Chip & Joanna Gaines React to Breaking Their NDAs

The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon / YouTube Chip and Joanna Gaines

Former HGTV stars Chip and Joanna Gaines moved on from HGTV in 2018 and have been running their own Magnolia Network since its 2021 launch. The announcement of a Gaines-helmed television network was first revealed in a 2018 “The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon” appearance by the couple.

“We signed a nondisclosure [agreement] and it said, quote-unquote, you can tell your mother, but that’s it. So mom, I just wanted to make a quick announcement, we are coming back to television,” Chip told Fallon, his cameras, and the world while Joanna sat by his side and attempted to stop him. The couple’s company, Magnolia, quickly released a statement saying that the couple was in early talks about creating a new television network with Discovery CEO David Zaslav, though Discovery also released a statement to confirm that nothing had been finalized.

Now that their network is up and running, Chip and Joanna have returned to “The Tonight Show” for the Valentine’s Day 2023 episode to catch up with Fallon, and react to that moment when Chip broke his NDA.

Chip & Joanna Gaines

“We were so scared,” Chip said, to which Joanna added, “Right before we came out, they said, ‘Don’t mention it Chip.’ Which then makes him go ‘Got it. I’m going to announce it.'”

“We were nervous that we were going to go offstage to handcuffs,” Chip said, as the couple wasn’t even sure if their network “was a real thing”, given the deal had yet to be finalized.

Luckily, the deal went through and nobody attempted to handcuff Chip and Joanna. Fallon remarked on how big a fan he is of their network, which began on discovery+ and the Magnolia app in 2021 before taking over the former DIY Network in 2022 with a full slate of programming.

One of Fallon’s favorite Magnolia Network shows? “The Lost Table”, where host Erin French works to bring spectacular 50-person multi-course meals to life each week from her hometown of Freedom, Maine. According to Chip and Joanna, a ticket to one of French’s dinners is very hard to come by. “You have to fill out a postcard to even get a reservation,” Chip tells Fallon, with Joanna adding that French gets thousands (over 50,000 in the last year, according to “CBS Sunday Morning”).

Magnolia Network & HGTV Have the Same Parent Company

The Gaines couple left HGTV in 2018 to spend more time with their family, according to Distractify, however Page Six alleged that there may have been more to the story, with Chip and Joanna becoming tired of their “restrictive” contracts with Scripps, HGTV’s then-parent company. An insider claimed to Page Six that the couple was hoping to strike a better deal with HGTV’s new parent company, Discovery when Discovery was looking to acquire Scripps in 2017.

While the specifics of the Gainses’ new contracts are unknown (outside of the NDA Chip referenced and seemingly broke on “The Tonight Show”) and the couple did not return to HGTV, they are still in the same family of networks, as their Magnolia Network launched under Discovery.

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