In the May of 2013, television producers Scott Feeley and Jim Berger, the people responsible for the highly successful series “Cake Boss” approached Texas couple Chip and Joanna Gaines to star in a show they had an idea for. What was to eventuate was the hugely popular HGTV series “Fixer Upper” seen in homes all over the US. The show, which is shot in and around their home town of Waco, has become a hit and is now into its 5th season.
Before their television fame, Chip and Joanna worked with clients who were interested in buying and re-modelling homes. The couple had worked on over 100-homes before the show went to air. Fixer Upper revolves around the couple showing potential clients 3 different homes with the view of purchasing and renovating them for under 200,000 dollars, with at least 30,000 dollars to be spent on re-modelling. Once a home was selected, Joanna would do the design work, while Chip would be the lead contractor on the work to be done.
The pilot program went to air in May of 2013, with season-1 airing from April 2014. The fifth season started going to air in November 2017. Then recently, Chip and Joanna dropped a bombshell by announcing that this would be the last season of the popular reality show. Their announcement read like this. “It is with both sadness and expectation that we share the news that season 5 of Fixer Upper will be our last. While we are confident that this is the right choice for us, it has for sure not been an easy one to come to terms with.”
Rumors started to surface about the state of their marriage, or that Joanne was going to pursue her skin-care line, but they soon put an end to these stories by issuing a joint statement regarding their decision to stop filming the program. The statement said “Our marriage has honestly never been stronger. This has nothing to do with a fraudulent skincare line or anything else you’ll inevitably read. This is just us recognizing that we need to catch our breath for a moment.” The couple also said that they wanted to raise their children out of the limelight and away from the television cameras.
Even though the show will be sadly missed by the thousands of viewers who tuned in every week, their decision to step away from their life of fame and stardom must be respected. I don’t think that too many of us can imagine just how much time and work goes into the production of a program like Fixer Upper, and that after five years the couple must be ready for a well-deserved break.