HGTV Stars Who Totally Crashed And Burned

From allegations that "House Hunters" is scripted to the property damage that caused "Love It or List It" to be hit with a lawsuit, America's premier home renovation network has faced its fair share of scandals and controversies over the years. But it's not always just the shows themselves causing all the trouble.

Since the network's first broadcast way back in 1994, HGTV has welcomed a significant number of hosts, experts, and personalities who've later created headlines for all the wrong reasons; whether serving time in prison, battling addictions, or offending practically every minority group in America. Here's a look at 11 faces — some whose fame spans decades, others only a matter of days — whose reputations are largely beyond repair.

Identical twin brothers David and Jason Benham looked all set to become HGTV's hottest new stars in 2014 when they landed the hosting gig on "Flip It Forward." But the home improvement show never made it to air after David's controversial comments forced the network to pull the plug.

According to a report from People for the American Way's Right Wing Watch, David holds extremist views about the LGBTQ community, declaring that its ideologies are harming the country and comparing same-sex marriage to Nazism. Following the show's cancellation, the real estate entrepreneur — who also voiced controversial views about abortion and Muslim people — told Deadline that he and Jason were victims of a smear campaign, but confirmed his concerns about a supposed gay "agenda."

Three years later, the siblings doubled down on this belief in a piece for Charisma News (via Out), arguing that homophobia didn't exist. "To say otherwise is disingenuous at best and misleading at worst," they wrote. "You see, this conversation or debate over religious liberty has been framed to suggest Christian business owners are refusing to serve gay people in this country — when in actuality nothing could be further from the truth." In 2020, David was arrested for disregarding pandemic restrictions when staging an anti-abortion protest outside a North Carolina clinic. Just like the Benham brothers — who didn't even get their chance on TV before their cancellation – here's a look at some other reality TV stars who destroyed their careers in minutes.

In 2015, Christopher Dionne made his one and only HGTV appearance when he hosted a show titled "Family Flip," which failed to make it past the pilot stage. That wasn't the last we heard of him, though. Toward the end of the decade, he was given a three-year prison sentence after being convicted of child molestation.

Dionne was also put on the sex offenders' register and given 10 years' probation for the crime, which occurred during a sleepover at his Connecticut home in 2017. The victim was the 10-year-old best friend of his daughter, and as stated in an arrest warrant application, he inappropriately touched her on two separate occasions. He also reportedly told her at the time (per People), "If you tell your mom, I'll go to jail and [my daughter] won't have a daddy."

Dionne, who also subjected the same 10-year-old to a similar assault two months previously, continued to claim his innocence long after his release. In 2025, he was fired from his job at a communications company after bosses were alerted to his criminal past.

Christopher Dionne isn't the only one-time HGTV name to have served time. In 2024, Charles "Todd" Hill, who presented more than a dozen episodes of the 2014 show, "Flip It to Win It," was given a four-year jail sentence after being found guilty of several counts of financial and real estate fraud, including a Ponzi scheme.

The California resident — who pocketed millions from 11 victims over the years — was also given 10 years of probation and forced to pay back $10 million that he spent on everything from rental apartments to flashy cars. In a statement (via Fortune), Jeff Rosen, the Santa Clara County District Attorney, said that Hill's imprisonment should serve as a warning: "Some see the huge amount of money in Silicon Valley real estate as a business opportunity. Others, unfortunately, see it as a criminal opportunity — and we will hold those people strictly accountable."

"To hide the theft, he created false balance sheets and got loans using fraudulent information," Rosen continued before providing one specific example of Hill's wrongdoing. One victim handed over $250,000 for the remodeling of a particular property, only to discover that Hill left it a "burnt-down shell." Other targets testified at the hearing, stating they were still struggling to cope with the hardships Hill inflicted.

Carter Oosterhouse used to be one of HGTV's golden boys. In 2008, he was the face of three of the network's flagship shows, and he was even hailed as one of the Sexiest Men Alive by People magazine. But his reputation came crumbling down in 2017 when his former make-up artist accused him of repeated sexual coercion.

In a damaging interview with The Hollywood Reporter, Kailey Kaminsky revealed she was forced to seek treatment for depression following her experiences working on "Carter Can." According to the makeup artist, Oosterhouse constantly pressured her into giving him oral sex. "He's like, 'You know what would be a good idea? If you went down on me,'" she recalled his first advances. "I was shocked — it was so random. I said, in my sarcastic way, 'Well, that's not sexual harassment at all.' He said, 'I just think it would be fun.'"

Kaminsky admitted she eventually caved into his demands, but that Oosterhouse still wasn't satisfied. "Then thereafter it was most every time we would shoot — 10 to 15 times he put me in this position," she added. In response, the star insisted the pair had enjoyed consensual sexual relations and argued that, in fact, it was Kaminsky who'd been the initiator.

It seems fair to say the often-shady Christina Haack and Joshua Hall's divorce wasn't amicable. Indeed, since filing for proceedings in 2024, the couple — who appeared together on HGTV's "The Flip Off" — have gone out of their way to publicly sling mud at each other, with the former essentially alleging that their marriage was a sham. But one party has undoubtedly come off worse.

According to his ex-wife, Hall regularly used Haack's bank balance to top up his own without asking first. He was also accused of being greedy in the settlement, reportedly asking for a whopping $3.5 million while demanding various assets. And in an unfortunate bit of timing, he was also shown berating his then-partner during a particularly tense reality TV encounter, which was first screened amid all the divorce drama.

