There's conscious uncoupling and then there's conscious collaborating. Exes and TV personalities Tarek El Moussa and Christina Haack have reunited for a new reality competition show, "The Flip Off," on HGTV.
El Moussa and Haack (then known as Christina Hall) were first introduced to viewers in 2013 as married co-stars of the HGTV series "Flip or Flop," which aired for 10 seasons. When their marriage ended in 2017, they continued to film together — with some tension — until the series finale in 2022.
Now, El Moussa has teamed with his new wife, Heather Rae El Moussa, a real estate agent also known for Netflix's "Selling Sunset," to compete against Haack on "The Flip Off."
Each side scouts a house to buy, redo and sell. One room is tackled at a time and is critiqued by a guest judge. In the end, the winner with the larger flip profit gets a paid vacation and bragging rights.
"There might have been some spying. Like, ‘How is she designing? What is she doing? How much should we spend? Is she really not spending a lot of money?’" says Heather El Moussa.
All three real estate agents are also co-producers on "The Flip Off" and "we all knew it was going to be TV gold," says Haack.
The series has had some drama on screen and off.
Haack began filming with her now estranged husband, Josh Hall, as her teammate. The two split shortly thereafter and some of their tension is visible on "The Flip Off."
When Hall exited, Haack was joined by friends she's worked with behind-the-scenes on projects. Her second ex-husband, TV personality Ant Antstead, even makes an appearance.
The El Moussas and Haack spoke with The Associated Press about the show and working together. Answers are edited for clarity and brevity.
AP: Heather, it's not easy to date and marry a man who's working with his ex-wife. Are you surprised you're all collaborating now?
HEATHER EL MOUSSA: I came into a lot of chaos when I first met this man because they were filming "Flip or Flop." One day they like each other, the next day they don’t, so it was a lot for me to take on... But it’s been such a great relationship that we’ve all built, and especially Christina and I throughout this.
AP: Do you ever think back to those moments when you weren't getting along and wonder how you got to where you are now?
HAACK: Tarek and I both have a very quick bounce-back effect. We could be in an argument, but then the cameras would be rolling and we can create a great scene and be over it. I like making good TV. I think it’s fun.
AP: What were some of the challenges of the new show?
HAACK: The biggest amount of pressure is trying to out-design each other. Normally with a house flip, you’re just designing it for the neighborhood and you know, you can paint or knock down some walls, but like you’re not trying to overdo it. During the process, we got so competitive with each other, we definitely all overspent.
AP: Tarek, you often refer to yourself on the show as the king of flipping houses. Why?
TAREK EL MOUSSA: I’ve learned a lot of lessons through experience. You know, I’ve done about 1,000 deals at this point. And every time you make a mistake, every time you lose a dollar, every time you get burned, it’s a lesson. And you keep stacking those lessons. I am so excited about the future because all those lessons are paying off.
HEATHER EL MOUSSA: He always says to keep the emotion out of it because I think you can get so stuck on when things go wrong with a flip. In the beginning, I would be so mad if one thing went wrong. Tarek's like, "You have to move on. You can’t dwell on the small things. Take emotion out of the flip."
