'Bye Johanna & Chip: Couple picks family over fame

The Gaines family at their ranch in Waco, Texas.

ONE OF the most beloved Asian/Americans on TV is ending her popular show Fixer Upper on HGTV.

Joanna Gaines and her husband Chip are calling it quits after five seasons of showing America how to make your home more efficient, beautiful and comfortable.

The Korean/American designer and her husband announced their intention to end their popular show on her blog At Home on Tuesday. They say that this coming season, their fifth, will be their last.

They intend to "take a breather" from the hectic lifestyle and their empire the show has helped spawn, including their Magnolia Home line, the Magnolia Market at the Silos in Waco (which brings in thousands upon thousands of visitors per week) or their New York Times best-selling book, The Magnolia Story. They also just announced a new line with Target coming this fall, called Hearth & Hand, among other projects.

The couple never wanted their children Drake, 12, Ella, 10, Duke, 9, and Emmie Kay, 7, to grow up in the spotlight.

“They’re so young, and we want to give them the chance to have a normal childhood,” said Joanna, 39. “Family is the most important thing in the world.”

Fixer Upper has been a smash hit for HGTV since it debuted in 2013, earning 3.4 million viewers for the Season 4 premiere last year. This announcement will surely come as a shock to many fans, who have religiously followed Chip and Jo’s design work, marriage and family life with their four children in Waco, Texas.

HGTV

Chip and Joanna Gaines are ended their show 'Fixer Upper' on their own terms.

Below is their announcement:

“Though our ‘Fixer Upper’ chapter is coming to a close, we aren’t done with Waco. We aren’t done renovating homes. We aren’t done designing things to make your home your favorite place on earth. We aren’t done working towards restoration in all things or helping out those who could use a hand. In fact, in all of these of things, we are just getting started,” they added in the statement.

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. 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. 

This has been an amazing adventure! We have poured our blood, sweat and tears into this show. We would be foolish to think we can go and go and fire on all cylinders and never stop to pause. Our family is healthy and 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. Our plan is to take this time to shore up and strengthen the spots that are weak, rest the places that are tired and give lots of love and attention to both our family and our businesses. 

We are really, really proud of season 5. We laid it all on the field and didn’t hold anything back. We think it’s the perfect finale to this amazing journey we’ve been on. Season 5 begins in November and Behind the Design will follow shortly after. There’s so much good, new stuff coming your way!

Though our Fixer Upper chapter is coming to a close, we aren’t done with Waco. We aren’t done renovating homes. We aren’t done designing things to make your home your favorite place on earth. We aren’t done working towards restoration in all things or helping out those who could use a hand. In fact, in all of these things, we are just getting started.

Who knows what the future holds, but we’re excited for whatever is around the bend and in the meantime, we will definitely be staying in touch.

We will forever be thankful for HGTV and this opportunity of a lifetime. We are also thankful to our production company, Highnoon Entertainment and our amazing producers and crew on the ground here in Waco. We are grateful for them and for you. Thank you for sharing life with us and for the continued support. Thank you for having our backs! Thank you for caring about these homes and these families and the things that we care so much about. 

Really, from the bottom of our hearts, thank you. 

Chip and Jo

One of the endearing qualities of their show and helped boost its popularity is that viewers saw their home remodeling as a metaphor for marriage. They demonstrated this in the way they tease each other followed by looks of disbelief at the other's decisions or actions. The way they resolve differences and in the end compliment each other's work was a guidebook to having a successful, working marriage with respect and love.

 In a secondary statement, they said they don't want their legions of fans to misconstrue their actions and want to put to rest rumors that their marriage is in trouble. If anything, they say, their marriage "has never been stronger," the couple said.

And if their fame and fortune suddenly came to a halt, well, they’d be OK with that too. “We’ve got everything that our hearts desire,” Chip said. “I don’t see how we could be happier.”
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