Tarek and Christina El Moussa may be headed towards divorce, but that won’t change HGTV show “Flip or Flop’s” television schedule.
“HGTV respects any decision that Tarek and Christina make about their personal relationship,” the cable channel told TheWrap today. “‘Flip or Flop’ will continue to air on HGTV as scheduled.”
It’s possible that HGTV is being purposely cagey here. When asked to clarify if their statement means that production on new “Flip or Flop” episodes could be altered, an HGTV spokesperson declined further comment. The network had previously stated that they planned to continue to work with the El Moussas and that production of “Flip or Flop” would continue as scheduled — so either the Communications team there doesn’t want to repeat themselves, or executives are leaving the door open for possible production planning changes after all.
Tarek filed for divorce from his wife on Tuesday. The pair ended their seven-year marriage just two weeks before the premiere of the eighth season of their hit home renovation series.
The couple first announced the split on Dec. 12, saying their decision to end their relationship largely stemmed from a domestic incident this past May that involved a gun and resulted in Orange County police getting involved.
The O.C. Sheriff’s Dept. told TheWrap that Christina El Moussa was “crying and shaking” during the incident while Tarek El Moussa was seen by witnesses to have “run out of his back door, jump over his fence and walk northbound into the hiking trails of the Chino Hills State Park.”
The parents of two small children told officials that Tarek El Moussa had not made any threats during the incident and was not suicidal, though he did agree to relinquish his firearms for 30 days.
“Like many couples, we have had challenges in our marriage,” the couple’s statement to People read at the time. “We had an unfortunate misunderstanding about six months ago and the police were called to our house in an abundance of caution. There was no violence and no charges were filed.”
“Flip or Flop” features the real estate agent couple’s attempts to buy cheap houses, renovate them, and sell them for a profit.