HGTV star Alison Victoria has fired back at online bullies, saying that while hurtful comments can leave a mark, she won’t let her flame go out.
Victoria, who is known for her shows Scariest House in America, Battle on the Beach, Windy City Rehab, and the upcoming Sin City Rehab, opened up about facing criticism in a recent interview with Us Weekly.
“I think that with anyone — whether you’re in the public eye or not — when something hurts, you can either be crippled by it, or you can be empowered by it,” she said. “Stuff stings and it makes you second guess yourself.”
Victoria was referencing the headline of a recent article she saw while at the airport this past weekend. The interior designer said the headline read, “Why Some HGTV Fans Seriously Can’t Stand Alison Victoria.”
“I told myself years ago that I wasn’t going to let anyone dim my light, and unfortunately, an article like that will, and it sucks,” she shared. “My flame won’t go out, but it’s awful to read.”
The article in question was posted by TheList.com, which referenced a 2021 Reddit thread where a user wrote, “Am I the only one who can’t stand Alison Victoria?” The same user went on to call Victoria “obnoxious,” “angry,” and “unpleasant to watch.”
Victoria said the criticism can hurt because she is putting her real self out there for others to judge. “I do reality television, which means the person that you see on those shows like Windy City Rehab and my soon to be show Sin City Rehab, that is reality,” she explained. “That’s as real as reality gets. But that’s who I am to my core. People are seeing me for me.”
The host said people need to have more empathy, noting, “Understand that the person on the other side is going through some sort of pain because it takes someone in pain to want to inflict pain on others. ‘If I hurt, then I’m going to hurt someone else.’”
“And that’s a very vindictive way to live,” she added. “If you stop and you put yourself in that person’s shoes and you look at it from the outside, you can kind of feel their hurt, and you almost feel bad for them. When you feel bad for somebody, you have empathy.”
Sin City Rehab, TBA, HGTV