Shea will still be on Bargain Block, even though she was not in the pilot after her baby was diagnosed with a rare illness.
Bargain Block’s premise requires that the show’s hosts, Keith and Evan, are able to find, renovate, and sell homes at an affordable price, which is exactly where Shea Hicks-Whitfield comes in.
Shea has been part of Bargain Block since almost the first episode. Even now that her baby has been diagnosed with a rare illness, it seems unlikely that she will leave the show.
Shea’s role on Bargain Block
Most home renovation shows focus on upgrading and styling luxury homes. But HGTV’s Bargain Block team sets out to create affordable, starter homes, which are still beautiful and unique enough to drool over.
However, Keith Bynum and Evan Thomas who host the show would never be able to do this without the help of their trusty real estate agent, Shea Hicks-Whitfield.
Shea, who is a Detroit native, not only assists Keith and Evan with finding homes that they can fix up for affordable prices, but she also helps them to find the right buyers for their projects when the time comes.
What happened to Shea on Bargain Block?
For Shea, Bargain Block is about more than simply expanding her real-estate business.
In fact, she has mentioned that these affordable houses have made real-estate in Detroit that much more accessible for other locals like herself, stating, “It provides the perfect opportunity for a first-time buyer because the homes are still affordable.”
Since Shea is such an integral part of Bargain Block, most long-time fans of the show were shocked to find out that Shea was technically not part of the show since its very beginning.
When Shea was inexplicably missing from the May 26, 2021 episode, many fans took to Twitter to enquire about her absence.
The official HGTV twitter account then quickly confirmed that this episode was simply the pilot episode of the show, which was filmed before Shea signed on.
Though most fans were relieved to hear that Shea had not simply vanished from the show back then, these concerns have surfaced again recently, when Shea announced on her Instagram page, that the baby with which she was pregnant in the second season of the show, Beau, was born with a rare form of cancer known as Langerhans Cell Histiocytosis (LCH).
Shea seemed ready to tackle this new challenge and even acknowledged that they had been “blessed with terrific health care support, and our village has provided the prayer and positive energy needed for Beau to thrive.”
However, fans have been worried that filming the show throughout this tough time may be too much for Shea to handle, and that she will end up leaving the show for good.
How did people react to the news?
The sad news of Beau’s LCH diagnosis, which Shea shared on her personal Instagram page just months after he was born, led to an outpouring of love and support from fans and from some other HGTV stars.
This includes Married to Real Estate’s Egypt Sherrod, who commented “Keeping you all lifted in prayer” and Fixer To Fabulous’s Jenny Marrs, who commented “I am so deeply sorry. Praying for healing for your precious Beau. You are loved!!”
How is baby Beau doing now?
LCH is an incredibly rare form of cancer, which Shea confirmed only affects about “300-400 children per year.”
However, it seems as though Shea’s confidence in the healthcare system and the willingness of their “village” to support their family through this illness, was correct.
Beau seems to be a fairly happy baby and Shea frequently posts photos showing off her little one. This includes on his eight-month birthday, which she celebrated on 30 March and a more recent post celebrating Beau’s first Easter.
Will Shea leave the show, considering Beau’s diagnosis?
There is no doubt that being a parent is a full-time job, but when you are the full-time parent of a baby with a rare form of cancer, this can demand even more of your time and attention.
However, it seems like none of this is slowing Shea down and it does not seem like she is planning to leave Bargain Block anytime soon.
In fact, Shea recently shared an “appreciation post” on her Instagram account thanking her two Bargain Block colleagues and she is clearly still conducting her regular real-estate agent duties outside of the show.
This, along with the fact that Bargain Block is still so heavily featured on her Instagram page, implies that fans can expect to see a lot more of Shea in future episodes of the show.
