HGTV’s House Hunters Features Three-Way “Throuple” Relationship

throuple on house hunters
HGTV

If you’ve ever watched House Hunters on HGTV, then you know it’s a reality TV program that shows people on the hunt for their dream homes. Throughout the show’s whopping 17(!) seasons that have aired since 1999, it’s showed many types of couples and families looking for their forever homes. Now, it’s showing the very first three-way relationship, or “throuple,” in the history of the show.

“We feature all homebuyers and living choices,” the network said in a statement, per E!, and ain’t that the truth!

During their February 12th episode taking place in Colorado Springs, Brian, Lori, and Geli were looking for a home that could satisfy their needs as a throuple and with Brian and Lori’s two pre-teen children. According to Brian, he’d known about Lori’s bisexuality before the couple met Geli years prior and, four years ago, Geli decided to move into the family’s home once they fell in love and things started to get more serious. The three decided to exchange vows in a commitment ceremony, as well, though at this time, three-way marriages are not legally allowed in the United States.

“The past four years, I’ve been living in Lori and Brian’s house, so buying a house together, as a throuple, will signify, like, our next big step as a family of five rather than all four of them plus me,” Geli said of their decision to appear on the show while they look for their new home.

Naturally, the House Hunters episode had people divided. Liberals who tuned into the show considered the featuring of a throuple a win for representation, including feminist author Roxane Gay who called the episode “educational.” However, HGTV’s more conservative viewership was “disappointed” that the network would promote three-way relationships as “normal.”

Even further, some people thought that this polyamorous representation wasn’t quite enough, and that the featuring of an all-white three-way relationship with one man and two women was still somewhat pandering to the conservative viewers as a more palatable relationship, as opposed to people of color or multiple men. Additionally, the term “throuple” tends to be controversial among non-monogamous relationships since it’s a spin on “couple,” which makes two people the default relationship. Instead, “triad” is the preferred term for many.

Perhaps this is just the first step in a large variety of different relationships and family dynamics we will get to see on House Hunters.

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