From "Fixer Upper" to "My Lottery Dream Home," the biggest stars of HGTV
seem like they have it all. But for some of the most well-known hosts,
the road to stardom was paved with odd jobs, career pivots and money problems.
So how did they rise to the top? Here's what life was like for these stars, before the fame.
Ahh Chip and Joanna Gaines — the reality couple that helps us believe in lasting love. Judging
by their fun and playful TV personas, it's easy to imagine them happy together, whether they were
rich or poor. And, as it turns out, they've been both. Before they found fame with their reality
design show "Fixer Upper," Chip and Joanna were actually broke. Jo explained to People,
"I remember when we first got married, the only money we had was what was in
Chip's pocket. He always had a wad of cash, but we were broke. If I needed
to go grocery shopping it's whatever was in his pocket. That's how we paid the bills."
Chip began flipping houses when the couple got married, but that business didn't pay
the bills. He revealed that during their first two years of marriage,
Jo's dad kept asking him when he was going to get a "real job."
But while they may now be the envy of every house-flipper in the world,
they were never trying to get famous. Chip revealed to Fox News,
"All of this sort of fell into our laps. We were just living our life out here in little bitty
Waco. We had dreams and aspirations like most folks, but this has really been something else."
"Don't ever quit. No matter what, there's always a
silver lining right around the corner." Nicole Curtis is another rags-to-riches story.
She has called the shots on her shows "Rehab Addict" and "Rehab Addict Rescue" for years,
but she wasn't always the confident boss lady she is today. In college,
she couldn't decide on a career path. She actually attended school in three different
states, and changed her major from pre-law to education. Rehabbing houses was never the plan.
After college, Curtis paid the bills by waitressing at IHOP and Hooters.
She also began cleaning houses. She continued with her cleaning business as a single mom so
she could schedule time with her son Ethan. Curtis revealed to People,
"I never regretted giving up a corporate job to clean houses so
that I could make Ethan's second grade Halloween party happen."
"I've been a single mom pretty much Ethan's entire life.
I've worked my a-- off for 12 years, just trying to make a life for us."
The only reason that Curtis ever got into rehabbing was out of necessity.
She told Arizona Central,
"I got interested in rehabbing because I was poor. Nothing motivates you to learn
how to do something like not having the money to pay to have it done."
Curtis earned her real estate license just as DIY Network was looking for
a host for their new show. She shared with Minnesota Monthly,
"Coincidentally, there was this really horrific Glamour Shots photo of me on my website,
and when a production assistant at Magnetic Productions was scanning for blond real-estate
agents for the show, they saw it." Just watching one episode of "Property
Brothers," it's clear that Drew and Jonathan Scott are network gold. The
handsome and funny brothers battle it out amid gorgeous homes and incredible transformations.
But it all makes sense considering their background in real estate and entertainment.
"I don't know what to do with my hands. Is this natural?"
It turns out that both Scott brothers had their hearts set on acting since they were
young. In an interview with Glamour, they revealed that — along with a brief attempt
at being underwear models — they landed roles on the Canadian series "Breaker High."
Drew also appeared on "Smallville," and Jonathan nabbed a small role on "The X-Files."
"We actually discovered a very important thing was there isn't just one right way to do things."
Their real estate career began when they were just teens,
after watching a late-night infomercial. Jonathan told Forbes,
"We saw this infomercial on how to make millions of dollars with no money down by Carlton Sheets.
At 18 with $250 down we bought a $200,000 home right across from the University and after a
little work sold it a year later for a $50,000 profit and that's when the light bulb went on."
With their combined charisma, it was only a matter of time before the network snatched them up.
From "Design Star" to "White House Christmas," Genevieve
Gorder has secured her place as network royalty. But it might be
surprising to learn that HGTV was actually the third network she worked for.
"I'm an interior designer who happens to be on television for the last 17 years."
Originally from Minneapolis, Gorder moved to Oregon to attend Lewis & Clark College
after high school. After falling in love with graphic design, she scored an internship with MTV.
She then transferred to the School of Visual Arts in Manhattan and graduated
with her bachelors in fine arts. That MTV internship turned into a full-time job,
and Gorder ended up starring in the series "Sex in the '90s." Years later, Gorder was cast as one of
the star designers on TLC's "Trading Spaces," returning for the Season 10 reboot in 2019.
