More specifically, the Gaineses’ pastor, Jimmy Seibert, is against same-sex marriage and supports conversion therapy. And the center of this controversy is a BuzzFeed article by Kate Aurthur about the Gaineses’ church in Texas, the Antioch Community Church. Though they don’t discuss it much on Fixer Upper, the Gaineses are devout Christians, a fact they’ve talked about in interviews like this one with the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association.
BuzzFeed brought up questions about the Gaineses’ pastor and why Fixer Upper never features gay couples In particular, their faith and their beliefs on same-sex marriage and LGBTQ rights have come into question due to the anti-gay views held by the pastor of their church. Like a lot of celebrities, and especially because the Gaineses are, in a sense, reality television stars, there’s a desire to know whether their offscreen lives match up with what they’re selling on camera, from their parenting styles ( they have four children) to their love lives to everything in between. Simpson and a CNN town hall with Trump,” the Hollywood Reporter notes.īut the Gaineses’ popularity - alongside speculation about their offscreen religious beliefs and politics - has landed them at the center of an anti-gay controversy. “When the season-three finale aired in March, its nearly 4 million-strong live audience topped everything that night - including the penultimate episode of FX's The People v. And Fixer Upper’s ratings are a crown jewel for HGTV.
Their book, The Magnolia Story, has been on the New York Times best-seller list for the past six weeks. In October, they were the subject of a People cover story and profile. But it’s only in the past year or so that the Gaineses really rose to mainstream prominence. Their talent combined with their easy chemistry - he goofs off she rolls her eyes - has made them bona fide stars.įixer Upper is in now in its fourth season, which premiered November 29. There are no HGTV home improvement angels more popular or desired than the salty-sweet combination of Chip and Joanna Gaines. The Gaineses are based in Waco, Texas, and have a superhuman knack for turning dingy houses into something you’d see in a catalog or a lifestyle magazine: chefs’ kitchens that resemble high-end Southern restaurants with double-cut bacon and braised pork cheeks on the menu modern country living rooms where the couch is topped off with a too-precious pillow with a saying scrawled on it bedrooms that look like they’ve been transported from a $500-a-night Big Sur bed-and-breakfast. A variety of other personalities and programs cover everything from flipping houses to buying real estate overseas.Īt the top of the HGTV pantheon are Chip and Joanna Gaines, the stars of a show called Fixer Upper. On Love I t or List It, Hilary Farr and David Visentin rehabilitate homeowners’ current digs while also helping them decide if they want to move. Jonathan and Drew Scott, better known as the Property Brothers, help people purchase rundown shanties and transform them into plush oases. The stars of HGTV - the Home and Garden Television network - are patron saints of aspirational living.