What is to be on “House Hunters International”

It was always one of my dreams of moving to Europe, so when the opportunity to move to Germany for work arose, my husband and I did not hesitate to say yes.

While I scrolled through an Expat Facebook group, I came across a dream opportunity published by a casting director – the chance to play in an episode of “House Hunters International” in HGTV.

I sent a message to the casting director to express my interest and I received a form to apply. As a passionate fan of the show, I was delighted when we received an email indicating that we were selected.

Now that our episode has been broadcast, I had time to think about what was not seen on the camera. Here are five things that surprised me the most in the filming process.

The pre-production process was long

The application process included several forms and a long pre-filming questionnaire asking us to detail how we met, why we move and what we did for work. I was also asked to send photos to represent our story.

Then we had virtual interviews to share more on ourselves, our lives and our apartments.

Fortunately, this process has not delayed our move because we simultaneously fill documents for our visas.

My hair, my makeup and my jewelry had to be consistent throughout the shooting

On the first day of filming, I was informed that I had to maintain the same hair, makeup and jewelry for the next three days – a detail that I had not considered but was crucial for uniformity in the episode.

I did my own hair and my makeup despite the hope that a professional would do it. To maintain the coordination of the outfits for each scene and day, we took photos and we were meticulous to remember our appearance.

The shooting was carried out out of service

To create an episode of 30 minutes, my husband and I filmed for four days. However, once we started, I was surprised to learn that the shooting was not carried out in chronological order.

For example, the apartments we have seen were shown in a different order on television that we saw them in real life.

My husband and I had to repeat several scenes

Because the director wanted our real reactions to apartments projections, we were not scripted to say, touch or do anything. However, we had to repeat a dialogue several times, movements and expressions.

There was only one camera on the set, which meant that we had to take up each scene at least four times so that he could capture our individual reactions and our couple reactions. He also had to zoom in on all the details, such as we touching an object or moving his hands.

In order for the scenes to remain consistent, we had to remember exactly where we were, what we touched, what we said and how we reacted.

The shooting was very funny

One of the best parts of the shooting process was to share our love story on the camera. It was so exciting to have a big step in our documented lives – it is something that we will always remember.

Overall, we had a great experience in filming our episode. HGTV’s team and staff were kind, helpful and sincere in their desire to present a faithful reflection of us as a couple and our trip moving to Germany.

This story was initially published on October 25, 2024 and more recently updated on May 14, 2025.