Are HGTV’s Scott McGillivray & Debra Salmoni Friends in Real Life? Their Offscreen Relationship Revealed 

Since 2019, Scott McGillivray and Debra Salmoni have been working together on his HGTV show Vacation House Rules. While he works as a real estate investor and contractor, she’s by his side as the design expert for his renovations.

While McGillivray and Salmoni work well together professionally, fans are interested in their relationship when the cameras aren’t rolling, as well. Are they actually friends in real life? Scroll down for everything we know about where they stand and more.

Are Scott McGillivray and Debra Salmoni actually friends?

Yes, McGillivray and Salmoni are more than just coworkers. “We’re real friends,” the contractor confirmed in a Q&A video the pair did for their fans on Instagram. “We enjoy each other’s company.”

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Salmoni added that she and her partner “hang out outside of the show,” in addition to working together. She also called McGillivray a “kind-hearted person,” and noted that he’ll “do anything for anyone on the crew.”

Are Scott McGillivray and Debra Salmoni married?

No, McGillivray and Salmoni are not in a romantic relationship. In fact, they’re actually both married to other people.

McGillivray has been married to his wife, Sabrina, since 2008. They celebrated 17 years of marriage in June 2025. The McGillivrays have two daughters. Their first child, Myah, was born in January 2012, followed by Layla in October 2013.

Meanwhile, Salmoni married her husband, Dave, in 2015. They have a son named Tom and a daughter named Lizzy.

How did Scott McGillivray and Debra Salmoni meet?

McGillivray and Salmoni revealed in their Instagram Q&A that they met “through a mutual friend” and clicked instantly.

Salmoni reflected on her Vacation House Rules casting in a 2022 interview with Seneca News, telling the outlet, “They literally found me on Instagram, interviewed me, and hired me. And I was shooting in a week. It was the quickest turnaround they’d ever seen.”

But McGillivray said there was no doubt it would be the right fit. “You’re a talented designer and I’m like, ‘She’s just got the right personality,'” he recalled. “We just became fast friends.”

In a 2023 interview, Salmoni expanded on her Vacation House Rules casting, noting that her husband was on another TV show at the time, and the casting director was the one who was looking for a designer for McGillivray’s new show.

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“I guess they were on set together at another project, and all of a sudden this casting director messages me on Instagram and was just like, ‘I would love to talk to you about this opportunity.’ And I thought it was spam,” Salmoni admitted.

“They followed up a few times. And then, finally, I replied ‘Is this serious?’ We had a conversation, and it went really, really well. I met with Scott on set to do a camera test, and see how we worked and our chemistry together. And then, like a week later, it was, ‘You got the part!’ [Laughs.] And then, two days after that it was, ‘We’re filming tomorrow.’ Within six weeks I was on TV filming with Scott. I’d never done television before. No desire to be on television. It’s really serendipitous.”