It’s been just about three days since Discovery’s DIY Network formally rebranded itself as the Magnolia Network, partnering with inescapable renovation TV robots Chip and Joanna Gaines to slap a fresh coat of paint on the reno-focused channel. Which is also exactly as many days, as it turns out, for the gently used network to get hit with a scandal related to one of its upcoming shows.
Specifically, Variety reports that Magnolia has just pulled an upcoming series titled Home Work from its schedule, after allegations emerged that the work the series had done on people’s homes fell far short of a passing grade. Salt Lake City’s KSL-TV has now reported on multiple homeowners who’ve issued complaints against series hosts Candis and Andy Meredith, accusing them of going over-budget, falling far behind schedule on their work, and failing to pay various contractors (who then came to the homeowners looking for what they were due).
All of which kind of sounds like Contractors 101, admittedly. But it’s also the sort of thing that you’d hopefully vet for before, say, making two people stars on your brand new TV network. (Work on the homes in question occurred in 2019 and 2020, a short time after the Gaines announced their plans to partner with Discovery on the new-ish network.)
In response to the accusations, Magnolia president Allison Page issued a “whoopsie!” statement this weekend, noting that, “Magnolia Network is aware that certain homeowners have expressed concerns about renovation projects undertaken by Candis and Andy Meredith. Within the last few days, we have learned additional information about the scope of these issues, and we have decided to remove Home Work from the Magnolia Network line up pending a review of the claims that have been made.”
Many of the reports of alleged shoddy worksmanship came from Instagram, where homeowners accused the Merediths of blowing past budgets and failing to complete promised projects.
The Merediths issued their own rejoinder to the accusations on social media this weekend, though, writing that, “We’ve seen the stories that has[sic] been circulating, and although we cannot speak for anyone but ourselves, we can say that we have always tried to give everything we have to make anyone we work with happy.” They admit that some situations they’ve been involved in—most notably a family who reportedly paid a $50,000 down payment on work that was never started, and then struggled to get the Merediths to refund their payment—were “horrendous,” but assert that they have “paid every amount of money we could to making things right.” They also accuse the people complaining about them of launching a calculated campaign to ruin their show, and call out the “Instagram mafia” for lambasting them, so, y’know, not exactly total contrition here.