HGTV Fan’s Urgent Email Saved Star’s Life, Cancer Diagnosis
Christina Haack, Tarek El Moussa, and Heather Rae El Moussa are familiar faces to HGTV viewers. Their messy relationship drama nearly derailed their careers at the network. But now they all star together on The Flip Off. One of the stars of the show is alive today thanks to an eagle-eyed viewer. The reality TV star took to social media with gratitude. Keep reading for more details on how it all unfolded.
The Flip Off Renewed For Another Season
Not many men could work with their current wife and their ex-wife. But not many men are a famous reality TV star like Tarek El Moussa. His marriage to Christina Haack ended in 2016. He married Heather Rae El Moussa in 2021. The trio got into a heated altercation at one of their children’s soccer games in 2022. Tarek El Moussa reportedly had to pull his wife away from his ex in the tense showdown.
But they mended fences in the name of co-parenting and reality TV. Amid mass cancellations at the network, including The Flipping El Moussas, Tarek El Moussa, his wife, and ex found success on The Flip Off. The El Moussas compete against Christina Haack to see who makes the most money flipping houses. The show is filmed in Newport Beach, California.
The first season was a huge hit. HGTV renewed it for another season, which will premiere sometime in early 2026.
HGTV Star Thanks Fan For Saving Their Life
Tarek El Moussa’s life was almost cut short when he starred on Flip or Flop with his ex-wife. The show was canceled in 2022 because the ex-spouses felt it was too intimate to continue. An eagle-eyed viewer saved Tarek El Moussa’s life during the show’s earlier seasons. “A fan’s email saved my life,” he revealed in an Instagram post over the weekend.
A concerned viewer contacted the show over a lump they saw on the reality star’s neck. He recalled, “Going into Season 2 of Flip or Flop, I remember getting an eerie email from my production company saying they received an email from the network. The email said, ‘I’m a registered nurse from Texas. I noticed there’s a lump on Tarek’s neck. This is not a joke. He needs to get it checked out.’”
At the time, he was using nasal spray and allergy medication after getting the lump looked at before. The email prompted him to change doctors. The doctor scheduled a biopsy and surgery.
He found out from the surgery that he had thyroid cancer. Furthermore, the cancer had spread to his lymph nodes. The diagnosis made him reexamine his medical records. An ultrasound of his testicles revealed that he also had cancer there.
Refused To Quit Show
Now diagnosed with two types of cancer, HGTV wanted to cancel Flip or Flop. Tarek El Moussa refused to let them. “It was really important to me that I didn’t quit, to prove to myself and my family that nothing would stop me from building what I was building,” he explained.
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Without the viewer noticing the lump, the reality star likely would have ignored it as his previous doctors weren’t concerned about it. The Flip Off star has been in remission for ten years.
“I’m most proud to say that year that I had the surges and I fought the two cancers and I was in hospitals, I quadrupled the size of my house flipping business,” he told fans.
If the viewer hadn’t emailed the network, Tarek El Moussa might not have lived very long.
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