As previously reported, HGTV isn’t just doubling down on Flip or Flop.
It is quintupling down on the real estate-themed series, having ordered five spinoffs of the franchise this past March.
The show has already been a ratings winner for the cable network, but the divorce of original hosts Tarek and Christina El Moussa has actually caused it to surge in popularity over the past few months.
As a result, HGTV wasn’t content with merely giving Tarek and Christina more episodes.
Executives also announced that versions of the series – which features a couple that purchases dilapidated homes, fixes them up and then tries to sell them for a profit – would air down the line in Chicago, Nashville, Atlanta, Fort Worth and Las Vegas.
And Flip or Flop: Atlanta is set to premiere on Thursday, July 20 at 9/8c.
The spinoff will star Anita and Ken Corsini, a husband and wife who are and co-founders of the company Red Barn Homes.
“It’s a huge honor to be part of an established franchise,” Ken tells Entertainment Tonight. “It seemed like such a long shot. I don’t think either of us really thought this would happen.”
Flip or Flop debuted in 2013.
It now ranks as HGTV’s second-highest rated series.
But while the premise is easy to digest and oddly fascinating to watch play out, the success of these spinoffs will mostly be due to the personalities and stories of their hosts.
Fixer Upper, for example, is everyone’s favorite HGTV program because Chip and Joanna Gaines have natural and hilarious chemistry as the parents of four kids.
This is why producers have high hopes for Flip or Flop: Atlanta.
Anita worked as a high school math teacher before starting a family with Ken.
She’s the type of host to whom viewers will likely gravitate.
“We were expecting our first child, and Ken had been working in real estate for that year, so before I had that baby, he asked me, ‘Why don’t you get your real estate license and join me?"” she explains to ET.
“We just decided to take the plunge together and make it a family business, and that way we were home and around our baby and it kind of bettered our schedules.”
The couple says it has never met Tarek or Christina (below).
But they are obviously aware that their relationship has fallen apart.
Is this a cause for worry?
Are the Corsinis afraid that the glare of the spotlight will ruin their bond?
“To be honest, it’s never been a concern. We take our marriage very seriously,” Ken said of their 17-year union, adding:
“We’re very intentional about keeping a healthy marriage and staying close to each other and having a really tight-knit family. I don’t believe that the show is going to change that.”
Anita agrees.
“We genuinely love each other and have fun together, so it was really a fun opportunity for us as a couple to be able to embark on this,” she says.
