The ugly truth behind some of your favorite HGTV shows, according to contestants

In 2018, Country Living reported that just six of the first 21 winners lived in their new home for more than a year because of the high property taxes.

"The vast majority either took the cash alternative or sold the house back to the developer within a year of winning," the report said, often due to the huge tax bill that came with the prize.

Emily Muniz of Nashville won the 2018 HGTV dream home, a four-bedroom, three-bathroom, $1.8 million home in Gig Harbor, Washington. But Muniz opted to take the cash prize instead of moving into the home.

"While we would have loved to have moved in, it just wasn't the right time to uproot our daughter from school and change jobs while also trying to tackle the finances that come along with such an expensive property," she told People in 2018.

Likewise, David Rennie of Connecticut won the HGTV dream home in 2016 but also opted for the $1.2 million cash prize instead of moving into the $1.3 million, three-bedroom home.

According to Homes.com, those who accepted the cash prize instead were taxed $500,000.

In 2016, Chip and Joanna Gaines remodeled a shotgun house for Cameron and Jessica Bell. The following year the Bells put the house up for sale, but they then took it down and are now renting it out on Airbnb for $325 per night.

Likewise, the Gaines renovated a 1,290-square-foot home for Kristi Bass in season two, but Bass also rented the place out on Airbnb for more than $300 per night.

In fact, a number of the show's participants have listed their "Fixer Upper" homes on VRBO or Airbnb. You can see what some of those homes look like now.

Jaime Ferguson's home was remodeled on "Fixer Upper" in season three. In a 2018 blog post, Ferguson recounted her experience on the show and said families on the show don't get to keep the furniture. However, participants are able to purchase it.

Ferguson decided to buy the coffee table and striped chairs, while everything else was taken out of the home after the show finished filming.

Joanna Gaines does reportedly sometimes gift homeowners items that were refurbished or that have a personal connection to the people on the show.

Chip and Joanna Gaines renovated David Morrow's Mailander House in season one, which aired in 2014. Two years later, he said that people frequently drove by his house and slowed down to get a glimpse. At times, people even got out of the car and took a selfie in front of his house. Others have knocked on Marrow's door and asked for tours, he said.

"They're mostly women in their 50s and tend to be big 'Fixer Upper' fans," Morrow told the Waco Tribune-Herald in 2016.

On the other hand, some of the homeowners welcome these tours into their fixer-upper. Josh and Jill Barrett, for example, had their mid-century modern home remodeled on season two. In 2018, they were giving tours of it.

When a car crashed into Ken and Kelly Downs' "Fixer Upper" home in Waco in 2017, they didn't know if they wanted to fix the home or move away. The couple said ever since they moved to Texas, the locals have not been welcoming, accusing them of driving up property taxes and ruining the town.

"We have been intimidated and harassed," Kelly told the Waco Tribune-Herald in 2017. "People have complained about their taxes going up because we moved here. Store owners have complained about taxes."

"There's a big problem here. It's not safe ... This is a 'Fixer Upper' gone bad," she added.

Realtor.com reported in 2020 that the average taxable amount of property values in Waco rose by 9.8% from 2017 to 2018 and by nearly 9.2% from 2018 to 2019.

"A lot of homeowners, especially retirees, are not happy about the Chip and Joanna effect. They're on a fixed income," Charles Delaney, a real estate professor at Baylor University, told Realtor.com. "It is a financial burden [just] to meet the additional property taxes."

Deena Murphy and Tim Sullivan had their North Carolina home remodeled in 2016 on the HGTV show "Love It or List It." After the cameras stopped rolling, however, the couple said their home had "damaged and stained floorboards, open holes," and "low-grade carpeting over chipped concrete," according to "CBS This Morning."

The couple decided to sue the production company, calling the repairs "shoddy work," according to The Charlotte Observer, and accusing it of not distributing the $140,000 they invested in the renovations on the show according to the contract.

In April 2017, both parties filed to dismiss the case, and the terms of their settlement were not revealed.

Cenate and Wendy Pruitt appeared on HGTV's "Curb Appeal: The Block" when their Atlanta home was given a $20,000 makeover.

In an interview with the AV Club in 2013, Cenate Pruitt said some of the upgrades were actually detrimental to his home (not pictured above). For example, Pruitt said the show built a retaining wall in the basement that trapped water inside and the basement subsequently flooded several times — he said he was forced to buy a pool pump to drain the inside of his home. The contractors on the project did come out multiple times to try to help, he said.

Additionally, Pruitt said the show planted exotic plants and grass in the front of his house, which was immediately ruined by the Georgia weather. He said he had to hire landscape experts to fix the front lawn, which ended up costing him $1,200 to $1,500 a year, according to the AV Club.

Of the production crew and the contractors, he said: "I'm immensely appreciative of those people and their hard work. I just wish things had been a little better planned."

A realtor said in 2017 that the producers for "Beachfront Bargain Hunt" approached her to find a person who was already under contract for a beach house that cost under $400,000. When the realtor could not find a client for the show, she offered up herself because she had just bought a beachfront property, according to E! News.

The show agreed to film her pretending to look for a beach house even though she already bought one, she said. Additionally, the realtor said they shot in March and pretended it was summer.

Bobi Jensen appeared on season three of "House Hunters," and a few years later, she said her entire episode was fiction. Jensen said she had already bought a new house, and she had to pretend to tour two other homes while filming. And the other two homes that she and her husband toured weren't even for sale, according to Jensen.

Jensen isn't the only one who has come forward to say "House Hunters" is staged. Elizabeth Newcamp appeared on the show twice, in 2017 and in 2018. In a post on Slate in 2019, Newcamp said the first time, she had already bought her new home when filming started, and the second time, she had already lived in her new home for over a year. She even said the producers hired a random actor to play the part of their real estate agent.

In response to previous, similar claims about "House Hunters," the show's publicist told EW: "We're making a television show, so we manage certain production and time constraints, while honoring the home buying process. To maximize production time, we seek out families who are pretty far along in the process." The result is a "uniquely satisfying and fun viewing experience," they said.

Kim Christenson appeared on "House Hunters" in 2015 and filmed for over 30 hours. Christenson said she was only paid $500 despite the show's $45,000 to $50,000 budget.

Jonathan Scott told PopSugar that the network handles all the casting for "Property Brothers," and it isn't easy to get cast. Homeowners have to meet strict criteria to appear on the show, like having all of their financials figured out no matter what.

"Some people use a cash down payment when they are buying or for their renovations, some people borrow from family, and some people have a line of credit," Jonathan told PopSugar in 2017. "It just depends and we are really at the mercy of who applies to the show for who has all of their ducks in a row."

HGTV did not respond to Insider's request for comment on this article.