Fans of twin sisters Lyndsay Lamb and Leslie Davis are thrilled after their big win on the season 5 finale of “Rock the Block,” which aired on April 15, 2024. But other HGTV fans are up in arms over the result, taking their frustrations to social media, prompting host Ty Pennington to urge them all to cool their jets.
“I was not the judge and had no part in picking the winner,” he wrote to one fan on Instagram the following morning, later sharing the exchange as a post. “Please remember it’s just a TV show at the end of the day.”
For six weeks, four teams of HGTV stars — all who had been on a previous season of “Rock The Block” — worked like crazy to renovate side-by-side beach homes in Treasure Island, Florida. Considered the “redemption” season, all four teams — which also included “Renovation Island” stars Bryan and Sarah Baeumler, “Bargain Block” stars Evan Thomas and Keith Bynum, and “Fix My Flip” stars Page Turner and Mitch Glew — were gunning to prove they could win the hit show.
As soon as the episode’s judge, “Property Brothers” star Jonathan Scott, jokingly crowned the “Unsellable Houses” sisters the “Queens of Treasure Island,” annoyed fans flooded social media with their takes. To illustrate the kind of vitriol he and other HGTV stars were receiving, Pennington shared one of the early comments on his feed and encouraged fans to watch their words.
Ty Pennington Urges Fans to ‘Be Kind’ in Their ‘Rock The Block’ Feedback
During the finale, Scott was wowed by the finished beach homes and called the season “the most exciting block of them all.” But to choose the winning team, the projected value of their renovations was a major piece of the puzzle. Davis and Lamb managed to increase their home’s value by $600,000, per HGTV.
The morning after the finale aired, Pennington posted a photo of he and Scott touring one of the houses. In the caption, he urged Scott not to read the comments by writing, “Don’t do it! Don’t do it!”
On the next slide, he shared a screenshot of a comment he received from a fan who accused him of deleting any negative comments about the “Rock The Block” homes and contestants.
“You must be removing a lot of comments with that garage sale finale win,” the person wrote.
Trying to remain level-headed, Pennington replied, “Well that’s not very nice to say but no, I’m not deleting comments. I was not the judge and had no part in picking the winner. I’m just the host and I thought all the houses were incredible.”
Unless someone says something offensive,” Pennington continued, “people are allowed to comment and have their opinions. Please remember it’s just a TV show at the end of the day. Try to be kind ✌️”
In the comment section of his post, Pennington spent time responding to fans’ feedback, even consoling those who were disappointed in the result.
For instance, one person wrote, “Love the twins but I just feel so disappointed for Keith and Evan because they were definitely robbed last time and they were robbed again this time.”
Pennington responded, “it stings for sure. Love those guys. I wish everyone could win. Honestly. I mean, everyone is so damn talented it’s a REALLY, really hard decision every year.”
But the viewer got one last shot in, writing, “well really some seem easier than others. Lol.”
In March, Pennington told Heavy that he likes that people have opinions about the designs they see on HGTV, and that even he sometimes disagrees with a “Rock The Block” team’s choice.
“I mean, look, art is subjective,” he said. “Everyone is going to have something that appeals to them and maybe not somebody else. So that’s why it is so interesting.”
Other HGTV Stars Have Shared How Brutal Fan Reactions Have Become
This is not the first time “Rock The Block” teams have remarked on how harsh fans can be towards them on social media, whether about the competition or their own HGTV shows.
On April 5, “Fixer to Fabulous” star Jenny Marrs wrote on Instagram that she was “exhausted by humanity” after seeing a snippy comment from a viewer about her faith.
In response, Marrs wrote, “WHY do we make passive aggressive comments just to stir up trouble? WHY do we share our opinions, not out of love, but out of malice from behind a screen? I just don’t get it.”
She also shared in her Stories that she’d sent a text to check in on Lamb and Davis, knowing they were likely receiving unkind comments from people watching “Rock The Block,” on which she and her husband Dave Marrs were a team during the third season.
“Mental health check in 🤪,” she wrote to the sisters. “I’ve been thinking about you both a lot. For me, the airing of RTB (and crazy comments/opinions) was almost as stressful as the actual work part. Hope you’re both holding up. Love you two!!!”
Beneath the screenshot, Marrs wrote in her Story, “The fact that I have to check in with my friends because I KNOW how harsh the world is when our shows air is what I’m talking about. After sooooo much work, we are torn apart for things that are beyond our control (the shows are edited to create television — sometimes more dramatically than we would like, for example).”
On April 2, “Home Town” stars Erin and Ben Napier also implored their fans to have some empathy as they write their feedback online, saying that “rude” and “ugly” comments about the houses they renovate can be very hard for the actual homeowners to read.
“Y’all realize we design these houses for people who really live in them,” Erin said in the video they posted. “You’re not hurting my feelings at all. But you are being really ugly to the people who are living in these houses.”
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