HGTV’s The Flip Off was weeks into filming when two of its stars, Christina Haack and Josh Hall, filed for divorce, throwing the production and the show’s future into chaos.
The competition series was initially supposed to see Haack and Hall teaming up in a renovation battle against Haack’s ex-husband, Tarek El Moussa and his current wife, Heather El Moussa. However, after the split, Hall was kicked off the show, and it resumed filming with Haack taking on the El Moussas on her own.
In a new interview with People, Haack revealed that Tarek was the one who stepped in to help with the tumultuous situation. After a tense argument that ultimately led to the split, Haack told the outlet that her first husband had her back and fought to have Hall removed from the show.
“Tarek told our attorney and told the network for me that Josh would no longer be a part of the show,” she revealed. “They said, ‘No problem. That’s fine.’ They just said, ‘We need Christina to have a scene where she tells you, Tarek, that Josh is no longer going to be a part of the show.’”
Heather Rae El Moussa, Tarek El Moussa, and Christina Haack attend HGTV’s “The Flip Off” For Your Consideration Emmy Event; Phillip Faraone/Getty Images
This led to the dramatic scene which featured on the show’s first season, in which Haack told Tarek about her split with Hall. In a highly emotional heart-to-heart, Haack and Tarek opened up about their own relationship, both acknowledging and apologizing for their past mistakes.
“[The producers] didn’t tell me anything. They just said, ‘Tarek’s coming over. We want you to tell him that you and Josh broke up,” Haack said, adding that the scene with Tarek was filmed about a week after the split. “But for me, [the scene] was never really about Josh. It was more about me and Tarek and everything that’s happened since then.”
Haack said the scene with Tarek “lasted probably an hour and a half in reality” and ended with everyone on the crew crying.
“It was emotional,” she stated. “Through the years we have obviously had talks, and we’ve apologized to each other, but not on camera and not like that. I don’t think he expected me to go there.”
Haack and Tarek were married from 2009 to 2016; the pair share two children. After they split, Haack got into a relationship with Ant Anstead, marrying him in 2018 and welcoming a son together in 2019. Haack’s divorce from Anstead was finalized in June 2021, and later that same year, she married Hall.
In February 2025, Haack went public with her new relationship, sharing an Instagram photo with her new beau, Christopher Larocca, the president and CEO of Network Connex.
The Flip Off was renewed for a second season back in August.