HGTV Host Gets Stuck After Bathroom Fiasco: ‘Can’t Make This Sh** Up’

Toilet paper roll

Shutterstock Toilet paper roll stamped with the word "help"

Mina Starsiak Hawk is no stranger to mishaps and messes in her work, renovating old Indianapolis homes on her HGTV shows, but even she was flabbergasted after a quick trip to the bathroom ended in disaster. Here’s what went down — literally.


Quick Errand Ends in Major Mishap, Leaving Host Stranded

Mina Starsiak Hawk

HGTV/YouTubeMina Starsiak Hawk of “Good Bones”

Between managing renovation details on her hit shows “Good Bones” and the spinoff series, “Good Bones: Risky Business,” and being a busy mom of two young kids, Starsiak Hawk has her hands full. One way she keeps her life semi-organized is by constantly wearing a designer crossbody bag, which holds all of her essentials and keeps her hands free to work on projects.

But during a quick stop in the restroom on October 5, 2022, while she was picking up a dress at The Wedding Studio in Carmel, Indiana, everything inside that trusty pouch fell straight into a toilet — as it was flushing. The stunned HGTV host spilled the details in a video uploaded to her Instagram Stories.

“Next up on ‘You Can’t Make This Sh** Up,” she started the video, looking bewildered. “I stopped by The Wedding Studios to borrow a dress for my sister’s ‘Bridgerton’ themed birthday party. Stopped in the bathroom first in there.”

Pointing to the bag that was strapped across her torso, Starsiak Hawk continued, “You know, got the good old crossbody on that’s always there. I’m on my period, so I had to unzip it to get my lady products out. And when I turned around to flush the toilet, my bag wasn’t zipped and everything fell out! Literally everything into the toilet.”

“So, I don’t know, about 120 bucks cash, my powder compact, my cell phone and my car keys,” she revealed. “And I immediately went two hands deep down the drain and managed to save everything — the money, the compact (don’t really care about that), my cell phone. But my car keys? Straight down the drain. Flushed completely down the drain.”

With her car keys a total loss, the HGTV host was stuck, with no way to start her car and get back home, which she said was 45 minutes away. She sat on the ground outside the shop and said she had to call her friend Meg to find her only other set of keys and drive them all the way out to her.

She then lifted up a crumpled mess of wet money — the $120 she had to dig out of the public toilet before it all flushed down the drain. Clearly, her phone survived getting wet too since she was able to film her video right after the incident.

The following morning, on October 6, Starsiak Hawk shared evidence that she did, indeed, get her second set of car keys — but she was still having a rough time. She posted another brief video of herself masked up and holding her keys, in what looked to be in a waiting room.

“Oh, just can barely swallow again. Nbd,” she wrote. “This time of year is ALWAYS terrible for me. It’s not just me, right?”


Starsiak Hawk’s Faced Lots of Challenges Lately

Starsniak Hawk is known as a tough cookie, especially as a renovation pro in a male-dominated industry. But her latest projects have caused tremendous stress.

Her new spinoff series, “Good Bones: Risky Business,” premiered on September 6 and chronicles her adventures transforming an old Indianapolis mansion and carriage house into a rental space for events and group stays. The process didn’t go as smoothly, quickly, or cost-efficiently as she’d hoped.

Instead of taking a few weeks and her already large budget of $500,000, the project took 14 months and $1.2 million to complete. To make matters worse, the star recently revealed she was being sued by one of the people who worked on the renovation and that she was too “broke” to fight it.

On September 23, Starsiak Hawk got word that she and her company, Two Chicks and a Hammer, were being sued. She posted a photo of herself on her Instagram Stories and wrote, “Just got served by the GC from Risky Business, suing us for payment…Any attorney fans out there licensed in Indiana willing to fight this for us? Cuz we broke. Serious offers only please.”

A couple of hours later, she posted another video of herself in her Stories and added a screenshot that showed someone had replied to her earlier video by saying, “Y’all ain’t broke lol.”

Starsiak Hawk snapped back, “I just love when people think, ’cause they’ve watched the show, they know everything about me and my business and my finances. And you really don’t know anything because it’s just a little snippet.”

In addition to the “Risky Business” project costing a fortune, she also faced major fines in another lawsuit. In April, she reached a settlement with the Environmental Protection Agency, which claimed she and her mom — co-host Karen E. Laine — didn’t follow government regulations for the demolition of old houses, particularly around potential lead contamination. According to WTHR-TV in Indianapolis, they agreed to pay a $40,000 fine and film warnings for their fans about lead contamination.