‘Fixer Upper’ Ending?! 5 Reasons Chip and Joanna Gaines Just Had to Go

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Get out your hankies, “Fixer Upper” fans: Chip and Joanna Gaines have announced that they will end their hit HGTV show after its upcoming fifth season is over.

According to their blog on Magnolia, “It is with both sadness and expectation that we share the news that season 5 of Fixer Upper will be our last.”

What a ride…BUT #season5IScoming #onelasthoorah [Watch the full video at link in profile]

A post shared by Chip Gaines (@chippergaines) on Sep 26, 2017 at 8:02am PDT

The announcement has devastated many Chip and Jo die-hards … and confused plenty more, who are baffled over why they’re bailing right now. After all, their show is hotter than ever.

Is their marriage on the rocks, a la “Flip or Flop?”

Hardly; the couple swears, “Our family is healthy, and our marriage has honestly never been stronger. This has nothing to do with a fraudulent skincare line or anything else you’ll inevitably read.”

So then, what is it, guys?

Since we’ve tracked the superstar renovation couple through their many highs and lows through the years, we have no shortage of theories as to why they’ve decided to cash in their chips now. Here are a few to ponder as you try to process this news and learn to let go. Let it go!

1. They want to keep their family out of the spotlight

The couple has four kids: Drake, 12, Ella, 10, Duke, 9, and Emmie Kay, 7. Not only do children this age need lots of attention from mom and dad, but Chip and Jo have often said they want to shield their brood from the spotlight.

“They’re so young, and we want to give them the chance to have a normal childhood,” Joanna said in People. “Family is the most important thing in the world.”

2. Many of their homes have turned into hotels

On the less warm-and-fuzzy end of the spectrum: The sheer popularity of “Fixer Upper” has tempted many of the homes’ recipients to make a quick buck by renting their places out by the night. That’s not exactly what the Gaineses had hoped would happen: They prefer that their clients live in the homes instead. You know—the ones they actually renovated the place for?

“That’s the true intent of our show, and we want to ensure that does not get lost in this new vacation rental trend,” Brock Murphy, a spokesman for Magnolia, the Gaines’ company, said in a statement. “We are going to do our best to protect that moving forward.”

3. They’ve got a whole lot else going on

Chip and Jo aren’t just the stars of a reality show. Their rapidly expanding portfolio of businesses include a shopping center called Magnolia Market at the Silos (which draws up to 40,000 shoppers per week), plus a real estate company, plus some vacation rental properties, a bakery, a line of paints, a soon-to-be-opened restaurant, and oh yeah, a farm to tend to back home!

In other words: They don’t have time to star in a reality show. And they’re not likely to be sitting at home catching up on reruns, either.

4. They’re a moving ‘Target’

As if all the above ventures weren’t enough, the couple recently announced that they’ll be rolling out a line of home goods at Target! Called Hearth & Hand with Magnolia, the line of 300-some items will hit stores in November.

5. They’re just plain pooped

In case it wasn’t clear from all of the above, Chip and Jo spell it all out: “We would be foolish to think we can go and go and fire on all cylinders and never stop to pause. … This is just us recognizing that we need to catch our breath for a moment.”

In other words: They’re just doggone tired. Wouldn’t you be? We will miss them, but we get it.

And if it’s any comfort, they say, “Though our ‘Fixer Upper’ chapter is coming to a close, we aren’t done with Waco. We aren’t done renovating homes. We aren’t done designing things to make your home your favorite place on earth. We aren’t done working towards restoration in all things or helping out those who could use a hand. In fact, in all of these of things, we are just getting started.”

All we can say is, we’re looking forward to finding out what they do next.

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