The charming cottage on the corner may not be for you, but it might be your best friend’s dream home.
But being too unique can cause problems. Some of the most talented artists in history also felt the most isolated and depressed. Your Extreme Makeover: Home Edition house may not be what buyers are looking for. This is exactly what happened to a family on the show. With the newly made-over princess bedroom, baseball bedroom, and musical bedroom, the house was impossible to sell.
60-Minute Makeover, 3-Week Takeover
We’ll hand it to the creators of renovation and makeover shows. They have no shortage of entertaining titles. One British interior design show called itself 60 Minute Makeover. While the owner is not home, the designers come in and completely redecorate the house, all in a 60-minute timeframe. You’ve probably already guessed at this point that it’s too good to be true, and it is.
One Reddit user explains that a house on his street was in the show, and the film crew parked out on the property for three weeks. In case you’re wondering, three weeks is 30,240 minutes. Of course, that doesn’t make for as good of a title.
Cutting Corners and Chipping Tiles
We all knew going into this that makeover shows weren’t 100% organic, but it’s disheartening to find out just how much the producers keep up from the audience. A worker for a plumbing and remodeling company remembers the time when he did some work for a house on an HGTV show.
Although tiles need grout for proper installation, the host of the show decided that the Moroccan tiles picked out by the homeowners would look much better if they didn’t have grout. As soon as filming wrapped, the worker and the rest of his team were called back to replace the chipping and broken tiles… but only after they signed NDAs.
Some People Just Never Change
For all of the optimists out there, we have some bad news: Some people never change. No matter how many chances you give them, excuses you make, or good energy you send in their direction, they have no desire but to keep on being their old toxic selves. Even a drastic change like a home makeover isn’t enough for them to better themselves.
This user remembers one of his classmates who went on a home renovation show with his family. He describes the kid as a trashy type with family members who were drug addicts. Although they got their act together for the show, the house was back to being a dirty dump again soon after filming ended. At least they’re consistent.
The Popular Opinion: No Common Sense
We swear that our goal isn’t to make you question the intelligence of the people running these shows, but we can’t help that they have zero common sense. Here’s what we mean: Say that you work for the Restaurant Impossible team, and you’re saving a restaurant by fixing its menu. Would you take off the most popular item from the menu?
Of course not! You would keep the customer favorites and give new life to the dishes that no one wants to order. But for some reason (we’re guessing stupidity), the Restaurant Impossible team removed the most popular item from the menu of a restaurant. Naturally, the restaurant’s “transformation” made it one that no one wanted to dine at.
This Part Didn’t Make It in the Show…
Part of the fun of watching renovation shows is seeing the creative design solutions the crew uses. When they have a decent budget to work with, they can make some pretty cool upgrats from top-of-the-line furniture to expensive electronics. When you’re thousands of miles away, these new homes are a good source of inspiration.
But when you’re a mile down the street in one of Brazil’s most dangerous neighborhoods, they’re a good way to attract criminals. A home in one of Brazil’s peripheral neighborhoods got an insane makeover that was broadcast all over the country thanks to the show. Two days later, the home was completely robbed.
Don’t Read This If You Love House Hunters
Growing up, House Hunters was the classic HGTV show to watch with the whole family. A couple or family would name a list of elements for their dream house, their ideal budget, and then visit three homes. At the end of the episode, they’d compare all three and make their final decision.
It was always exciting to compete with our family members to guess which house will be picked… but the selection process was just a ploy by the production team. This Reddit user explains that his cousin went on House Hunters and already had his house picked out before being filmed. He “looked” at two others without any serious interest in buying them.
Sorry… But Property Brothers Is Guilty, Too
Not trying to diss all of our favorite renovation TV shows, but Property Brothers is just as guilty as the rest. Yes, Drew Scott is a licensed realtor and Jonathan Scott is a contractor. But as far as the show goes, they’re just actors. One guy remembers his buddy doing the show and having the brothers “help” him pick out his house, even though he had bought it long before the film crew showed up.
Once the show started, he was given $10,000 to do renovations. Not a bad budget, except that the show picked expensive contractors who had no motivation to do a good job, took their paycheck, and got out of there. The homeowner could have completed the renovations himself with a longer timeline and competitive bids on contract work. Guess the Scotts aren’t your bros after all.
We’re Only Happy When You’re Not
We’ll admit it, if you’re not interested in interior design and home renovations, these kinds of shows can be pretty boring. Producers like to remedy this by adding a bit of spice whenever they can. Their main strategy? Create conflict! The producers may paint a happy picture of doing good for families, but their main job is to build in the tension. The bottom line is that the producers aren’t happy unless you are unhappy.
One husband and wife on an HGTV show were looking through design layouts and agreeing on everything just like the happy couple they were. The crew immediately remedied this by scripting the show so she would seem like an ungrateful, tantrum-throwing wife.
From One Extreme to Another
The older you get, the more you realize that balance is the key to everything. Spending too much time at work will only lead to burnout, but you’ll never be fulfilled if you don’t challenge yourself. The same goes for all of life: your family, friends, and your personal goals. Unfortunately, makeover shows don’t do too well at understanding how middle grounds or realistic lifestyles work. Why would they even try when the best way to get views is to go to extremes?
One woman knew a coworker who went on a makeover show, only to return to her normal self the next day. Her coworker had her hair done, got a new wardrobe, had her teeth whitened, and received tips from a professional makeup artist. But when you’re not used to spending hours on your appearance every day, it can be overwhelming to make a sudden switch. Lesson learned: One thing at a time.
Ruining Lives for the Plot
We never imagined how bad the outcome of these shows could be. But it’s easy to forget these are real people who are part of communities. And once your life becomes public, there’s no taking it back. One firefighter who appeared on Extreme Makeover: Home Edition ended up in a heavy depression and tried to commit suicide.
First, the show made him seem like the single hero for saving a life, when he was on a team with 7 other people. He already felt guilty for being picked to be on the show, and this made it even worse. The producers then made his life look as sad as possible in order to create a more emotional story. And because his community thought another family in the area was more deserving, he didn’t have the support he needed when the show aired. He would have been better off if he had never been selected in the first place.
It Takes Two to Tangle
We like to keep it real: Not all of the problems on these home renovations shows are caused by the producers. The homeowners have their own responsibilities to be clear about what they want , right? One Reddit user complained about the garden makeover his house received, but we took a closer look at the situation, and we think there are two parties at fault here.
The design crew put a much nicer garden in place of the original one, filmed the reveal, and then sent the family on their merry way. Soon after the plant pots all crumbled, everything was in a tangled mess, and the tiles couldn’t be seen anymore. Was the show partially responsible for making such major changes so quickly? Yes, as they were probably not the most sustainable or high-quality additions to the garden. But should the family have kept up their garden? 100%.
A Home for Future Generations
So many of these home renovation shows have sad details, it’s time for something a little more positive. These renovations have to be good for someone, right? Extreme Makeover came to the home of one family, did a demolition, and rebuilt the house from the ground up. The property taxes went way up, so the story could have easily ended badly.
Luckily, the family could afford the financial burden of taking care of the nicer property, and the house has held up over time. Multiple people have even used it for their weddings! We hope that this is a home that will stand the test of time.
This Is Just Straight-Up Scamming
We could chalk up all of the poor decisions made by the producers, designers, and crews of renovation shows to a few common themes: incompetence, laziness, and selfishness. No one necessarily had bad intentions, but they didn’t make the best decisions for the people they were “helping.” But with this story, we can introduce a new one: manipulation.
This person’s parents were chosen to be on a show where a realtor came in and gave a home evaluation. In this instance, the realtor gave her parents a lowball evaluation for her home, then showed up after the show was filmed and tried to buy it for that low amount. Her agenda was clear. Her conscience? Not so much.
Left Without a Friend in the World
Imagine what it would be like to go on an extreme makeover show like What Not to Wear. First, you’re being followed and filmed constantly over the course of weeks. You have to face public judgment, humiliation, and you have no say over what your makeover will look like. When all’s said and done, you can only hope the results will be worth the effort and embarrassment.
One contestant on What Not to Wear lost both his privacy from the public eye and the support from his friend group. After the show, he lost all of his friends because they thought he was “too good for them.” While we’re not justifying these toxic friends in any way, it is worth thinking about how much emphasis the show places on looking a certain way to be a desirable and successful person.
