Chip And Joanna Gaines Left HGTV For More Shiplap Cash

Everyone panicked last month when it was announced that HGTV was about to drop its Waco rudder. Chip and Joanna Gaines said they were packing the shiplap into a U-Haul and driving off into the sunset to “catch our breath” at whatever goody-goody camp those two preach at in the off-season. But it appears that breath will be more than caught if someone comes along promising to add a few zeros to the Gaines’ joint checking account.

Page Six says HGTV is kind of a terrible place to work, and no, the worst part isn’t the anxiety of running into one of those mannequin-faced Property Brothers or that turd of a husband from Flip or Flop in the hallway. A source said the company has imposed pretty strict contracts on talent ever since its parent company, Scripps, never saw a dime of Rachael Ray’s EVOO empire:

“Many years ago, when Scripps, which also owns Food Network, signed Rachael Ray, they didn’t think about Rachael starting a magazine, launching product lines, getting endorsement deals and her books selling millions of copies. And so while Food Network turned Rachael Ray into a star, she made tens of millions and Scripps got none of it.

After Rachael, they made sure no talent deal would ever put them in that situation again. Since the Gaineses were relatively unknown when they started, they signed the general Scripps talent contract.”

Chip and Joanna signed a deal with the DIY devil network to get their show started in 2013. But now that they’re the number one hussies in televised home improvement (well, until the triumphant phoenix revival of Hildi Santo-Tomas on Trading Spaces), they want HGTV’s paws off their silos. While they’ve been able to keep HGTV away from their offshoot businesses like their line at Target, Chip and Joanna still feel like they’re getting overworked:

“As Chip and Joanna grew more famous and popular over the years, the HGTV conceded to a few changes to their contract – like not taking a percentage of their Target collection – but they still wanted the Gaineses to shoot long days, promote the show and just work their butts off.”

The source doesn’t expect the duo to stay off the boob tube for long. They’re making a gamble now that Discovery is trying to buy Scripps, since Discovery is apparently way more generous with their talent and makes them global SUPAHSTAHS, like Cake Boss. I guess they also like the idea of Discovery’s legal defense budget, should Chip ever get a DWI like the Cake Boss. Just kidding! The stiffest drink Chip has had in the last ten years was a bottle of Yoo-hoo.

But the real interesting thing in this whole deal is that, should the deal go through and Chip and Joanna’s “Holding Out For A Discovery Hero” ruse actually works, the Gaineses would be under the same corporate umbrella as TLC. As in, who owns the Trading Spaces revival. As in, please hay the shit out of that prized shiplap, Hildi! We’ve been waiting for this!

Pic: Instagram