Heavy/YouTube/HGTV Leslie Davis and Lyndsay Lamb of HGTV's "Unsellable Houses"
The last several months have been a bit of a bumpy ride for HGTV stars Lyndsay Lamb and Leslie Davis, twin sisters in the Pacific Northwest whose show, “Unsellable Houses,” features them helping frustrated homeowners who’ve been struggling to sell their homes. Lamb and Lyndsey swoop in to redesign and renovate their clients’ houses, and put them back on the market for a major profit.
But in recent weeks, Lamb and Davis have endured numerous challenges, including their latest season being delayed at the last minute and having to deal with viewer pushback over a big casting change. Fortunately, things are looking up for the twins, with season 4 now underway and a surprise decision from HGTV to renew the show for a fifth season before the latest one is even over.
Here’s what you need to know:
‘Unsellable Houses’ Season 4 Was Pushed Back Days Before Premiere & Replaced at the Last Minute
On October 6, 2023, HGTV and Lamb and Davis’ real estate and design firm, Lamb & Co., posted a clever Instagram reel with the twins reading fabricated newspapers emblazoned with the front page headline “Season Five of Unsellable Houses Coming Soon!”
In the caption, they wrote, “We hope you’ve been loving the new season of #UnsellableHouses so far because we have a surprise for you: We’ve officially been renewed for SEASON FIVE 🎉 So, you can expect even more transformations from us in 2024, but until then, we still have lots more episodes to go!”
In addition to lots of fans who left celebratory comments, HGTV colleague Jenny Marrs of “Fixer to Fabulous” offered her congratulations with emoji — “🙌👏!!!” — as did Brian Kleinschmidt of “100 Day Dream Home,” who typed in “📰 💪🏼💯” to celebrate the sisters’ big news.
HGTV didn’t announce its decision to order a fifth season of the show in a press release, but did share the news via the Unsellable Houses page on its website. The fifth season will premiere sometime in 2024, though the network didn’t specify when.
The fourth season of the show premiered just weeks ago, on September 10, with two new shows airing each Sunday night. It was originally supposed to debut on July 23, and there was lots of fanfare about its upcoming premiere, with numerous HGTV hosts — including Jenny and Dave Marrs, Jonathan Knight, and Ty Pennington — appearing in a promotional video wearing goofy sunglasses that said “Unsellable Houses Season Four” on them.
But days before the highly-anticipated premiere, the date was changed to September without explanation. Instead on that night, HGTV premiered a new season of “Why the Heck Did I Buy this House” with Kim Wolfe and a new seven-episode series, “Renovation Resort Showdown,” with HGTV personalities — and longtime friends — Bryan Baeumler and Scott McGillivray.
Lamb and Davis tried to put a positive spin on the delay, saying it would allow them to “double the Unsellables” by airing back-to-back episodes each Sunday night in the fall.
‘Unsellable Houses’ Stars Have Received Some Pushback Over Show in Recent Weeks, But Ratings Are Still High
Lamb and Davis have also had to deal with some unhappy fans in recent weeks, in part because of a casting change. In an Instagram post before their season 4 premiere, Davis wrote that she and her twin sister couldn’t wait for viewers to “officially” meet their new “leading man,” Owen Mather, the new “in-house head contractor” at Lamb & Co.
Mather made brief appearances on “Unsellable Houses” many times in its first three seasons, as part of the team of contractors working on the featured homes. But now, Mather has replaced the show’s longtime contractor Jeff Laurence, who used to be his boss and backed away from the show to focus on his own renovation business.
Mather officially joined Lamb & Co. in 2022 as the director of Lamb renovations, he shared on Facebook, hired to manage “all of the moving parts,” according to the Lamb & Co. website. His new role now has him advising and managing the sisters’ renovations, not only for the day-to-day business but on the show.
Some fans were so upset about Laurence’s absence, that Lamb and Davis decided to address their concerns in an Instagram reel the day after season 4 premiered, saying that even though they tried to give viewers a heads up about the change, they were still seeing questions about it.
“Jeff is focusing on his business,” Davis insisted. “You know, this has been a huge success for him. Like, his business has exploded as a result of being on the show, which is phenomenal. But he’s focusing on his business, which we completely support.”
As Lamb & Co. has branched out into doing its own renovation work, the company is likely now a competitor with Laurence’s firm, J.L. Remodeling, in Washington state, which Davis alluded to in her comments.
“We love the guys over there — Ryan and Justin and they’re just such, like, authentic, amazing guys. But we also needed to expand over here. We have Lamb Renovation! So, Jeff’s doing his thing, we’re doing our thing, we love that they’re succeeding, and it’s just, inevitably, the business.”
“It is,” Lamb agreed. “But we’re so proud of them and we couldn’t be happier for them.”
The sisters have also dealt with nitpicky fans leaving comments complaining about everything from the sound of their voices to their design choices. So Lamb and Davis uploaded a funny Instagram reel in which they read some of the meanest comments they’ve received, taking a page from late night host Jimmy Kimmel’s “Celebrities Read Mean Tweets.”
The first, which they read together while smiling broadly, said, “This show is unwatchable. Twin win. Puke!”
But mean comments and questions about casting have not impacted the show’s stellar ratings. “Unsellable Houses” typically attracts over a million viewers, per USTVDB’s tracking of Nielsen ratings, placing it in the top five shows currently airing on HGTV, behind “My Lottery Dream Home,” “Bargain Block,” and two versions of “House Hunters.”