HGTV’s Tarek El Moussa reveals how viewer’s eagle-eye led to double cancer diagnosis

Tarek El Moussa has revealed a fan’s email saved his life after they encouraged him to get tested for cancer.

The 44-year-old real estate investor, best known for co-hosting the HGTV series Flip or Flop, explained in a new video that a nurse had reached out to his production company over a decade ago, imploring him to seek medical help after she noticed a lump on his neck.

Speaking in a clip that was shared on social media, El Moussa said that was quickly diagnosed with two kinds of cancers after heeding her plead.

Recounting his battle with the disease, he said: ‘Going into Season 2 of Flip or Flop, I remember getting an eerie email from my production company saying they received an email from the network.

‘The email said, “I’m a registered nurse from Texas. I noticed there’s a lump on Tarek’s neck. This is not a joke. He needs to get it checked out.”‘ 

El Moussa sought out a new physician to investigate his health and after undergoing a biopsy, was taken into surgery.

‘I woke up five hours later,’ he continued. ‘My entire family looking down on me, crying.’

Following the surgery, El Moussa was diagnosed with stage III thyroid cancer and was told that the disease had spread to his lymph nodes in his neck, which were subsequently removed.

Tarek El Moussa was diagnosed with two types of cancer after a fan noticed his swollen neck

The HGTV star received his diagnoses when he was 31 and filming season two of his show  

Thyroid cancer affects the thyroid gland, a butterfly-shaped organ at the base of the neck that produces hormones.

Women are anywhere from two to three times more likely to develop the rare cancer than men are.

Symptoms include a lump or swelling at the front of the neck, swollen glands, unexplained hoarseness and difficulty swallowing.

While recovering in hospital, El Moussa looked through old medical records and discovered ‘an irregular testicle exam’ and was quickly invited for another medical exam.

Twenty minutes into the exam, he was diagnosed with testicular cancer.

He recalled: ‘So now, I’m 31, two different cancers, thinking I’m gonna die. I’m a young father.’

At the time of his double cancer shocker, El Moussa claims that HGTV considered pausing Flip or Flop but that he insisted the show continue.

El Moussa, who is now cancer-free, co-hosted Flip or Flop with his ex-wife, Christina Haack, from 2013 to 2022.

El Moussa fronted Flip or Flop with his ex-wife Christina Haack (pictured in 2017) 

 Tarek and Heather Rae El Moussa attend the “Selling Sunset” Season 9 Premiere Party at Gravitas on October 29, 2025 in Beverly Hills, California. (Photo by Jerritt Clark/Getty Images for “Selling Sunset”)

The former spouses, who share kids Taylor, 15, and Brayden, 10, were married from 2009 to 2016. They finalized their divorce in 2018.

El Moussa is now married to former Selling Sunset star Heather Rae El Moussa, whom he wed in 2021.

The couple welcomed their son, Tristan, in 2023.

El Moussa and his wife Heather star alongside Haack in the HGTV show, The Flip Off, in which the exes each attempt to find, buy, renovate and flip a house for the biggest financial gain.