Why Some HGTV Fans Seriously Can't Stand Alison Victoria

Alison Victoria always knew she wanted to be an interior designer, but never thought she'd end up on TV. The HGTV star recalled in a 2021 interview on "House Party" with Brian Balthazar and Loren Ruch that her entrance into fame wasn't something she expected. Victoria explained that a Sacramento-based production company was searching for an interior designer from Chicago to helm an HGTV series. The Illinois native said, "Literally my email was, 'f**k yes'" (per Instagram).

Now you can catch her hosting "Windy City Rehab" on the home improvement channel, which she has done since its 2019 inception. Her witty charm, mixed with an incredible eye for design, is why HGTV fans love Victoria. But the reality star has a few detractors. In a Reddit subthread initially posted in 2021, a user wrote: "Am I the only one who can't stand Alison Victoria?" They went on to call Victoria "obnoxious" and consistently "angry," adding, "I'm sure a good amount of the drama is inflated for tv, but I just find everything about her to be so unpleasant to watch."

Others seemed to agree. "I can't stand her. She's just irritating," one person said, while another opined: "She is very egotistical." The general consensus seems to be that once her former co-host and contractor, Donovan Eckhardt, left the show, viewers started looking at her differently. Eckhardt was involved in some shady business practices, about which Victoria claimed she was unaware of. However, the internet is speculating whether that story is true.

Some Reddit users believe that Alison Victoria knew more about the scandals that plagued "Windy City Rehab" than she let on. "For being such a legend in her own mind, she looked so stupid with what happened with Donovan [Eckhardt]," a user wrote. "She honestly expected us to believe that she had no idea what was going on." Victoria and Eckhardt were at the center of the legal troubles that played out after Season 1 of the series. The business partners were slapped with lawsuits left and right, detailing a culmination of subpar construction work, alleged fraud, and alleged mishandling of money on Eckhardt's end. The HGTV show was evidently tainted as a result.

Their partnership ultimately ended with the pair in a legal duel. Eckhardt fired the first shot, with a $2 million defamation suit against HGTV parent Discovery Inc. and production company Big Table Media — Victoria was not named as a defendant, but was a producer on the show. He claimed the show purposely painted him as a "villain" and Victoria the "victim" but asserted she knew where all their money was going, per the Chicago Sun-Times. One Reddit user even said that her supposed "victim" act is why they stopped watching "Windy City Rehab." Victoria clapped back at Eckhardt with her own suit, to salvage her reputation. In the "Windy City Rehab" episode where she explained her lawsuit, and seemingly as a response to her name being dragged through the mud, she said (via House Beautiful): "All I ever did, and all I've ever done, is design."