From fixer-uppers to falling in love! Celebrity couples are a staple on home renovation shows, from Chip Gaines and Joanna Gaines to Tarek El Moussa and Heather Rae El Moussa (née Young).
Chip and Joanna, for their part, rose to fame in 2013 when HGTV premiered Fixer Upper. The reality TV series centered around the married couple’s construction and design business — featuring lots of shiplapped walls! — around their local town of Waco, Texas.
“One thing Jo learned from Chip is you have to take risks or you don’t get anywhere. They’re opposites that work really well together,” a source exclusively told Us Weekly of the Magnolia Network founders’ secret to a successful marriage. “Chip’s the creative one, she’s the practical one who’s good at organizing. He gets an idea for a project and she’ll bring it down to earth and do the math and they’ll come up with a plan and a budget.”
Fresh off the initial Fixer Upper success, Chip and Joanna — who share five children — saw their Magnolia boutique grow before opening up other businesses including a real estate agency, an interior design firm and a restaurant. The couple eventually announced in September 2017 that they were ending Fixer Upper after five seasons.
“The idea of leaving the show at the height of its popularity is probably pretty risky, almost irrational-sounding,” the Capital Gaines author said during a January 2018 profile for Success magazine. “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.”
He continued at the time: “Obviously Jo and I as a couple, we just don’t want to redline. 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.”
The Texas-based pair have since launched their own TV network — released under Discovery+’s umbrella — and debuted their own Magnolia Journal magazine. They later returned to their Fixer Upper roots in late 2022, chronicling their restoration of Waco’s “The Castle” residence in a six-part HBO Max special. (HBO Max and Discovery+ merged before Fixer Upper: Welcome Home premiered.)
The Gaines duo is far from the only happy couple to star in a renovation show together. Tarek and Heather, who wed in October 2021, rose to fame with their own reality TV appearances on Flipping 101 and Selling Sunset, respectively. After the real estate investor and Heather tied the knot, they inked a deal with HGTV to flip homes together.
“Onto the next chapter!!! As one door closes with Flip or Flop, another opens with The Flipping El Moussas so get ready to see A LOT more of us next year ,” the former Playboy model — whose first child with Tarek is due in January 2023 — wrote via Instagram in December 2022, teasing the new show. “Get ready for a season of not only growing our businesses but also growing our family!! And don’t worry, you’ll still see plenty of us … So: Who’s ready for new flips, beautiful designs, behind-the-scenes, lots of laughs and babies!?! .”
Tarek previously starred on Flip or Flip with ex-wife Christina Hall (née Haack) before their September 2016 split. The exes — who coparent children Taylor and Brayden — announced in March 2022 that Flip or Flip would conclude after 10 seasons.
“[Taylor and Brayden] were, they were a little shocked by it. They didn’t really understand it, but you know, they know we work on a lot of different things, so they’re excited to see what’s next,” he exclusively told Us that May of ending the longtime program. “I think we’re gonna have to have a Flip or Flop binge week from season 1 to show the kids. I think that’s on the schedule.”
Scroll below to see more celebrity lovebirds who’ve tackled design TV series: