Being chosen for a home makeover show may sound like a dream come true, especially if Chip and Joanna Gaines show up. But not all makeovers fit the “Fixer Upper” bill.
In an interview for “LA Times Today,” entertainment reporter Meredith Blake told host Lisa McRee the story of a different Magnolia home makeover team, who skipped out before the final reveal.
“Chip and Joanna Gaines are a couple who rose to fame on the TV series ‘Fixer Upper,’ where they picked up houses in the Waco, Texas, area. They are really known for this farmhouse, slightly rustic look that has become really, really popular. They’ve really launched an entire lifestyle empire. They have a line at Target, and now they’re taking over a network on cable TV,” Blake explained.
One of the shows meant to be the centerpiece of the new network is called “Home Work.”
“[Home Work] follows them as they renovate this massive old schoolhouse in rural Utah and also as they work with clients to renovate their homes, switching sort of back and forth between the two storylines. I think it was really supposed to be sort of the linchpin of their new lineup and maybe make Andy and Candis the new Chip and Joanna — but it has not turned out that way,” Blake said.
Some of the people whose homes were supposed to be renovated by the Merediths have taken to social media to express their frustration and anger at what they say is shoddy work or, in some cases, no work at all on their homes.
Aubrey Bennion is one of those people.
“Just a few days before Magnolia was supposed to make its official debut on cable, Aubrey went public on Instagram with this very lengthy story about her experience on ‘Home Work.’ She signed up to be one of the clients featured on the show, only to basically have months go by without any work being completed on her home. She pushed and pushed to finally get them to do it. As soon as the show was filmed, the paint started to chip on the cabinets. She found out the deck that they built, that she hadn’t even wanted in the first place, was built over sprinklers. It was allegedly $18,000 to fix what they did wrong because it led to flooding,” Blake said.
Bennion was not alone.
Several other women came forward on Instagram with their own similar experiences with the show. In one case, a couple said they paid the Meredith’s $50,000 and never saw a single day of work on their home.
“There was a couple who now have five children and they are renovating their small house, which had one bathroom to be shared between their entire family. They were going to build a new wing on the house and they took out a loan in order to put a down payment on the addition. They ended up not having a single day of work done in the house, and they’re trying to get repaid. There was another couple who were renovating their main living space. There’s Instagram videos of the flooring that they installed, which when you step on it would fold. They eventually had to withdraw from the show and finish the job themselves after the Merediths told them that the budget would double,” Blake explained.
Camera crews would also show up with little or no notice at these peoples’ homes.
“Anyone who’s ever had anything done in her house knows that construction does not necessarily follow a predictable timeline, whereas to get a TV show done, you have to have a certain timeline. You have a budget, you have a deadline to deliver the show. I think they found out the hard way that renovating your house for TV is not always an easy thing to do,” Blake said.
Meanwhile, the Merediths present a very wholesome, soothing social media presence.
“Their show is very kind of soothing to watch. Like a lot of these shows, you follow them as they renovate this house. They have all these kids. They do clever things to decorate this house. They have a very distinctive sort of Victorian... sort of this old-world style. But if you watch the show, you also wonder where all the money is coming from to renovate this house. They do things that are affordable, but then they also do things like they have hand-painted Victorian wallpaper. They have these custom oil portraits of their entire family, which includes seven kids. So these are big-ticket items that add up pretty quickly and you have to wonder how the math works out,” Blake said.
One of the lawyers who represents Bennion said the Merediths are essentially running a Ponzi scheme to fund their own lifestyle with the money they get from clients.
So far, Chip and Joanna Gaines have not addressed the controversy. The Magnolia Network pulled “Home Work” from its schedule for a week pending review, but it is now available again to watch and stream on Discovery+. The Merediths have spoken out in the wake of the scandal.
“The Merediths have gone on Instagram and posted a very lengthy video where they respond to a lot of the specific claims. They basically portrayed themselves as being slightly in over their heads, overwhelmed by producing a TV show in a pandemic while also raising a family. They dispute a lot of what the other people have alleged, but it’s hard to write it all off as people being just simply in over their heads, I would say,” Blake shared.
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