Source: people.hgtv.com
After five incredible and successful seasons, fans are saying goodbye to Chip and Joanna Gaines and their hit series Fixer Upper at the end of its current season, and many are still surprised the pair decided to end the show with how much success it had.
In an interview with Success magazine, the HGTV stars acknowledged it was “risky” to end the series, but knew it was for the best. “The idea of leaving the show at the height of its popularity is probably pretty risky, almost irrational-sounding,” Chip said. “Our oldest [child], who’s 12, is becoming a teenager, and Jo and I just realized in our hearts that as much as we love Fixer Upper, as much as we love the honor that we have felt with this show basically introducing us to the country, if not the world, we want to make sure that we’re here for our family during really crucial, pivotal points in its journey.”
It wasn’t an easy decision for the the couple however and in the end it came down to what they really wanted to focus on which was their relationship and their family. “Obviously Jo and I as a couple, we just don’t want to redline,” he said. “You know, we don’t want to run so hard after some dream or some goal only to find out that we’ve neglected the thing that means the very most to us, which is our marriage and our relationship.”
“We’ve prayed about it, and we’ve thought about it,” Chip continued. “This did not come lightly. … People are like, ‘You’re crazy. You would be crazy to leave this thing at the height like this. Give it another year. Let it run out of gas.’ And we kind of laugh, and we’re like, ‘You know what? That’s not who we are. We don’t want to run this thing off a cliff and into a culvert.”
Although the pair are often described as the “perfect couple” Chip also explained, that like any marriage they had their issues, adding, “There is no secret. It’s hard work. Jo and I have struggles and fighting and arguments just like anybody else. This isn’t like we got lucky and hit the lottery and the two perfect people fell in love.”