When Cristy Lee returns to HGTV as a host on the new show Battle on the Mountain, which premieres Monday, it’ll mark her first time appearing on television since her 2023 diagnosis of two rare auto-immune diseases that turned her world upside-down.
About a year ago, Lee was traveling in Arizona for work when she suddenly got a searing headache. “I was just thinking maybe it was a migraine, maybe it was a sinus infection,” she recalls. “I couldn’t even get out of bed for two days. And over the course of the next couple of days it just got worse and worse. The pain and pressure was debilitating.”
It got so bad that she had to go to the emergency room, which is when she found out she had Graves’ disease and thyroid eye disease, related conditions which can cause swelling. “I was completely floored,” she says. “Like, who gets a diagnosis with two major diseases in the emergency room?”
A common symptom of the conditions is bulging eyes. “My eyes moved 12 to 15 millimeters within three months,” Lee says. “That doesn’t sound like a lot, but I mean, it’s your eyeballs literally moving out of your face.”
Eventually, Lee decided to pursue an “aggressive” treatment including orbital decompression surgery on each eye, in which bone and damaged tissue are removed from the eye sockets to allow for swelling, as well as the complete removal of her thyroid. As a result, she now manages her hormone levels via medicine, a process that involves monitoring blood levels and fine-tuning dosages. Lee says she’s still tweaking her regime, and adds that she’s seen probably 30 doctors. “I wanted to know everything,” she says.
Eventually, she linked up with Dr. Alon Kahana in Livonia. “He has treated me like I was a member of his family, which I believe he does with all of his patients,” she says. “Within minutes of meeting him, he went as far as to give me his personal contact information to reach out to him at any point in time. For someone going through this disease … having anyone to be able to talk to you about this is huge.”
Lee speaks of her illness with candor and humor. “It’s not fun,” she says. “Zero stars!” She has even posted videos on her Instagram page showing herself getting steroids injected into her eyes. Lee says she wants to be open about her struggles to help others facing similar issues.
“That’s my mission, is to use my story and my platform to bring more awareness and connect to other people that are going through this,” she says.
Lee filmed Battle on the Mountain over the summer in Breckenridge, Colorado, as she was recovering from her treatments. The premise of the show is that three couples work with different stars from HGTV’s various other home improvement shows to renovate mountain lodges, with all the expected drama of reality TV competitions — tight budgets, quick deadlines, limited materials — for a $50,000 prize, all against the backdrop of the scenic mountain country. “This show means a lot to me, because that was a huge, huge step in my health journey,” she says.
Originally from Daytona Beach, Florida, Lee moved to the Detroit area around 20 years ago to invest in real estate and flip houses. “I wasn’t making, you know, homes that were extravagant or over the top or over-decorated or anything,” she says. “Really, what Detroit needs in my opinion, then and still now, is affordable, clean, and available housing.”
As a girl, Lee says her father instilled an appreciation for using tools and tinkering with cars and motorcycles. In 2008, she got a gig as a “Rock Girl” and DJ for WRIF, followed by stints hosting motorsports coverage for the likes of FOX, ESPN, ABC, and CMT. She made a name for herself on the all-female automotive shows All Girls Garage and Garage Squad on the MotorTrend Network, as well as by hosting car auction broadcasts on MotorTrend Network and Discovery. Blending her television hosting experience with her real estate background on HGTV was the obvious next step for career, and in 2022 she appeared on HGTV’s home improvement show Steal This House, set in the Detroit area.
Battle on the Mountain premieres at 9 p.m. EST on Monday, and runs for six weeks. Beyond that, Lee is still working on cars and in real estate and says she also plans to launch a local support group for other people with thyroid disease. “We want to create that safe space where they feel like they’re not alone and draw from our strengths and our perseverance,” she says.
“I was basically forced to take a step back from everything,” she adds. “But I’m excited to take a step forward and get back to the things I like doing.”
More information about Battle on the Mountain is available at hgtv.com.
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