HGTV's 'House Hunters' episode features first 'throuple' — drawing polarized reactions

The popular HGTV show "House Hunters," which typically features couples searching for a home and navigating their varied preferences, featured its first "throuple" in an episode this week.

The episode focused on Brian, Lori, and Geli. Brian and Lori were already legally married when they met Geli, and apparently fell in love with her, at a bar. The couple later exchanged vows in a "commitment ceremony, which was attended by Brian and Lori's two children.

The show, titled, "Three's Not A Crowd In Colorado Springs," aired Wednesday night, and followed the trio as they searched for a home with a three-car garage, or a kitchen with enough room for three people to operate comfortably, or a master bedroom suitable for three inhabitants.

HGTV, which has put gay couples on its shows before, has never used a throuple — although a network spokesperson would not say whether there could be more of that in the future. From Newsweek:

HGTV issued a statement on the episode in support of all couples. "Yes, we did feature a throuple," HGTV told Newsweek. "We feature all homebuyers and living choices." The channel did not immediately clarify if it will continue to expand the representation of nontraditional couples in its other series.

House Hunters first aired on HGTV in September 1999. It has since prompted spin-offs like House Hunters International and House Hunters Renovation, among others. In the past, the series has included both gay and straight couples, though none have featured more than two partners.

Some viewers were excited about the new twist.

"I was legit about to change the channel until I heard throuple. You have my FULL attention now," one user wrote on Twitter.

Others were put off by the nontraditional nature of featuring a polygamous couple.

"The normalization of polyamory rolls down the track, just as I and others predicted it would," Princeton professor Robert George wrote. "It was, as I said, less a 'slippery slope' than a simple unfolding of the logic of social liberalism."

Then, there was the somewhat surprising take that the "throuple" was not progressive enough.

"Without looking, I knew it was two women with a man (all white) who don't use the word triad," wrote one viewer. "I really hope poly representation gets wider soon."

(H/T The Daily Caller)