How 'Flip or Flop's' Tarek El Moussa went from living in a garage to HGTV star

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How 'Flip or Flop's' Tarek El Moussa got his start

How Tarek El Moussa went from living in a garage to starring on HGTV's 'Flip or Flop.'

NEW YORK – Tarek El Moussa may be sitting on top of a house-flipping empire now with the success of his hit HGTV show "Flip or Flop," but the California native came from humble beginnings.

"One thing people don't know about me is [that] at one point I was so broke I was actually living in my mom's garage," El Moussa told Fox News.

And it wasn't a renovated garage but an "actual garage with my dirt bike and spray paint cans" the 34-year-old recalled.

"I was so motivated living in that garage that within 120 days, I made enough money at the age of 22 to buy my first million dollar home.

The dad-of-two with ex-wife and current co-star Christina El Moussa said he hates when people assume his success is due to family money.

"People think that my family gave me money to flip houses," he said of the rumor. "The truth is my mom's a school teacher and my dad's an engineer."

The HGTV star, who never completed college, has been "hustling and grinding" his entire life.

He continued, "[I went] from selling kitchen knives to cleaning Diesel trucks to eventually get to where I am today."

Fast-forward several years later and El Moussa finds himself gracing homes across the country with his hit HGTV show "Flip or Flop" which aired its seventh season in the summer of 2017.

"I never knew that our TV show would become such a success," he said.

And what about a Season 8?

"If all goes well, we'll probably do a Season 8, maybe even a Season 9," El Moussa teased. "I'm not sure there's anything that can stop me from the show, considering I filmed through two cancers, multiple surgeries, 50 pound weight swings and I couldn't imagine anything [else] that would prevent me from doing it."