Mindy and Paul King went on “Property Brothers” to build their dream four-bedroom, ranch-style home.
Now it’s a living HGTV hell.
The Las Vegas-based couple took a gamble on the HGTV show — starring twins Jonathan Scott, a contractor, and Drew Scott, a real estate expert — that helps couples find, buy, and remodel fixer-uppers in 2019, forgoing a honeymoon to become homeowners.
Instead, they’re suing.
And they’re not alone: other unhappy homeowners have also headed to the courts after the promise of a primetime glow-up has gone wrong.
The dark side of cheery home makeover shows is the premise of Showtime’s new dark comedy “The Curse.”
It stars Emma Stone and Nathan Fielder as an HGTV husband-and-wife team doing more harm than good for communities while turning their efforts into content — a twisted cross between “Hometown,” Chip and Joanna Gaines and “The Truman Show.”
But in real life, HGTV’s ratings machine — it and Hallmark vie to be the biggest non-news cable channels — has created casualties.
Many disgruntled denizens are fighting the network tooth and nail in lawsuits filed against the production companies and contractors affiliated with HGTV shows.
Others are taking to social media to blast its celebrity hosts for uprooting their living quarters in the name of their “biggest ever flip” – as was the case when “Flip or Flop” star Tarek El Moussa attempted to buy a property in North Hollywood, evicting long-time rent-stabilized residents.
He backed out of the project just days after they agreed on a significant move-out deal.
“Property Brothers”: Kitchen Nightmares
The Kings were promised a signature Scott Brothers look: a massive new kitchen with an island, clean looks, and high-end fixtures.
But they say their HGTV disaster began when the “reveal” was being filmed in February 2019 with the brothers.
“Our reveal took hours to film because we’re like ‘What’s wrong with this? Why does this look like this?’” Mindy told The Post.
From there, it was downhill and in 2021 they sued the show’s production company, Cineflix, and the construction company that works for the show.
They alleged in court papers that they were saddled with water intrusion, electrical code violations, and a stove grouted to the wall with drywall crushing the gas line, forcing them to heat their food outside.
“We’re living without an oven or a range,” Mindy, 49, said. “The sink fell through the counter. We can’t use our gas stove – we haven’t been able to use it in four years. I have to cook on a hot plate on my patio,” she said.
The Kings allege electrical work was faulty and done without proper permitting, and that the dishwasher became a biohazard that flooded their kitchen floor and had to be dealt with by engineers in hazmat suits.
“Nothing in our house is to code. We have black and green sludge coming out under our kitchen sink. We spent over $200,000 with the show,” Mindy told The Post, noting payment for renovations ahead of appearing on home improvement shows is typically required upfront.
They’re suing for fraud, misrepresentation, and faulty workmanship, all of which the production and construction companies deny.
The Post has reached out to HGTV and the companies for comment.
“They didn’t follow approved plans from the city; it was a total bait and switch,” Mindy said.
“They’ve never come back and fixed anything. We have pieces of metal coming through our flooring – we had to pull a piece out of my foot and my son’s foot.”
The couple also alleged in the suit being charged for high-end fixtures and instead receiving “lower quality” finishes, fixtures, and equipment. The case will go to trial next June.
Drew and Jonathan Scott are not mentioned in the lawsuit, though Mindy says she personally reached out asking both for help to no avail.
The Scott brothers did not respond to a request for comment.
“The brothers have been made aware of everything – they know the conditions we’re living in and they’ve done nothing,” King told The Post. “Neither has the production company.”
“Renovation Impossible”: Fixer Downer
Arlington, Texas-based Ron Onyon and his family appeared on the now-canceled “Renovation Impossible,” a show following contractor Russell Holmes as he helped people upgrade their homes on a shoestring budget.
But, he says, their $75,000 budget for kitchen and bathroom upgrades has turned into a $150,000 loss with more money needed to put things right.
“HGTV ruined my house. We lost over $150,000. It will cost tens of thousands of dollars to fix the work,” Onyon said in a TikTok.
He chronicled the damage in a series of TikTok videos accusing contractors of leaving his home a safety hazard.
The contractors, he claims, replaced a door and a window with a sliding glass door but failed to properly install it.
“It would just take a little wind, pulling on it too hard or bumping into it and it would fall over right on top of somebody. What would this do to my 5-year-old son? My wife?” he asks in the TikTok.
In another TikTok he complains about chipped countertops, calling them a “used damaged eye sore.” But the “most dangerous and hazardous” he claims, is the bathroom, where contractors installed a bathtub which he says backs on to exposed electrical wires, and a shower which doesn’t work properly.
The production company and construction company did not respond to requests for comment.
“Flip or Flop”: This Flip Flopped
In North Hollywood, Los Angeles, HGTV star Tarek El Moussa is at the center of a storm over what he said would be his “biggest ever flip.”
His investment firm TEM Capital and his wife Heather Rae’s company HEM Capital announced plans in August to buy and demolish the nearly 100-year-old group of family bungalows in the Los Angeles Arts District and put up a towering,138-unit residential complex with a rooftop pool.
Outraged longtime renters threatened with eviction lashed out at the HGTV star, who first found fame in 2013 hosting “Flip or Flop” with ex-wife Christina Hall.
In 2021 he married Rae, who starred on Netflix’s real estate reality show “Selling Sunset,” and she now appears on his show “Flipping 101 with Tarek El Moussa.”
Renters — some of whom are disabled — were given 120 days to leave their homes and $12,000 per home, a resident told The Post.
Through a union, they negotiated with El Moussa and Rae’s companies and thought they were close to signing a deal that would have got tenants more than the $12,000 already on the table.
“They were taking it over. We caught him filming promos for it in April saying ‘this is my biggest flip ever … my Super Bowl.’ We were given eviction notices – we have neighbors who have been here for more than 40 years,” Clare Letmon, who has lived on the property for nearly five years, told The Post.
But on November 1, TEM Capital scrapped the project from its website and the current owners will still evict them by June — with their hopes of a better deal nixed.
The Post has reached out to El Moussa and TEM Capital for comment.
Resident Clare Letmon, 32, who is eight-and-a-half months pregnant, is scrambling to find a new home.
“He really just dragged us along,” she told The Post.
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