What Youll Learn About Your Significant Other When You Watch HGTV

Can your relationship stand up to the hardest tests?

Perhaps you’ve already weathered the over-or-under toilet paper debate. Maybe you’ve successfully completed a multi-day road trip adventure. However, have you passed the HGTV test?

You read that right: the HGTV test. What you think of as guilty pleasure viewing or schadenfreude-filled binge watching can actually provide significant insight into your significant other and your relationship.

Next time you’re vegging out in front of an episode of “House Hunters,” “Love It or List It,” or “Property Brothers,” keep one eye on the TV and one on your SO. You will learn sooooooo many things:



How Gullible They Are

A quick glance at the writers’ credits at the end of any episode of “Real Housewives” or “The Bachelor” is enough to disprove the “reality” of reality TV. Yet many viewers fail to question the truthfulness of their beloved home improvement reality shows.

For the few in the back who still haven’t heard: HGTV packs just as much unreality into their shows as anyone else.

Check your partner’s reaction to HGTV’s reality fare. Are they skeptical of the “House Hunters” formula, or do they really believe that every home in “Love It or List It” is hiding a minefield of asbestos, black mold, termite damage and about-to-collapse roofs?

Depending on your SO’s gullibility, you may want to start checking their inbox to make sure they’re not corresponding with any Nigerian princes. Maybe you’ll just use your new insight to fine tune your April fool’s day plans.

Where They Envision Themselves

Have you and your bae talked dream homes yet? No matter where you are in the cohabitating or house-hunting game, a little HGTV can go a long way toward revealing your likes and dislikes.

Do they yell at the TV every time a house hunter complains about a room’s paint color? Do they cringe every time the property brothers get rid of an original piece of architecture? Has your pookie-bear created their own drinking game based on words like open concept, granite or entertaining?

It’s fun to yell your disapproval at the prerecorded contestants on HGTV’s reality shows. It’s also very revealing in terms of your tastes, expectations and desires.

If you’re in the process of creating a house hunting wish list , try keeping a pen and pad handy during the next episode of “Flip or Flop.” That drinking game may end up providing more insight than any sober discussion you’ve had to date.

What They Believe About Money Management

Friends or family, lovers or strangers: Differing views on money can cause fights between anyone and everyone.



Maybe that’s why it’s so hard to start a conversation about money management. It sounds dull and you don’t want to start a fight, two great reasons to stop the talk before it begins.

Unfortunately, sharing your life with someone means that a money talk is not only inevitable, but absolutely necessary. If you’re having trouble getting started, why not let HGTV get the ball rolling?

Do they think contestants are crazy when they agree to go over budget, or think contestants are crazy when they won’t budge on their budget?

Are they willing to sit down and work out baseline operating costs for your home? If your snuggle bunny isn’t willing to sit down for the money talk, their reactions to “House Hunters International” may do the talking for them.

How Well They Understand You

Watching reality TV is a great ego boost. No matter how annoying or short-sighted a contestant is, you can take great enjoyment from pronouncing “that will never be me” or “that will never be us.”

Keep your ears open for the comparisons they make between you and the couple people highlighted on “Love It or List It.” Are the comparisons flattering or insulting? Accurate or way off the mark? Would you never be heard complaining about closet sizes or were you just about to heartily agree with a house hunter?

It’s one thing if your little kumquat doesn’t know that you hate marble bath tiles, it’s another if they don’t know that you’d rather cut off your leg than live in the suburbs.

Look, no one is saying you should base your entire relationship and future off a “Property Brothers” marathon. At some point, you need to have honest conversations about your views on money, your desires for your real estate future or – you know – basic components of your personality.

However, just as you can learn a lot about someone by the way they treat wait staff, you can learn a crazy amount about your SO just by watching a few of HGTV’s many reality shows.

Just don’t forget: While you’re learning about them, they’re also learning about you.

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