For years, fans have watched Tarek El Moussa on a number of HGTV shows, starting with Flip or Flop. However, there was an issue early on in his career that could have had unintended consequences. In a recent share, he opened up about a mistake made during filming that he later learned was illegal.
Tarek El Moussa Started Flip Or Flop By Filming The First Time He Flipped A House
El Moussa got his real estate license in 2002 before he and his then-spouse, Christina Haack, pursued flipping houses. This led to their HGTV series, Flip or Flop, which originally ran from 2013 to 2022.
Since then, El Moussa has appeared on a number of shows. In 2021, he served as the host of Flipping 101 with Tarek El Moussa.
During a recent Instagram post, the HGTV star noted that an issue took place during the filming of the first episode of Flip or Flop that could have ended things before they started. This was during the filming of his and Christina’s first flip. In fact, this actually served as the de facto pilot that he submitted to HGTV, which inspired them to pick up the show.
El Moussa Admitted Not Knowing Much About Construction At The Start, But Was Still Proud Of His First House Flip
As El Moussa noted, “If you have a pool in your backyard, I gotta tell you this. You can’t just throw a bunch of junk in there and then fill it with dirt because you will get in trouble with the city.”
El Moussa recalled, “It was in La Habra, California. For those Flip or Flop fans out there, you guys know, the house was kind of on a cul-de-sac, it backed to this park, and it had this huge pool in the backyard. And if you remember this pool, it was empty; it had no equipment. It was just a big hole in the ground.”
Noticing there was a problem with the pool, El Moussa thought it would be a clever idea to just fill it up instead. They would fill it up with junk and cover it all with dirt. However, he later learned, “It turns out, you cannot do that. It’s actually illegal.” He joked, “Turns out I was just a guy with a hole in the ground and bad ideas.”
As this was the first house the couple flipped, El Moussa admitted to not knowing much about “construction” despite thinking he and Christina were “experts.” However, he was still proud of having flipped their first house.
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John Witiw has been a writer since at least 2015. He’s covered a variety of topics, especially when it comes to film and television.