HGTV’s Tarek El Moussa Reflects on His Tough Career Journey Before TV Fame

Before The Flip Off returns for its second season on HGTV later this year, Tarek El Moussa took a look back at his biggest career failures and wins.

“I’ve had a TV show for over 15 years. I’ve sold over a billion dollars in real estate. But, here is everything that I tried and failed before I finally won,” El Moussa began a Thursday, May 7, Instagram video. “At 15, I started a T-shirt company, and we had 500 shirts sitting in my mom’s garage. But a company with the exact same name shut us down before we even got started. At 16, I started investing in the stock market with the money I made from bagging groceries. Right before it crashed, I sold it all and bought a motorcycle. At 17, I tried starting a craft beer company, but me and my buddies, we drank all the profits.”

El Moussa recalled getting his real estate license at the age of 20, but had “no calls and no clients” until he left his original agency for a new one. “I switched firms, closed two deals in 24 hours, and earned $33,000 in commissions,” he stated. “During the Great Recession, I tried to pivot out of residential real estate into commercial real estate. [I] walked around the city of Anaheim, taking pictures of apartment buildings for six weeks until I finally quit.”

El Moussa’s real estate ups and downs led him to explore the world of home renovation. “I actually pitched a house flipping TV show without flipping a single house. I bought this first condo for $115,000, renovated it in 15 days, and filmed the entire thing on my buddy’s camera,” he noted. “11 months later, HGTV called, and they offered us a pilot for our house flipping show, Flip or Flop. That show became the No. 1 show in America within two years.”

 

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El Moussa concluded the video on an optimistic note, stating, “Let’s do some math. That’s over 30 years of building, failing, learning, and experiencing all the ups and downs. The lesson? Time heals everything, and all of the things that are keeping you from chasing your dreams mean nothing. And the one thing you’re gonna regret is not going for it. Live with no regrets.”

El Moussa notably rose to fame on HGTV’s Flip or Flop, which ran for 10 seasons from 2013 to 2022. The show followed El Moussa and his ex-wife, Christina Haack, as they transformed run-down properties and sold them for a profit.

The show also featured glimpses into the duo’s personal lives with their two kids, Taylor and Brayden, as well as documented their 2016 split and 2018 divorce. Tarek went on to wed Heather Rae El Moussa in 2021, and the couple welcomed their son, Tristan, in 2023.

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Haack, for her part, welcomed her youngest son, Hudson, in 2019, with Ant Anstead, to whom she was married from 2018 to 2021. She was later married to Josh Hall from 2021 to 2025, and has been dating Christopher Larocca since 2024.

Though Haack remains friendly with Tarek and Heather, she went head-to-head against the couple on Season 1 of HGTV’s The Flip Off. The show, which premiered last year, saw the stars compete to earn the biggest financial gain for their respective home renovations.

The Flip Off is set to return for its second season this year, though HGTV has not yet announced a release date. Earlier this year, Haack addressed speculation that Larocca would serve as her teammate for Season 2. “Umm, yeah. He will be involved a little bit,” she teased in a March interview with Entertainment Tonight.

The Flip Off Season 2, TBA, HGTV