The Untold Truth Of HGTV Star Orlando Soria

You might know Orlando Soria as an interior designer on HGTV, but there's much more to his story than meets the eye. Soria got his start in reality television in 2010, working as Emily Henderson's assistant on "Secrets from a Stylist." Nearly a decade later, in 2019, he landed his own HGTV show, "Unspouse My House," later rebranded as "Build Me Up." While the opportunity seemed like a dream come true, the reality of working for HGTV proved to be far less glamorous.

While you may assume he had a lavish life as an HGTV star, Soria has been open about his financial struggles after the show's production. Speaking with "The Business of Home" podcast, Soria revealed that he was paid just $40,000 for nearly 10 months of filming. After deducting agent fees and taxes, he was left with just $17,500. But as Soria put it, "When you do an HGTV show, you are doing it for the marketing value." Unfortunately, that didn't pan out for him either. Just three episodes into the second season, HGTV moved it to a midnight time slot, effectively canceling the show. This severely limited his exposure and made it much harder to build his brand. While this may be shocking to fans, he's not the only HGTV star to face financial struggles. 

Since then, Soria has shifted gears and explored other career avenues. However, despite his criticisms of the industry, Soria wasn't done with reality television just yet.

Two years after his HGTV show ended, Orlando Soria opened up in a January 2022 blog post. The cancellation of "Build Me Up" coincided with the COVID-19 pandemic, which saw Soria lose several brand partnerships and severely impacted his income. As a result, Soria's post-pandemic years were marked by financial, personal, and creative struggles, but he continued to adapt. During this time, he shifted his focus to writing and launched a Substack newsletter in January 2023. In the summer of 2023, Roku TV announced that Soria would return to reality television as a design expert for "Empty Nest Refresh," a home makeover show hosted by Liza Koshy.

Despite his return to the spotlight, Soria continued to face financial challenges. In July 2024, he revealed in a Substack post that his Yosemite property, Londo Lodge, had been foreclosed, marking yet another difficult chapter in his life. But this time around, Soria approached the setback with a different mindset. "These days, when I find out about something potentially scary, I'll let myself have a day or two to absorb it before I let myself try to solutionize," he wrote, adding that it helps him "avoid spiraling and breaks up the emotional labor."

Through all the ups and downs, Soria remained focused on building his brand, proving that resilience is at the core of his journey. While his path has been anything but easy, his story proves that no setback is final, and there's always another chapter to be written.