Tarek El Moussa Responds After His Latest Skit with Wife Heather Is Called 'Violent'

When Heather and Tarek El Moussa shared their most recent promo for their upcoming show, not everyone was amused.

In the skit, posted on the couple’s Instagram accounts on Tuesday, June 4, Heather approaches her husband from behind and throws a garbage bag over his head before tossing the bag over her shoulder and then into a trash can.

“When your husband tells you we’re filming a show with his ex wife,” reads the text over the video, set to the tune of JoJo’s 2004 hit "Leave (Get Out).”

“Stepping into drama, while taking out the trash,” the couple captioned their joint post.

HGTV announced in May that Heather, 36, and Tarek, 42, would compete against Tarek’s ex-wife Christina Hall, 40, and her current husband Josh Hall, 43, in a new series called The Flip Off, set to premiere in 2025. The show marks Tarek and Christina's first time working together since Flip or Flop ended after nine years in March 2022.

While the video is the latest in a series of playful skits the HGTV stars have been sharing to tease the new project, some commenters took issue with the nature of the clip.

“Noooooo,” one comment read. “This isn’t funny. This is very violent and there have been too many REAL LIFE murders like this. Don’t want to rain on your parade but change the optics.”

While several replies defended the video — “oh geez, lighten up! Dark humor is hilarious!” read one — there were others that concurred with the first sentiment.

“I agree, not funny at all!” someone wrote, while another person said, “I’m with you, this was weird.”

Tarek responded to one comment in defense of the skit, writing, “in this case it’s a husband and a wife playing.”

The Flip Your Life author also addressed a comment from Christina that simply included a pair of "litter in bin sign" emojis, writing, “@thechristinahall you wish it was you 😂😂😂.”

The exes appeared together in another cheeky social media video last week.

In the clip, Tarek and Heather enter a coffee shop and Heather asks him to order her a chai latte. 

When he goes up to a blonde woman with a cup bearing Heather’s name, Christina — dressed identically to Heather — turns around, visibly annoyed at the mixup.

Heather then exclaims “Excuse me?!” before slapping Tarek across the face.

“Well, I guess it is confusing,” says Tarek, poking fun at the pair’s resemblance.

In another previous video, Heather and Christina wear matching black strapless tops and jeans. “Hi I’m Christina,” Heather says. "I'm Heather!," Christina replies.

Heather clarifies, “Wait no, that’s not right.” The two women twirl their similar blonde locks as Christina jokes, “Must be all that bleach.”

Another Instagram video posted by Tarek saw him pretending to answer a phone call from Christina, and the caller ID image pictures an infamous dispute between the two couples at Tarek and Christina's son Brayden’s soccer game in 2022.

Tarek and Christina were married from 2009 to 2016 and share two children: daughter Taylor, 13, and son Brayden, 8.

Since ending their long-running series Flip or Flop, on which they continued to co-star for several seasons after they split, both HGTV hosts have launched other shows on the network.

Christina currently stars in Christina on the Coast and Christina in the Country with Hall, whom she married in 2022. Tarek starred on Flipping 101 with Tarek El Moussa and now appears alongside Heather on The Flipping El Moussas.

Tarek met Heather, who was a series regular on Netflix’s Selling Sunset up until season 7, in 2019, and they were married in 2021. They welcomed their son Tristan in 2023.

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Christina also shares son Hudson, 4, with her second husband Ant Anstead, to whom she was married from 2018 to 2021.

HGTV officially announced the two couples would star on The Flip Off on May 15 and dropped a teaser trailer for the show.

According to a release from the network, the home renovation stars will "throw down" to see who can "find, buy, renovate and flip a house for the biggest financial gain."