Chip and Joanna Gaines shocked fans late last year when they announced that season five of “Fixer Upper” would be their last.
In a post on the Magnolia blog, Joanna explained that the decision to end filming was “bittersweet,” and ultimately what they feel is best for their family at this time.
“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,” Joanna writes. “Our family has grown up alongside yours, and we have felt you rooting us on from the other side of the screen. How bittersweet to say goodbye to the very thing that introduced us all in the first place.”
Gone, But Not Forgotten.
Although fans are no longer getting their weekly dose of Chip and Jo on the TV, the Magnolia Moguls have been ever-present throughout the year.
We followed along through Joanna’s pregnancy with the couple’s fifth child, Crew, and we waited in anticipation as both Chip and Jo released new books. We were reminded of the perfection that is ALL things Joanna Gaines every time we stepped into Target, and thanks to their private, but oh-so-regular social media presence, Chip and Jo have remained close and relevant to fans.
It’s been nearly eight months since the final episode of “Fixer Upper” aired, and in a recent interview, Chip opened up about the real reason why the show had to come to an end.
As always, it has us loving them even more.
“TV was a funny thing for me. I’m an authentic, sincere person,” Chip said. “So, as long as things are natural and organic, I’m in my element. But the more staged something becomes, or the more required something becomes, it boxes me up, and I felt like toward the end of the Fixer Upper journey, I felt caged, trapped.”
It wasn’t a matter of feeling the burnout from doing what they love, but rather a very steady realization that the show no longer felt right for their family.
“Jo and I couldn’t figure it out,” Chip went on to explain. “I mean, why? You’re getting to have all this fun, right? But it’s like if I put a camera in your face and said, ‘Hey, say something funny.’ Or if I put a camera in your face and said, ‘Hey, be smart.’ I just struggled with that environment. Especially at the end of it.”
Ending the show sounded crazy to fans, as it was the top-watched show in the history of HGTV, and Magnolia businesses were at what seemed to be the height of success. But this wasn’t the first time Chip and Joanna followed God’s lead in running Magnolia, even when it didn’t make sense to the world.
In 2015, Joanna shared her testimony with The Gathering at Baylor University about how God told her to walk away from Magnolia the first time.
She explains that after she and Chip got married, they made her dream of opening a retail business a reality with the first Magnolia Market.
But as quickly as that dream came to fruition, God put Joanna’s faith to the test, and the Gaineses complied — closing the market, despite their desire and ability to keep it open.
“I remember the last day,” Joanna recalls. “We’re closing the shop down, and I’m crying because again I feel like it’s the end of a dream, and I hear God say very clearly, he said, ‘Joanna, if you trust me with your dreams, I’m gonna take Magnolia further than you could’ve ever dreamed. So just trust me.’ And I remember hearing that and feeling completely peaceful about it, and I walked away.”
Their faith and commitment to family are the principles that led us to love Chip and Joanna in the first place. (Though their undying love for demo and shiplap didn’t hurt the relationship either).
The good news is that even though “Fixer Upper” had to come to an end, we know we’ll be seeing much more of our favorite couple in the months and years to come. Chip recently let the cat out of the bag on “The Tonight Show With Jimmy Fallon” about a special project they have in the works with the Discovery Network.
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And in the meantime, we’ll keep planning our random vacations to Waco, Texas and burning our Hearth and Hand candles while we watch all the reruns of our favorite demo-duo.
