The Real Reason Hilary Farr Is Done With HGTV's Love It Or List It

Hilary Farr — one half of the designer/realtor duo that made HGTV's "Love It or List It" an international success — has decided to depart from the show.

The design extraordinaire announced her shocking decision to exit the program in December 2023. "I've given it so many years of my life," Farr said during an exclusive People interview. "It's got me through hard times. It's got the audiences through hard times. It has evolved into a mainstay of people's lives, and it's been incredibly gratifying. But now it's time for me to move on and meet new challenges." Farr's desire to pursue fresh projects was partially inspired by her past encounter with breast cancer. "You want to feel that every day is something different and special," she added.

Farr also spoke candidly about her exit with Vulture. Diving right into what she referred to on Instagram as "the honest truth about why I'm leaving 'Love It or List It," Farr revealed that she'd grown tired of the show. "It was becoming boring, and I don't want to be bored," admitted Farr. "I've been doing the show for years and I have loved doing it. But in the last season, which we did in Canada, it just felt too much like work. It felt very stale. It's a very formulaic show." Shooting during the pandemic also complicated Farr's ability to freely travel home to Canada after filming stateside for part of the year. 

If fans are probably disappointed to lose Hilary Farr's irreplaceable contributions to "Love It or List It," they can only imagine how her co-host of 17 seasons, David Visentin, must feel. Fortunately, Visentin has shared nothing but positive things about Farr's exit with the public. "I will be phoning you regularly to soften your 'David withdrawal.' No need to thank me ... it's what friends do," Visentin commented under Farr's Instagram announcement (via Country Living). "You will be missed! Congratulations."

Visentin also issued a formal statement about losing his TV partner in crime. "Working with Hilary has been a wild, unforgettable ride," said Visentin in a statement to Closer Weekly. "I'd like to forget the mountain of 'love its,' but hey, she's a talented lady." The real estate guru also revealed that he and Farr became friends off-camera, despite the show's competitive nature. "I look forward to continuing that friendship and wish her all the best in everything she does," added Visentin.

Hilary Farr's fans aren't losing her altogether. Farr started setting up her future in television several years back. The opinionated designer debuted her solo show, "Tough Love With Hilary," which features her helping feuding families address the aspects of their home causing disruption, in 2021. When discussing pandemic-induced scheduling conflicts with Vulture, Farr revealed that filming her new show inspired her decision to leave "Love It or List It" behind. "Doing that and Tough Love back-to-back, I realized how much more meaningful the latter was to me because it was much more personal and driven by a true need," said Farr. "There was no competitiveness in it, there was no aggression or contentiousness, which is part of the formula of 'Love It or List It' because it is a competition, ultimately."

During an Entertainment Tonight interview to promote Season 2 of "Tough Love With Hilary," Farr revealed that despite the premise revolving around tough love, her approach is much more thoughtful than one might think. "There is the love that goes with the tough," said Farr. "We're always trying to balance that in our own lives, but there is an element of trust that is built in, so I can hammer in my wisdom that I've accumulated over all these years, which is not always taken ... It's an interesting dynamic, walking that line."