Following a preview of the offending scene, Hall posted an Instagram story claiming the argument was manufactured for entertainment. Haack argued to the contrary, responding on the same platform (via TODAY), "Pretty sure no one at HGTV told you to be rude to me ... That was all natural." In what many would consider to be a hypocritical stance, Hall later blasted Haack (via Cosmopolitan) for allowing their feud to play out in public. "Let's share some stuff, but the behaving like a pissed off teenager on social media is just not something I'm going to do."

Whether issuing threats to an ex-employee, subjecting his assistant to a full-blown tantrum, or getting cited for battery in Las Vegas, Tarek El Moussa has provided the tabloids with plenty of ammunition over the years. But the most worrying headlines emerged from one particular gun-toting night in 2016.

The drama started when then-wife and fellow HGTV star Christina Haack alerted cops to the fact that El Moussa had walked outside their Orange County house with a backpack containing a handgun. Believing they had a possibly suicidal male to contend with, the police headed to the nearby Chino Hills State Park Main Ridge Trail, where they engaged in a standoff with the "Flip or Flop" host. Thankfully, the latter, who's suffered numerous tragedies throughout his life, complied with all their commands and was taken back home.

"I really wasn't doing good ... hated my life, hated myself. I just hated being alive," El Moussa later recalled in his memoir (via E! News) about the incident. "So I decided to go blow off steam, hike some trails. And next thing I know there's a rifle pointed at me." The star insisted he wasn't feeling suicidal at the time and had taken his gun to ward off rattlesnakes.

Interior designer Alison Victoria and contractor Donovan Eckhardt looked to have formed an HGTV dream team when they worked together on "Windy City Rehab." But the home renovation show and Eckhardt's career were thrown into jeopardy when it became engulfed in one of the network's messiest scandals.

The drama started when Eckhardt's Chicago contract license was suspended for 45 days in the wake of various complaints from neighbors and building law violations. As documented on the show, he was accused of invoicing for tasks that he couldn't possibly have carried out and was kicked to the curb by Victoria. "This is the end with me and Donovan," she told cameras (via TV Insider). "He's gone, by his own right, by his own doing. I have lost a friend and I have lost a business partner."

Eckhardt later filed a swiftly dismissed lawsuit against production company Big Table Media and the show's home network for misrepresentation, claiming that he'd suffered from a lack of sleep and depression because of their accusations. And several years on, he was brutally dismissed by Victoria in an interview with People. "Donovan who?" she responded when his name came up. "It is so far behind me that I don't even look back."

Tim McClellan went from hero to zero in record time in 2019, thanks to an accusation of plagiarism, which stripped him of his HGTV talent show victory. Indeed, in the same week he was seen winning "Ellen's Design Challenge," its behind-the-scenes team learned that his apparently original hideaway table bore a suspicious resemblance to one already created by craftsman Simon Schacht. As a result, runner-up Katie Stout was awarded the top prize instead.

While appearing on host Ellen DeGeneres' daytime chat show in the wake of the controversy, McClellan insisted (via The Wrap) that he was entirely innocent: "This whole experience has been extraordinarily exciting and rewarding for me overall, painful at times for sure, but how this could have happened." The designer went on to argue that he wasn't aware of Schacht's work and that, to his knowledge, he'd never laid eyes on the table in question before.

"It's disappointing how this whole thing worked out and it's been very taxing on me of course," McClellan added about missing out on the HGTV magazine spread and $100,000 cash prize. DeGeneres tried to offer some comfort, telling him that she believed it was all just an unfortunate accident and that she'd love to work with him again.

Anthony Sayers' promising HGTV career was cut short in one fell swoop in 2011 when he was arrested on suspicion of criminal harassment and extortion. The Canadian, who co-presented "The Unsellables" with British property expert Sophie Allsop, got into trouble when he was appointed by a homeowner to finish a project started by another contractor.

According to a police complaint filed by Doreen Boulos, Sayers "provided substandard work" and repeatedly issued threats when she refused to pay up, leaving her with serious concerns over her well-being. However, believing that it would be tough to secure a conviction, Toronto prosecutors decided to drop all charges just two weeks later.

Sayers subsequently expressed plans to sue the city's police force, who'd also published his mugshot on the web for the world to see in the hope of inspiring more victims to come forward, for libel. Anthony Sayers, who'd previously done carpentry work for "Me, My House and I" on the W Network, was never seen on television again.

Mina Starsiak Hawk managed to keep her personal troubles out of the spotlight as she was experiencing them. But she later revealed on her own podcast "Mina AF" that she and several family members had endured troubled relationships with alcohol.

The house-flipper, who appeared on eight seasons of HGTV's "Good Bones," told listeners that like many of her nearest and dearest, she'd been a functioning alcoholic. "There was emotional stuff, physical stuff, mental stuff that was all ever-present and I didn't really think anything of it because it was just normal," she said (via Yahoo! Entertainment), referring to a difficult period in which her husband Steve Hawk lost his parents and ethanol poisoning took the life of her sister Stefanie.

It was the latter tragedy that ultimately inspired the Hawks to change their drinking habits, with Steve turning completely teetotal and Mina having the occasional tipple. "Just seeing how the last however long of her life had been was so incredibly sad," the latter explained. "And then the guilt with not being able to do something about it, like, 'Well, we should've gone to her house sooner. We should have made her go to rehab. We should've made her move in with us.' But nobody knew."