Heavy / Getty Page Turner
HGTV’s “Rock the Block” is one of the network’s most-viewed shows, and its passionate fans are always quick to share their opinions with the show’s competitors. This week, season four star Page Turner took to social media to clear up some information for both her fans and her haters.
Turner and her partner Mitch Glew won the Living Room face-off in episode two of “Rock the Block”, and while they received a great deal of support online, they were also met with a considerable amount of criticism, from fans of the show who disagreed with their win as well as internet trolls.
“Here’s the answer to the burning question of why our books were turned around on #RocktheBlock .. Thank you to the friends that asked nicely 🤣🤣,” Turner tweeted, along with a video where the “Fix My Flip” star explains why the books in her and Glew’s Living Room library were all backward on the shelves.
Page Turner Explains Why Books Were Backward on ‘Rock the Block’
Here’s the answer to the burning question of why our books were turned around on #RocktheBlock .. Thank you to the friends that asked nicely 🤣🤣
Turner addressed her Twitter haters directly from her exercise bike, telling them, “Here’s the burning question, why are the books turned around in the Page Turner library? So here’s your answer. Especially to the mean trolls on Twitter. It’s simply copyright clearance… I would have had to get clearance from over 500 authors to use their book on television. It’s simply not going to happen.”
Turner likened this copyright clearance issue to asking an artist before showing their painting on screens or getting the okay from a musician before using their song in a movie or television show. She notes that this method of flipping books around to avoid copyright issues is the case “on most HGTV shows” but “for some reason, everybody’s so up in arms with Mitch and I”.
Former “Rock the Block” winner Jasmine Roth (of season one) recently wrote about this question on her blog as well, back in June 2022. Roth mentioned that after this trick of turning the books around began popping up on HGTV, it became adopted by the general public. “As styling shelves became even more popular in interior design over the years, the number of times books were shown turned with spines facing inward really ramped up. So people at home started displaying books this way, and it actually became pretty popular!” Roth’s blog stated.
Turner shared another video from her workout bike on her Instagram, saying that she got passed the bookshelf questions, but “now the big fiasco (Twitter!) is ‘Why isn’t there a television on the fireplace?'”
Turner let her 20 years of expertise as a realtor speak for her, telling followers, “Living rooms are for living. They’re not for communing with a big, old, 100-inch, tacky television,” Turner said, “That completely takes away from the aesthetic of what this room is about when you open the door and the first thing your visitors see is this beautiful sprawling living room that’s kind of ‘dumbed down’ by a television.”
Page Turner’s Living Room Design Was Dedicated to Her Mother
During episode two of “Rock the Block” Turner and Glew outlined their plans for their living room design to include a floor-to-ceiling library shelving around their centerpiece fireplace, and Turner shared why this choice had extra significance to her.
“My mother named me Page (with no I) Turner: Page Turner,” Turner told Glew during the build, “She was an aspiring author. I grew up with thousands of books in my house, so I think [the library] can be ‘Here mom, here Pat, this is for you.’ … This is my heart, this whole library. I’ve always wanted to build a library filled with books with a ladder for my mom. I absolutely can’t wait for her to see this.”
Luckily, the judges (Mina Starsiak Hawk from “Good Bones” and Jenn Todryk from “No Demo Reno”) loved the “Page Turner” Library, and awarded Turner and Glew the win for their living room space.
“Rock the Block” airs Monday nights at 9 p.m. Eastern time on HGTV and discovery+.