“House Hunters International” has spanned 176 seasons to date, and with so many episodes, viewers might grow tired of seeing the same predictable home search process again and again. That’s why the producers may rile up some drama to keep people hooked on the show.

Since each episode focuses on one house-hunting couple (usually spouses), the partners are often pitted against each other. That’s what happened to one “House Hunters International” participant, who penned a Slate article about her experience. She wrote, “We learned immediately that these shows are looking for conflict, so it’s important to be ready to fight a little with your spouse.” A blogger who appeared on the show echoed this, saying, “… you’ve got to play up the ‘conflict’ between you and your spouse … Whatever your differences of opinion over location, price, design, etc[.] — those things form the basis of the show, so you need to be prepared to make them more of an issue than they actually were.”

The couples aren’t the only ones acting, however. Both the Slate article and a post published on Medium claim that the realtors used are often not real realtors. Instead, they might be a friend of the couple or an actor hired to step in as a relocation expert.

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