There's a reason why HGTV star Carter Oosterhouse looks more like a model than
a carpenter — that's because he was once in the modeling industry! As a kid he loved all sports
and later earned a full-ride scholarship to Central Michigan University for rugby. There,
he studied nutrition and communication before moving to Los Angeles to pursue
his modeling and acting career. Even so, real estate was always in his blood. He told HGTV,
"The town that I grew up in, which is Traverse City,
Michigan, is a big tourist town. So a lot of people are always remodeling and building.
For me it was just a summertime job, just to make some money."
It wasn't long before he discovered his talent for carpentry — which seems to run in the family.
Both of Carter's brothers are carpenters, and his sister is an interior designer.
Tarek and Christina's split certainly didn't slow them down. And they've continued to work together
on their hit series "Flip or Flop." But starring on a TV show wasn't originally in their plans.
The El Moussas were Orange County real estate agents before they struck it rich.
When the housing bubble burst, the couple needed to find a new way to make money.
They moved out of their $6,000-a-month mortgage home and found a roommate to share a $700-a-month
apartment. They sold their cars and split Subway sandwiches for dinner. Then, they
began buying rundown properties and fixing them up themselves. Tarek explained to Country Living,
"We just started flipping houses and […] [we] sent a production company an email.
They liked us and said to send a home video. We did, and they liked it.
A year-and-a-half later, HGTV picked us up for a pilot. Midway through season one,
the show was almost cancelled because someone high up at HGTV thought it would fail. It didn't."
"We're hoping to at least make a couple dollars."
The fan-favorite show has been going strong since 2013.
As host of "The High/Low Project," Sabrina Soto gets to show off her unique ability to
blend luxurious taste with affordable design. And she got her start in the industry by helping her
mother — a Cuban immigrant who started her own design company when Soto was a child.
"People that I went to high school with didn't even realize how poor we were because
our house always looked really pretty."
But it wasn't just hard work that helped Soto land multiple roles on HGTV.
It also may have been fate. Soto shared with Alejandra TV that she learned about
the law of attraction shortly before scoring her first TV gig. She explained,
"My friend told me about the movie 'The Secret' and I thought it was a little crazy. She gave it
to me to borrow and I let it sit on my desk for a long time. Finally one night I watched it."
The next day, Soto logged onto Craigslist to look for jobs in TV, and nabbed one. She said,
"It was crazy, it was the day after I watched the movie. I think there
is something about really believing in what you are going to do and making it happen."
"When people call me a star, I think it's weird. I go, 'No, I'm just a person with a cool job."
Before competing on HGTV's "Design Star," David Bromstad had his sights
set on a very different network. He told South Florida Gay News,
"Walt Disney. 100 percent. That's why I went to art school. I wanted
to be a Disney animator. I was obsessed with anything Disney."
Bromstad found work with Disney as a visual merchandiser for six
months. He then moved on to the sculpting department, explaining,
"It was a great learning tool for bringing perfection into my work. At the time though,
I was 23 years old and was like, what the hell am I doing? But I learned so much."
It's no surprise that Bromstad was ultimately drawn to interior design. Once he started hosting
and designing for "Color Splash," he was hooked. Coming from a family of real estate brokers,
Egypt Sherrod knew she wanted to do something different. So, she went into radio. But
eventually she decided that real estate might be where the money is. She told Mommynoire,
"As I got older and wiser, I realized you have to do smarter things with that money
and I grew up knowing that real estate was the foundation of wealth. When I was in my
very early 20's, with my savings, I got an investment property and flipped it."
When that flip made money, Sherrod invested in another property and then another. After she
realized how much she was paying in realtor fees with every flip, she decided to get her
real estate license. From then on, she split her time between her two loves; real estate and radio.
"I decided that I wanted people to know I wasn't just a voice that you heard on
the radio, or some cute little face that you saw on TV — I had a brain."
Once Sherrod became a mom, she wanted to get away from the craziness of New York. When she
was offered a radio job in Atlanta, HGTV jumped at the chance to film "Property Virgins" there.
Check out one of our newest videos right here!
Plus, even more List videos about your favorite TV hosts are coming soon.
Subscribe to our YouTube channel and hit the bell so you don't miss a single one.