'Had no part in picking winner': Ty Pennington snaps back at angry fans over 'Rock The Block' finale outcome
ATLANTA, GEORGIA: Fans of the twin sisters Lyndsay Lamb and Leslie Davis are ecstatic with their major victory on the April 15, 2024, airing of 'Rock The Block' Season 5. However, some HGTV viewers are furious with the outcome and have taken to social media to vent.
As a consequence, host Ty Pennington has urged everyone to calm down. "I was not the judge and had no part in picking the winner," he responded to a fan on Instagram the next morning, subsequently posting the interaction in a post.
"Please remember it’s just a TV show at the end of the day."
Four teams of HGTV celebrities, all of whom had been on an earlier season of 'Rock The Block', toiled feverishly for six weeks to restore adjacent beach houses on Treasure Island, Florida. All four teams, which featured stars from 'Renovation Island' Bryan Baeumler and Sarah Baeumler, 'Bargain Block' stars Evan Thomas and Keith Bynum, and 'Fix My Flip' stars Page Turner and Mitch Glew, were vying for the title of "redemption" season.
Enraged viewers flocked to social media with their opinions as soon as the episode's judge, 'Property Brothers' star Jonathan Scott, sarcastically dubbed the 'Unsellable Houses' sisters the "Queens of Treasure Island." Ty posted one of the earliest comments on his feed and urged followers to monitor what they say to show the sort of hate he and other HGTV stars were getting.
Jonathan referred to the season as "the most exciting block of them all" in the finale after being astounded by the completed beach houses. However, a significant component of the puzzle for selecting the victorious team was the estimated worth of their modifications.
According to HGTV, Lyndsay and Leslie were able to raise the value of their house by $600,000. Ty shared a picture of himself and Jonathan exploring one of the houses the morning following the finale.
He wrote, "Don’t do it! Don’t do it!" in the caption, pleading with Jonathan not to read the comments.
He posted a snapshot of a fan's remark on the next slide, accusing him of removing any criticism of the 'Rock The Block' houses and competitors. The individual said, "You must be removing a lot of comments with that garage sale finale win."
Ty answered in an attempt to maintain composure, saying, "Well that’s not very nice to say but no, I’m not deleting comments." He further added, "I’m just the host and I thought all the houses were incredible."
"Unless someone says something offensive," Ty 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."
Jenny Marrs slams fans for 'passive aggressive comments' from HGTV fans
Teams from 'Rock The Block' have already spoken about the severe criticism that fans sometimes direct at them on social media about both their own HGTV shows and the competition. Star of 'Fixer to Fabulous', Jenny Marrs, expressed her exhaustion with humanity on Instagram on April 5, following a snarky remark about her religion from a viewer.
Jenny said, "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."
In her stories, she said that she had texted Lyndsay and Leslie to see how they were doing. She knew that viewers of 'Rock the Block', where she and her spouse Dave Marrs collaborated during the third season, were probably making hurtful remarks to them.
"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!!!"
Jenny added in her story beneath the screenshot, "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)."
Erin and Ben Napier call out 'rude' and 'ugly' fan comments
On April 2, 'Home Town' stars Erin Napier and Ben Napier also pleaded with their fans to exercise sensitivity while posting comments online, pointing out that it may be difficult for the real homeowners to read "rude" and "ugly" remarks about the homes they repair.
"Y’all realize we design these houses for people who really live in them," Erin stated in the video that was uploaded. "You’re not hurting my feelings at all. But you are being really ugly to the people who are living in these houses."
View this post on Instagram
Ty Pennington dubs 'Rock the Block' Season 5 the 'hardest' yet
Some social media posts seem to indicate that there was some tension behind the scenes during the 'Rock The Block' competition.
"That’s a wrap on #RockTheBlock Season 5!!!" Ty commented beside a picture he posted of the group grinning on set. "WOW what a time. This was without a doubt the hardest season- to be blunt whatever could go wrong… did All the teams worked their butts off and created some of the most beautiful homes I’ve ever seen! One things for sure, this season will be extremely entertaining Hats off to everyone including the crew for staying the course and never giving up Beyond proud of everyone."