"Pretty much everyone was a celebrity if MTV told us so!"

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Pimp my Ride

Strict rules for after the show

It`s not a coincidence that all of the behind-the-scenes secrets from Pimp My Ride only started coming out years after the show went off the air. (Though faster internet connections and social media probably also helped with that.) One of the conditions of being on the show, of course, was signing a pretty lengthy contract that partially dictated what the owners were allowed to do once they were on the show. Don't worry -- it was nothing like a Disney contract, where talent allegedly signs away their ability to swear or be a normal teenager while representing the House of Mouse.

three guys standing next to a car wrapped in lightningbolts

However, participants on the show weren`t allowed to say that the car was on Pimp My Ride if they tried to sell it. If they were going to keep the car for themselves, they were free to brag about being on the show. If they decided to sell their car, however, the gag order was suddenly in place. There were also restrictions on which sites could be used to sell the car in the first place. This was done to make sure that owners couldn’t try to inflate the value of the car by saying that it had been on the show. There were probably other, more serious reasons why this provision was in the contract, however like trying to prevent the public from finding out about the shady work that was being done on the car.

Stopped working after they left the shop

The best part of Pimp My Ride is seeing the finished product. The specialists in each shop always give a lot of cool gadgets and tricked out interiors to each contestant’s car, and seeing how it all comes together is part of the show.

A costum built gold van with large speakers in the trunk

(We’d imagine that it’s the best part for the contestants who got to go on the show, too.) Unfortunately for the owners, though, not all of the additions to their cars kept working after they’d driven away from the shop. In fact, some of them stopped working within days. It turns out that even though the shops had the cars for months, that wasn’t exactly enough time to make sure that the work was as good as it was supposed to be.

The upgrades were fake

One of the best parts of the show is seeing everything come together at the end. The last few minutes are dedicated to someone from the shop -- usually Mad Mike -- taking the owner on a mini-tour of their new car, showing off all the new additions that they’ll be able to drive away with. Maybe. Some of the upgrades to the car were fake and only there for the cameras.

A guy with a mohawk and tatoos sitting by a desk

Jake Glazier, who appeared on season four, said that his car really needed a new muffler. This was an issue that he was able to easily recognize himself even though he doesn’t work on cars for a living. Instead of just fixing the muffler, though, the shop installed a fake exhaust pipe to make it look like that’s what the car was supposed to sound like. It clearly wasn’t. Martino also noted that some of the upgrades to his car were fake, like a robotic arm that had been added for no other reason than to look cool. The arm didn’t actually work on its own.

A costum built car that is white with gold details A costum built car with scissor-doors and hood open A guy eating cotton candy from a cotton candy machine located in the front hood of the car

They made the cars worse

It’s not just the owners’ backstories that MTV likes to embellish, however. They also make the cars more dramatic so that the end transformation is even more dramatic. Anything for a good before and after photo, right? So even if a contestant already has a really awful car, sometimes producers would make it look worse just so that it was even more shocking when the owner revealed how awful their car looked. Producers would also exaggerate damage that was already there. In one instance, for example, they used aircraft remover to make the peeling paint of a car look even worse. They also completely removed a bumper that was just hanging off and "enhanced" a dent that had been caused by something else. Some of the owners were insulted by this -- their cars might have been bad, but they weren't as bad as MTV made them out to be.

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The smallest space flipped

In the "Small House, Big Problems" episode, El Moussa and Haack tackled a three-bed, two-bath, 1,100 square foot house in Fullerton, California. The home was in an undesirable location with a commercial property right across the street, so the renovations had to be top-notch to sway buyers. They purchased the house for $390,000 and had a renovation budget of $75,000. At first sight, one of El Moussa's pain points was a massive oil stain on the driveway.

A room with grass-floor, red and yellow striped painted walls and a sunchair with a table standing by the right wall

In a dire attempt to avoid paying an additional $10,000 to replace it, he enlisted the help of his mom to figure out how to remove the stain. Sure enough, the combination of baking soda, soda, and a pressure washer did the trick! But their first snag came when they learned that their outdoor laundry room was not permitted, and to relocate it inside, the contractors would have to tear out all of the concrete to move the laundry drain lines. They listed the home at $599,000 and eventually had to lower the price to $575,000 for it to sell. According to the episode, they made a $72,700 profit after closing.

The sneakiest changes

In "Buyer's Remorse," El Moussa and Haack find a $740,000 hidden gem on a hill in Yorba Linda, California, with striking views and a pool. From the beginning, they struggled to find a design theme that would have widespread appeal for the various buyers in the area, but ultimately decided to go with a modern look. To maximize the views from the house, they decided to spend a whopping $11,000 to remove a brick wall and fireplace to provide uninhibited views from the living room.

A bathroom with flower painted walls and a bathtub in the middle

During the bathroom design, El Moussa and Haack have differing ideas on how much of a busy black and white tile should be used in the bathroom. They come to a middle ground that incorporates parts of both styles, but El Moussa decides to go rogue and get 100% of his design installed without Haack knowing. She reluctantly obliges but decides to get revenge by making the remaining fireplace her own design. Originally stone with different shades of brown, she changes it to an all-white stucco look.

Their most expensive flip

A croud of people with raised hands holding banners up that containe messages welcoming someone to their new home.

In the episode "Go Big or Go Home," El Moussa and Haack enlist the help of their investor friend to make a go for a five-bed, 5.5-bath, 5,300 square foot house in Anaheim Hills, California, for $1.45 million. It's one of their most expensive purchases. The home boasted striking views as well as a pool and basketball court.

Instead of just fixing the muffler, though, the shop installed a fake exhaust pipe to make it look like that’s what the car was supposed to sound like. It clearly wasn’t. Martino also noted that some of the upgrades to his car were fake, like a robotic arm that had been added for no other reason than to look cool. The arm didn’t actually work on its own -- it was actually being controlled off-screen by someone entering commands into a laptop. For the amount of time that the shop has the cars, you’d think that they wouldn’t have to resort to installing fake upgrades just for the reactions.

A small room with brown furnituring and a tiled wall picturing a woman. A pink and green painted childrens bedroom decorated with alot of dolls and toys A bedroom mainly decorated in red. The bed is in the mouth of a fake dinosaur and the walls are ecorated with dinosaur-paintings.

Their biggest flop

Although it's difficult to know exactly how many flops this duo has experienced (many episodes end with their houses still being on the market at the time of air), "Big Lot Little Flip" checks the box as a bonafide flop. The property was a two-bed, one-bath home in Buena Park, California. They were pleasantly greeted with trash and a disaster zone of a yard. Despite the landfill in front of them, El Moussa and Haack were excited about the large yard because it presented an opportunity to add a rental unit to create a multi-family property. They purchased the home for $272,000, a sizable jump from the original asking price of $240,000. Once they took ownership, they were hit with two large punches — they could not build a rental unit on the property unless they lived there, and the home's foundation needed a complete lift. This added a whopping $30,000 expense.