Charlie Kawas Landed His Own HGTV Show. Months Into Filming He Got a Diagnosis That Would Change Everything (Exclusive)
Charlie Kawas Landed His Own HGTV Show. Months Into Filming He Got a Diagnosis That Would Change Everything (Exclusive)
Stacy LambeThu, August 27, 2026 at 9:48 PM UTC
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Charlie Kawas on ‘Botched Homes;’ and getting treatmentCredit: HGTV; Courtesy Charlie Kawas -
HGTV newcomer Charlie Kawas was diagnosed with testicular cancer during the production of his debut series, Botched Homes
Kawas tells PEOPLE he delayed treatment briefly to organize projects, but decided to include his cancer journey on the show to inspire others
Botched Homes, in which he rescues homeowners from disastrous renos, premieres Sept. 2 on HGTV
Charlie Kawas lives and breathes construction — so much so that when he received an unexpected diagnosis in the middle of filming season 1 of his debut HGTV series, he committed to finishing several renovations while undergoing treatment.
“That’s exactly me. Eat, sleep, construction,” the general contractor, master craftsman and father of two, 44, tells PEOPLE. “I tell you, my wife, she goes, ‘Even when you’re dreaming, you’re saying drywall in your sleep.’ I just love doing what I do.”
On Botched Homes, premiering Wednesday, Sept. 2, he uses his years of experience to rescue South Florida homeowners from failed renovation projects. “The fact that I can help people with what I’m good at is great,” says the no-nonsense pro. “You’re finding a lot of people out there who have no proper guidance. They’ll invest money into their home with another contractor — or someone acting as a contractor — and they get left with a disaster: poor quality, unfinished work, unsafe conditions.”
Charlie Kawas on the set of ‘Botched Homes’Credit: HGTV
Six months into filming, however, his dream gig was nearly derailed. On April 1, he received a piece of news that stopped even him, typically unshakable in a crisis: a testicular cancer diagnosis.
Kawas had been working on a renovation project, but was experiencing back pain that kept intensifying, leading to a visit to the emergency room. After a few nights in the hospital, where he underwent various tests, he learned that the discomfort was being caused by a tumor.
“The doctor came in. He goes, ‘I have some terrible news,’” Kawas recalls. “I said, ‘Okay.’ He goes, ‘You were diagnosed with testicular cancer.’ I said, ‘Alright, well, what do we do now?’”
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“It took me by surprise. It caught me off guard,” Kawas admits.
Doctors recommended he start chemotherapy right away. At the time, he was managing five different renovations and a lot on and off site. “I’m the guy on the ladder, on the scaffold, doing the work, dealing with the clients,” he says. “So how do you just remove the main guy to go take care of treatment? I wasn’t ready for it. It was probably the worst possible time it could have happened.”
Undeterred, Kawas quickly made the decision to not only move forward with his clients’ work, but to also keep filming the show, which didn’t wrap until Aug. 21.
Charlie Kawas after getting treatment for testicular cancerCredit: Courtesy Charlie Kawas
“These homeowners put trust in us and we all worked so hard doing this, so I don’t want to stop,” he recalls thinking. “I want to continue the process. I want to continue filming. I want to continue this journey that we’re on and include the cancer into the show.” He told his immediate family — wife Pierra, 49, and daughters Charli, 14, and Cami, 12 — and broke the news to his crew and production team, including his costar on the series, designer Courtney Ibars.
When it came to the decision to show his cancer journey, which audiences will see in the final few episodes of season 1, he says simply, “This is reality . . . Let’s include it and let the world know that when you get terrible news like I did, that doesn’t mean you stop everything.”
Opting to briefly delay treatment, Kawas took two weeks to get his projects in order and sort out how to manage things from afar. “I couldn’t just stop what I was doing. Besides the designer and the crew, most of it’s in here,” he says, pointing to his head.
With two home reveals almost ready to be filmed and another house undergoing final touches, “I did what I had to do,” he recalls. “I got it so it was manageable, to be where I needed it. And then I said, ‘Alright, I’m ready to go.’ ”
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As the contractor prepared to begin treatment, where he would initially spend at least one week receiving chemotherapy at the Tampa General Hospital Cancer Institute and then take another to recover, he also had to sit his two daughters down to let them know the journey their dad was about to go through.
“At first, it was hard to break the news to them,” Kawas remembers. “We said, ‘Listen, Daddy was diagnosed with cancer, but you shouldn’t worry. Once he gets through, it’s going to be fine. He’s not going anywhere. Daddy’s going to be here and there’s nothing to worry about.”
Charlie Kawas with his wife and two daughtersCredit: Courtesy Charlie Kawas
They prepared their daughters for his physical and mental changes, too, from losing his hair to being in pain and exhausted. Kawas says he was determined to demonstrate to his girls how tough he was, facing everything head-on. “I did what I had to do and they saw that,” he says.
But the cancer journey didn’t come without its challenges.
“There were times it was difficult. I was doing video calls from the [treatment] chair, trying to solve problems,” he says. “There were times when I had no energy and I had to get to the job and I really had to push hard and delegate more, rather than do everything myself. It was a challenge for sure.”
There was, however, an unexpected benefit that came out of prioritizing his health over work for once.
“If I have to pick one positive thing about this entire process, I would say it allowed me to be home every single day,” he shares, explaining that he got lots of quality time with his daughters. “It was a wake-up call like, ‘Charlie, you need to slow down a little bit. Your kids are young. Before you know it, they’re going to be off to college and there’s going to be nobody in the house anymore.’ ”
It opened his eyes to making family a priority, he says, “because you never know when your time is up.”
Although he has now completed treatment, which continued through the end of July, he’s still experiencing hair loss and missing his beard, with just a peach fuzz starting to grow back on the top of his head. He’s also still regaining his strength after experiencing significant fatigue and weight loss. “I would go from grabbing something with one hand and swinging it around because I do construction. And now it was challenging,” he says. “I’m eager to get back on the job and start swinging the hammer again.”
Charlie Kawas and his daughters on the set of ‘Botched Homes’Credit: Courtesy Charlie Kawas
He still has one more PET (positron emission tomography) scan to complete. “That will dictate whether I’m cancer-free or not,” he says.
As for sharing his story publicly on the show, Kawas tells PEOPLE, “I’m glad I can finally share the news and I have positive results. We’re on the up and up.”
“I want to be an inspiration to people,” he adds. “I want to show people that you can keep going. I’ll let the world know, don’t give up.”
Botched Homes premieres Wednesday, Sept. 2 at 10 p.m. ET/PT on HGTV and is available to stream the next day on HBO Max.
on People
Source: “AOL Entertainment”
