Ant Anstead Drops Bombshell on Ex-Wife Christina Haack That Has Multiple Stars Storming Out of The Flip Off

This post contains spoilers for episode 4 of HGTV’s The Flip Off.

• Christina Haack’s second ex-husband Ant Anstead is the guest judge on episode 4 of HGTV’s The Flip Off
• His choice for the winner of the episode sparked controversy, as he admitted it wasn’t based on the designs, but rather a personal allegiance
• Anstead and Haack were married for less than two years and went through a bitter divorce in 2020 and subsequent custody battle
• The exes revealed they recently made peace, sparked by Haack’s third divorce in July 2024

Guest judge Ant Anstead, 45, caused absolute chaos among the stars of The Flip Off — including his ex-wife.

The Born Mechanic host and second husband of HGTV designer Christina Haack, 41, guest starred on the house flipping competition series’ fourth episode on Wednesday, Feb. 19. His role was to judge who had executed the best guest bedroom makeover — Christina and her design team or her competition: her first ex-husband Tarek El Moussa, 43, and his wife, Heather Rae El Moussa, 37.

While Anstead seemed even keeled as he thoroughly evaluated the two projects, when it came time to pass judgement, he shocked the stars and viewers alike.

Seated outside Christina’s Newport Beach, Calif. home, Anstead addresses Christina, Tarek and Heather. “I came into this endeavor thinking this was about assessing and judging based on the performance, the design, the execution, the house. But actually it dawned on me that it was so much more than that,” he says.

He turns to Christina and continues. “Hudson is five now,” he says, referring to the son they welcomed together in 2019 during their two-year marriage. “And in those five years, it’s been really, really difficult. And that changed three months ago. The relationship that we have now is really, really important. And it’s been a transformation.”

Christina and Anstead, who went through a bitter divorce and custody battle, unexpectedly reconciled in the summer of 2024, shortly after her split from her third husband, Josh Hall, 44. Fans watched as they re-followed each other on Instagram and slowly began sharing friendly messages on social media.

Earlier in Wednesday night’s episode, Christina revealed that they had an emotional reunion right after her split from Hall.

“I walked up to [Ant’s] door. He gave me a huge hug. We hadn’t hugged in years,” Christina said in the confessional-style clip. “He just said ‘I’m so sorry for everything you’re going through and I’m here for you no matter what you need.’ It was a very nice moment. We had a long talk after and we decided to put all the BS aside and be good co-parents.”

The revelation clearly had a profound effect on both exes as was apparent when Anstead continued with his judging, telling Christina, “As parents, it took us four and a half years to get to that point, which is really shameful. You and I will be connected forever because we have a kid. So ultimately, I have to stand by the mother of my kid.”

The camera cuts to Tarek whispering to Heather, “What’s going on right now,” before Anstead turns to address them too. 

“It’s not gonna be something that you want to hear because unfortunately, it puts Christina and me on the same team forever,” Anstead says. “Because of that, this judge is swayed, she’s on my team and you guys lose.”

Tarek and Heather both react with shock and outrage, demanding a draw or a tie breaker.

But Anstead stands by his decision: “My parents raised me in a way that says when you know who your family are you stick with your family. Regardless of rules, regardless of performance, when I left the house this morning, Christina had already won.”

He then abruptly gets up and exits the scene with Tarek shouting “Come on!” after him.

Tarek seems to think of storming out as well but stops when his and Christina’s daughter Taylor, 14, enters. The two parents argue about how the judging’s results are relayed to her, but ultimately, Christina gets up and says she’s taking the kids to dinner.

She throws Tarek and Heather a peace sign, as he shouts about a “tie breaker” simply responding “bye!” before she quickly leaves the patio as well.

But neither Christina or Anstead actually exit the property as revealed in the following scene, in which they seem to be having a secret rendezvous in the kitchen. They don’t discuss Anstead’s proclamations about his lifelong loyalty to her as the mother of his child, but he does pull her aside to share some other crucial info.

It seems, since he’d already decided he was on team Christina before arriving on set, he used his time in Tarek and Heather’s flip house as reconnaissance, because he sits his ex down to break some news: “Their house is better than yours. It’s in a better location. They’ve done better mods,” he says. “But what this has done is it’s given you a fighting chance. You’ve basically got two more challenges to pull it out of the bag. You need to up your game big.” He then stands up and leaves again without another word.

While Anstead’s warning delivers on drama, it’s not entirely true.

The winner of The Flip Off is determined by whichever team gets the highest return on investment when they sell their house, not who wins the individual challenges week to week. Christina also already knows some of what Anstead tells her. She’d snuck over to see Tarek and Heather’s house in an earlier episode, so she’s aware of the location and she’s seen some of the completed rooms.

Still the unexpected judging has seemingly set everyone on edge and will almost certainly inform the intensity of the competition going forward. With Anstead awarding Christina the win this week, the score stands at 2-2 with two episodes remaining.

Amid their rekindled friendship Anstead and Christina have both moved on to new relationships. The British born car expert has been dating Oscar winner Renée Zellweger, 55, for nearly four years after they met on his discovery+ show Celebrity IOU Joyride. After splitting from Hall, Christina began dating businessman Christopher Larocca. PEOPLE confirmed their relationship in December and the pair went Instagram official in February.

The Flip Off airs Wednesday’s at 8 p.m. ET/PT on HGTV.