Fans who watched Christina Haack face off against her ex-husband Tarek El Moussa on The Flip Off earlier on the 2025 TV schedule are quite excited that the HGTV reality competition show has been renewed for a second season. The first season got an unexpected dose of drama when Haack and her husband Josh Hall split up in the middle of production. So how much of what we saw was real, and what was faked for the cameras?
Josh Hall only appeared on one episode of The Flip Off, which showed a tense conversation with Christina Haack in which he said she was “pissing [him] off already.” Their breakup came soon after, in an off-camera fight, but we watched the emotional scene afterward in which she informed Tarek El Moussa. Let’s remember, however, this is a TV show, so what we saw wasn’t necessarily how things actually happened. Let’s break down what was real and what was fake, according to Haack.
Fake: The Show Made Them Film A Scene To Tell The Audience Even Though It Had Been Discussed
Christina Haack has said it was no surprise to Tarek and Heather Rae El Moussa that she and Josh Hall had broken up, as she’d discussed issues they’d been having. However, the Flip or Flop alum told People that her ex-husband was more involved in the breakup than The Flip Off revealed. After her and Hall’s relationship-ending fight, Haack said:
Tarek told our attorney and told the network for me that Josh would no longer be a part of the show. 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.’
The scene we saw on The Flip Off’s premiere was filmed about a week after they all decided to continue production without Josh Hall — so does that mean Christina Haack was straight-up acting when she told Tarek El Moussa the breakup had happened three days ago? El Moussa also had to break out those acting skills to pretend he was just hearing about it for the first time, which makes for a really amusing rewatch.
What happened during their ensuing conversation, however, was apparently completely unscripted.
Real: Tarek And Christina Getting Candid About Their Own Feelings Toward Each Other
Fans who fell in love with Christina and Tarek El Moussa back in the Flip or Flop days were touched by the scene that played out between the exes on The Flip Off, as the couple reflected on the mistakes they’d made in their own relationship and apologized for the hurt they’d caused. This dialogue was apparently very real, as Haack said:
[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.’ But for me, [the scene] was never really about Josh. It was more about me and Tarek and everything that’s happened since then.
Tarek El Moussa may have even been surprised at how candid his ex-wife got, as she continued:
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.
And it turns out that raw and tearful conversation went on longer than we may have realized.
Fake: The Emotional Conversation Lasted Much Longer Than The 8 Minutes Shown In The Premiere
The Flip Off did give a decent amount of time to that discussion between Tarek El Moussa and Christina Haack — 8 minutes of its 90-minute premiere — but Haack said they talked for a lot longer than that:
I think that scene lasted probably an hour and a half in reality and everyone was crying: the camera operators, the production crew. It was emotional.
I believe that. I was tearing up after less than 10 minutes, and I don’t even know this couple in real life. I can’t imagine listening into such an intimate and raw conversation for over an hour between two people I work with regularly.
Real: Christina’s Third Divorce Improved Her Relationships With Tarek El Moussa And Ant Anstead
It’s clear to those who tuned into the HGTV competition show that the Flip or Flop exes have settled into a friendly co-parenting relationship, but we also saw Christina Haack’s second husband Ant Anstead make an appearance. Is it true that they have gotten past their intense custody battle from just a few years ago? And was it really her divorce from Josh Hall that allowed that? Haack says yes:
My relationships with everyone improved [after splitting from Hall] , and we have a bigger appreciation for each other. I think my kids love that they know that anyone can come over here. It’s not weird at all. It’s wonderful.
However it happened, I’m sure it is much easier now that all of the parents are on good terms. Christina Haack shares two children with Tarek El Moussa, as well as a son with Ant Anstead. Tarek and Heather El Moussa also have a son of their own, and if you don’t know exactly how that makes them all related, you are not alone.
The Flip Off may be a “reality” competition show, but anything happening on-camera is subject to editing, so I think it’s really cool to know what parts of this dramatic breakup actually happened and what was faked or recreated for our benefit.
If you want to rewatch the first season of The Flip Off, you can do so with an HBO Max subscription.
