Christina Haack rose to fame on HGTV with her house-flipping husband Tarek El Moussa on Flip or Flop, which began airing in 2013 and wrapped in 2022. Christina and Tarek’s divorce in 2018 was not a quiet affair, as the couple attempted to keep things civil in what seemed to be a tense filming environment as the show wrapped up. While the ex-couple obviously went through some difficult times after their separation, viewers couldn’t help but miss their obvious chemistry working together. Their audience was rewarded when, somewhat surprisingly, Christina and Tarek agreed to film another series together in 2024, which included Tarek’s new wife, Heather Rae El Moussa. This time the ex-spouses would be in competition against one another on The Flip Off.
The concept for the series was initially simple. Heather and Tarek would team up against Christina and her new husband, Josh Hall, in a contest to find, renovate, and flip houses in a competition to see which couple could earn the highest return on investment. The series hit a roadblock, however, when Christina and Josh began to have tension in their relationship, some of which was due to filming the series together. Christina has tried her hardest to remain tight-lipped about the litigious separation, but in a recent appearance on SiriusXM’s Jeff Lewis Live, the radioshow host wasn’t going to let the HGTV star off without grilling her about her recent divorce experience.
Christina and Josh’s Relationship Fell Apart on ‘The Flip Off’
Viewers of The Flip Off got a front-row seat to the tensions that arose between Christina and Josh as they began the flipping process together. When the couple would butt heads on design ideas, Christina would assert her experience and insist that her husband listen to her. Josh seemed irritated that his way of approaching the flip wasn’t being prioritized, and the tensions began to build, until he ultimately left the series. The Flip Off began to feel less like a polished HGTV series about flipping houses, and more like a reality TV docu-drama, as Christina began to open up to Tarek about her struggles with relationships since their divorce.
In an emotional moment on The Flip Off, Christina described how her children asked her to leave Josh because they felt he wasn’t treating her properly. She described a “blow-up” fight where Josh placed middle fingers in her face, and stated “things with Josh have been bad for a long time.” Once the split was announced, the couple began to share insults back and forth on social media.
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“Tarek and Heather are always complaining that I’m breaking the rules.”
Jeff Lewis Wanted All the Divorce Gossip Live
In her recent appearance on Jeff Lewis Live, the host was quick to put Christina on the spot, asking bluntly “Are you divorced yet?” She acknowledged that papers had been signed, but admitted there was a “process after a process.” Christina then revealed that the mediation process took 12 hrs, before joking that at least the food was good. Jeff Lewis observed that when you are at the mediation center all day, they provide free meals, which eventually inspired Christina and Michael Hitchcock to joke that those aren’t free cookies, considering the expenses that arise amid divorce mediation. Jeff then summed it up by saying “they’re like $30,000 cookies.” Food aside, Christina seemed pleased to be finished with the mediation process, if not the fact that she had to endure it in the first place.
When Jeff pressed for details about the terms of the divorce, Christina was reluctant to say anything until the documents became public record, saying she wasn’t sure if she was “allowed” to speak about it. Jeff assumed her reluctance to speak meant that she was going to be paying some kind of alimony settlement, and that cash and real-estate might be exchanged as well. Although Christina was reluctant to share specific details about the divorce, she seemed happy to share a humorous story that came up during the mediation process.
She recalled that at one point it came up that her ex felt that his reputation had been hurt during filming, asserting he claimed “now he can’t be a reality TV star anymore because nobody likes him,” before Christina launched into a story about how Josh’s mom was at yoga one day and during the class someone told her “Your son is a thief.” Jeff was stunned to hear that Christina’s ex-husband had essentially made the argument that he needed money, because he can’t work because he was allegedly being “defamed.” It seems like the details about the settlement will show Christina had to pay to appease her ex-husband’s sense of an allegedly damaged reputation amid their contentious divorce.