Smile Big for the Camera!
We’ve never seen the contracts for home renovation shows, but we’re going to make a safe bet that the homeowners agree to put a smile on their face and act happy with the results, no matter what they end up being. All-wooden walls and velvet couches? Lovely. A used carpet the producers found on the side of the road? Vintage!
Naturally, the true reaction is revealed once the crew leaves the property. One user remembers his uncle and aunt being on a renovation show and absolutely hating what the show did. As soon as the renovation was over, he changed most of the show’s “transformation.” All’s well that ends well!
A Giant(s) Lesson in Acting Skills
Sometimes even the people who received makeovers they were happy with still had problems with the number of staged interactions. One guy had a pretty sick makeover, his designers teamed up with the MLB so he could receive a baseball-themed yard. Although he removed some of the gimmick props after the transformation, this Giants fan was happy with the overall outcome.
But this makeover wasn’t enough to make up for all of the show’s scripted conversations. He had to fake surprise when the producers showed up at his property even though they had agreed on working together months ahead of time. They also took multiple takes to his reaction of the transformation, stripping away the authenticity that viewers love.
Nothing in Life Is Free
At the risk of sounding like major downers, everything in life comes at a cost. By this point, we’ve seen how appearing on renovation and makeover shows can cost you your happiness and privacy. The stakes can be even higher: You can lose your financial security when you have to fix all of the mistakes made by the so-called “experts.”
One woman who appeared on a home makeover show had to deal with $20,000 worth of damage to her house thanks to the design team’s poor choices. They left grout to overflow on her countertops, then wondered why they couldn’t remove it. The show eventually replaced the design team with a more competent one, but the damage was already done.
Don’t Fix It If It Ain’t Broke
The concept of restaurant renovation shows isn’t bad in and of itself. An expert who comes in and helps remedy a restaurant’s challenges can make a huge impact. But the staged nature of the shows and the agenda of the producers make it difficult to create meaningful change. Case in point: one family-run Mexican restaurant had its 15 minutes of fame on Restaurant Impossible.
The restaurant was featured on the show because it had poor management and money problems. As for the food and decor, it was a local favorite with a great menu. The show had other ideas and painted all of the walls white, took down the decorations, added unattractive lighting, and updated the menu. The community was unhappy, the restaurant suffered, and soon returned to its pre-show menu and style. Did the staff ever get the help with its management and financial troubles? Doubtful.
Kitchen Nightmares Makes Reality a Nightmare
Shows like Gordon Ramsey’s Kitchen Nightmares promise to save the restaurants they “rescue” from the worst-case outcomes: losing customers, conflict between staff, and, ultimately, closing down. But what the producers fail to tell the audience is that all of these worst-case outcomes were the result of their show.
In this case, the show created a completely contrived “family feud” to attract more views, laying it on thick by saying that the restaurant had health code violations and used bad food. The renovation took away the restaurant’s charm and affordable menu. In a small town this would be an actual nightmare. Six months after the episode aired, the community-favorite restaurant was out of business.
Giving Everything a Fair Shot
Despite some of the menu and decor changes that are genuinely terrible, these shows aren’t altogether useless. Restaurant Impossible can introduce fresh ideas to restaurants that want an update as long as they’re open to being flexible. One South Carolina restaurant decided to give their decisions a fair shot before making adjustments.
After two weeks with the new menu, the restaurant realized that some dishes would not be a hit. In their area, the arugula prosciutto pizza didn’t stay on the menu (Apparently, many people did not know what prosciutto was). But the show’s chef gave the restaurant an excellent carbonara recipe that made the cut. Not too shabby.
Winning Big After Biggest Loser
By now you may have promised yourself that you’re never tuning in to another makeover or renovation show again. You know all of the dirty secrets, so how will you ever again be able to enjoy Bob and Marla deciding on their dream flat in London? For all of the staged interactions, bad outcomes, and cheap budgets, there are still some heart-warming results.
One person remembers her friend’s husband competing on The Biggest Loser. Although he didn’t win, he came off the show in great shape and happy with his experience. He’s continued his fitness regimen and made a career out of giving motivational talks.