Jonathan, left, and Drew Scott in Under Pressure.Scott Brothers Entertainment/Supplied
The Property Brothers are back with a new reality show about real estate on HGTV and Citytv+ (Sundays, 9 p.m.) that the Canadian twins promise is more real than ever.
In Under Pressure, Drew Scott (the one with the beard this season) and Jonathan Scott (the one engaged to actress Zooey Deschanel) are helping house hunters in Los Angeles on a budget and a timeline find a home and get it renovated right.
Television critic J. Kelly Nestruck spoke to the Scotts over video call earlier this month.
What is different about Under Pressure from your other shows?
Jonathan: You get to see this real fly on the wall POV. Things overlap in our private lives.
Even in the first episode, it’s about the family who lost their home in the L.A. fires. And I’m rebuilding my in-laws home right now, because they lost everything in those fires – their home of 42 years, where Zooey grew up. We’re showcasing a lot of that stuff in more of a reality, docu-follow way than we’ve ever done in the past.
Drew: The homeowners, they’re under pressure. We have another episode where one of our homeowners, the wife, is going through cancer treatment. We’re under pressure because we want to get this right.
Jonathan, you said a little bit “docu-follow”?
Jonathan: Docu-follow. Yeah, it feels more like you’d expect to see in a documentary. You hear our director come in and make fun of us on camera. We tease each other more. We wanted to be more real.
A still from Under Pressure.Scott Brothers Entertainment/Supplied
Some of the criticisms of you online on Reddit – you know, for whatever that’s worth – are that you are fake or that you are actors. Is this a response to that?
Drew: We’ve been on the air for over 15 years, and we don’t fake it. It’s funny when people think you have to be an actor or you have to be a renovation host, because we’re all layered people. Before we got into real estate, I wanted to be an actor and director. Jonathan wanted to be a magician.
Jonathan: I’ve discovered over the years that people just like to complain, especially on Reddit, about anything. The idea of doing it more docu-follow, really just came from that’s where we’re seeing a lot of stuff shift in the genre. But I remember as well back in the day that people you know were saying the same thing: “Oh my gosh, you know, Jonathan isn’t in there doing all the floors?” Well, of course, I’m not laying 10,000 square feet of flooring. I’m a general contractor.
Years and years ago, the network said I’m not allowed to say that there are other contractors working on projects. And I didn’t agree with that. So we always showcase the other contractors, the subs.
The first episodes of Under Pressure are in Los Angeles.
Drew: It’s all L.A. for season one because we shoot multiple episodes at one time.
Jonathan: Insider scoop: The next season we may bring it back to Canada.
Drew: Do you have a house, Kelly, that needs to be renovated?
I do. I think it would be a conflict of interest to try and set myself up. Under Pressure is inspiring though, especially because the budgets are a little bit less.
Drew: One thing Jonathan and I are really good at doing is problem-solving a tight budget to still get everything a family needs. We love a challenge, and to be able to show some people, too, that for $30,000 there is a lot you can do for your home well.
Jonathan: When we were doing casting, we did have to turn people down who were looking to do too big of a reno, or they had too big of a budget, because I just don’t think that is relatable. Most of the people that we’re talking to these days, they can’t afford to do everything they want to do.
Drew and Jonathan in Under Pressure.Scott Brothers Entertainment/Supplied
Your TV shows certainly began in a different time. We talk more and more about the housing crises. How has that shifted what you do?
Drew: Jonathan and I are huge advocates of affordable living. People deserve to live where they work. Here in L.A. we’ve seen people that travel two hours to and from work. We’ve also invested in a modular company that’s trying to bring the cost of construction down for new builds.
Jonathan: There’s a massive inventory shortage: In the U.S. is about four million houses short of what we should have in a healthy economy. The other problem is the NIMBYs, the people who do not want to have multifamily developments nearby. The NIMBYs shut down more projects than anything else.
Okay, so the first episode, the place that the first couple end up choosing, they’re talking about a short-term rental in the basement. How do you feel about platforming that?
Jonathan: People can choose on our shows. One of the biggest barriers to entry for people getting into housing is the affordability factor. So, for them, it helped that they could offset that with income doing short-term rental. The reason they needed to do it was because they have family that comes from time to time, and they need that space.
But we really did have that conversation, because if you can afford to get a good tenant in there, a long-term tenant, it is a lot easier than dealing with the turnover. But every story, every situation, has its own needs.
Drew: Anything good on Reddit? Did anybody say something nice on Reddit?
No, no one ever says anything nice on Reddit.
Jonathan: That’s not the purpose of Reddit. Drew, come on.
This interview has been edited and condensed.