Ryan Sawtelle/Instagram Nicole Curtis previously dated Ryan Sawtelle, but they have since broken up TheRehab Addictstar is on good terms with Sawtelle and used his help on a home renovation project for the show Curtis returned to her hit HGTV show on June 24 after a three-year hiatus Nicole Curtisis still on good terms with her ex-boyfriend,Ryan Sawtelle. TheRehab Addictstar is returning toHGTVon June 24 after a three-year break and has brought along Sawtelle for part of the project. She told PEOPLE before the premiere that she contacted him to help with a property in Wyoming, since he also partakes in home renovations as a carpenter. "We weretogether a long timeand I was very close to his family," Curtis told PEOPLE. "So we never really stayed out of contact. Your lives are so enmeshed." Curtis made her relationship with Sawtelle Instagram official in July 2019 by sharing a photo of them kissing while she sat on his lap. Neither Curtis nor Sawtelle publicly announced when they broke up, but he last posted a video with her in 2021. So, who is Nicole Curtis' ex-boyfriend, Ryan Sawtelle? Here's everything to know about the carpenter and his relationship with theRehab Addictstar. Ryan Sawtelle/Instagram Just like Curtis, Sawtelle works in home improvement. He frequently posts about his carpentry, gardening and remodeling skills. In 2023, Sawtelle built asignificant vegetable gardenwith wooden structures from scratch. He's alsoshown himselfinstalling new flooring, driving a Bobcat machine and cutting tree branches that are dozens of feet high. He joked about his love for home renovation by sharing a photo of him sawing a piece of wood in a June 2023 Instagrampostand captioning the picture, "Another day, another project (that I'll start and probably never finish)." In addition to his work as a carpenter, Sawtelle is also passionate about the nonprofit he founded, White Heart Foundation. The organization is dedicated to "Helping veterans and first responders cope with the psychological impact of their heroic service," per thewebsite's description. Sawtelle previously shared that he's expressed interest in giving back to veterans since 2006 when he built a 9/11 memorial, Wave of Flags, on the Pepperdine University campus. "In 2006, I approached the then-president of Pepperdine with an idea to build a 9/11 memorial display on campus. It took me two years of fundraising (across multiple states), meetings with several depts, weeks of missed classes, coordination with suppliers/surveyors, metal shavings piling up on my back patio etc. to create this memorial in 2008," he captioned aphotoof him standing in the memorial in September 2023. He added, "It took me years of dedication and steadfastness to create the Wave of Flags ... and I am proud of what I have built." Ryan Sawtelle/Instagram In 2019, Curtis told PEOPLE that she firstconnected with Sawtelle on social mediabefore they hit it off while shooting a promo forRehab Addict. Curtis first found Sawtelle on social media while he was posting about his young niece Arden's battle with Diffuse Intrinsic Pontine Glioma (DIPG), an aggressive brain tumor found in children. "We were coming up on the one year anniversary of [her friend's 9-year-old daughter] Tessa's death and when he posted that Arden had died, I was crushed," Curtis recalled. "I cried for Tessa and also, I sat there crying knowing the struggles his family would be facing in the upcoming days, weeks, years. I reached out to him to see if we could help in anyway and also, to let them know we were all praying for them." The two began chatting, and she learned that he had a motorcycle she could use in a promo forRehab Addict. "When we finished, he asked if I wanted to take a ride," Curtis said. "I was in no place in my life for a relationship so I didn't really connect the dots, but looking back we've agreed this was a first date. Sunset on the back of a motorcycle next to this guy staring at the ocean – a pretty good one at that!" Nicole Curtis/Instagram Sawtelle shared his first Instagramphotowith Curtis of the two of them attending a concert in Nashville, Tenn., in November 2018. He captioned the picture, "12-hour stop in Nashville. ✔️." Meanwhile, Curtis waited a few months to go public with her new romance. In July 2019, she posted a since-deleted photo of them kissing while she sat on his lap. Curtis continued showing off their love by posting Instagram Stories of them getting ready and all dressed up. Just a few days after making her relationship Instagram official, Curtis told PEOPLE that Sawtelle brought her "a calm I've never known." "My heart is happy and having him near me brings a calm I've never known," she said in July 2019. "Not that it's been easy. Everyone has a great first few months rocking everything they have in common, but after six months you start digging into the other stuff and you either grow apart or negotiate those differences and move forward. And [you] have to make a decision to focus on the fun." Curtis added, "I've been on my own so long that I never take a second of this for granted. He's handsome, he makes me proud, he makes me laugh and we sing every song that comes on together: him in perfect pitch knowing every word, me, not even close!" Curtis has not specified when she and Sawtelle ended their romantic relationship. She has deleted her past photos with him, while the contractor last posted with Curtis for Valentine's Day 2021. At the time, he posted a throwbackvideoof the two doing a skit together from Valentine's Day 2019. HGTV Even though Curtis and Sawtelle stopped seeing each other romantically, they continued staying in touch and working together. After a three-year hiatus from her hit HGTV showRehab Addict, Curtis told PEOPLE about returning for a new season and asking Sawtelle for help with one of her projects. "I didn't know anyone in Wyoming, but I knew somebody near Wyoming, and so I gave him a call," she explained. "We just went out there together and checked out the house. It wasn't anything else." Curtis further clarified that after working together, there weren't any sparks to revisit. "There was definitely no reconciliation or 'Maybe this was a mistake not being together.' No, no, no, ... Us going separate paths was a hundred percent the best idea that we ever had," she shared. Read the original article onPeople