When Chelsea Houska’s HGTV series premiered, it looked like network executives had a new breakout star on their hands.
Down Home Fab debut to massive ratings, and in relative rarity, his showership increase in its second week on the air.
HGTV has signed Chelsea and her husband Cole DeBoer for a second season, and it looks like the couple has plenty of reason to be optimistic about their new careers.
However, in recent weeks, DeBoer’s future has looked less certain.
In just six episodes, the first season of Down Home Fab it is quite brief (the show will run for eight episodes when it returns in 2024).
So the HGTV honchos may be a little concerned that a significant erosion in viewership has occurred.
According to a new report from a British tabloid SunThe upward trend from the first two episodes shows a complete reversal of itself for the last two installments of the season.
The series peaked mid-season, with the third episode attracting 878,000 viewers, making it one of HGTV’s most successful series of the year.
Unfortunately, it all went downhill from there.
The fourth episode saw a drop in viewership, with only around 700,000 viewers.
Interestingly, the number is about the same as the number of viewers increase between the first and second episodes of the show.
Down Home Fab still put up a decent number, but the current ratings trajectory is a cause for concern.
Not only that, but the season finale resulted in Chelsea receiving some of the harshest criticism of his career.
It seems like viewers didn’t like the designs given to Ryan and Beth’s new clients during the episode.
“Maybe I should ask for a refund,” one viewer wrote on Reddit.
“The shutter or whatever it is called outside looks unfinished. I hate it!” others are added.
“I’m not an expert but this is bad? The white cabinets brighten up the kitchen and now it looks smaller and darker,” said a third person.
“The only thing that’s semi-okay is the aluminum tub rack in the bathroom,” said a fourth person, adding:
“I have no style, and even I can see that this is terrible.”
It’s a little weird to admit you have no style and then criticize someone else’s style choices, but that’s the state of online discourse in 2023.
Anyway, Chelsea and Cole may not be good, but they may have to fight harder than expected to ensure the future of the show.
The home reno game is not for the faint of heart!