Last year, Chip and Joanna Gaines announced they were ending Fixer Upper following its season five finale to focus on family and their businesses. Now, the famous contractor is revealing more about what inspired him to leave the HGTV show behind.
"TV was a funny thing for me. I'm an authentic, sincere person," Chip told Cowboys & Indians. "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."
"Jo and I couldn't figure it out," he continued. "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."
While Chip described the start of the show as "so fun" and "some of the best years of my life," he said the final seasons were "more of a job." The entrepreneur has expressed these feelings before, namely in his book, Capital Gaines: Smart Things I Learned Doing Stupid Stuff.
"Something about breaking out of that has been liberating," Chip explained in the interview, adding that he and Joanna are looking forward to the next step.
After a short time away (during which they welcomed baby number five!), that next step apparently includes more television: Chip recently dropped the news of their return to TV via their very own network, and Discovery confirmed they're in "exclusive talks" to develop "family-friendly programming" with the couple.
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