Heavy/Getty Chip and Joanna Gaines
Though Chip and Joanna Gaines have built an empire with their lifestyle programming, first with “Fixer Upper” on HGTV and now with a full slate of home, garden and cooking shows on their own Magnolia Network, the couple has just announced plans to launch a show that’s different than anything they’ve done before — or anything that’s aired previously in the U.S.
In early 2024, as first reported by Variety, the Gaines will launch the “the first ever nationwide roller dancing competition series” for Max, the new streaming arm of Warner Bros. Discovery, which is also the parent company for HGTV and Magnolia.
Roller skating has become a big passion of Joanna’s recently, after buying a pair of skates on a whim in 2021 and discovering how much joy she feels zooming around their family’s Waco, Texas, property. Now, she’ll be able to channel her favorite new hobby into creating a first-of-its-kind TV series. Here’s what you need to know:
New Roller Skating Show Will Feature Teams From Multiple U.S. Cities
A press release described the Gaines’ still-untitled series “a nostalgic, family-friendly competition featuring the top roller-skating crews in America.” Though few details about the show were given, Magnolia Network did reveal that roller-skating teams will be selected from Atlanta, Houston, Las Vegas, Nashville, New York and St. Louis to compete on the show, set to air in early 2024.
In a statement to Variety, the Gaines said, “Putting on a pair of roller skates is like reuniting with your childhood. There’s just something about it that appeals to everyone. Kids, adults and everyone in between will have fun watching these talented crews come together and skate their hearts out, and we are so excited to bring this nostalgic competition to life.”
In the summer of 2022, Joanna wrote on her blog about how her love of roller skating emerged the previous holiday season, after she’d set a personal goal of having more fun in 2022.
“I was in the middle of my Christmas shopping at the time, and I had just ordered each of our two daughters a pair of roller skates from this retro shop I’d found online,” she wrote. “Without thinking about it too much, I logged back on and ordered a pair for myself—green with pink laces. Who knew if I’d ever use them, but I’d just resolved to have more fun, loosen up a bit, and a pair of retro roller skates seemed like a near-perfect reminder of that.”
Joanna continued, “Turns out, I do use them—all the time. The girls and I skate around the farm, and I love watching the surprise on their faces when they see their mom spinning out in front of the house. We chase the sunset down our driveway, wind blowing our hair back. Completely alive. And every time, it’s reminding me, as much as I think it’s reminding them, that I am more than I sometimes remember. That they are too.”
Joanna, who now sells a replica pair of her green skates online, even wore her them during an episode of her cooking show, “Magnolia Table with Joanna Gaines.” On her blog, she explained that she had brought them to make a silly grand entrance for the fourth episode of Season 6, but wound up keeping them on for the entire episode.
“I bring my skates with me just about anywhere—sometimes even on set,” she shared. “When we filmed this episode, I figured I’d lace up my skates as a goofy entrance to the show, then go back to business as usual. But once I got going, everyone had such a great time—the crew even thought to bring a disco ball!—so I decided to keep them on for the entire show. Skating around felt like a blast from the past, which paired perfectly with today’s nostalgic menu of homestyle favorites.”
Chip & Joanna Gaines Will Also Debut First-Ever Hotel Renovation on ‘Fixer Upper’
While they’re clearly excited about their upcoming roller skating show, the Gaines are not abandoning their popular home and garden content anytime soon.
In fact, in tandem with the November 1 opening of their latest renovation — Hotel 1928 in Waco — they’ll launch a six-part series called “Fixer Upper: Hotel,” according to Variety, about how they turned the old Grand Karem Shrine Building — first built in 1928, hence the name — into a luxury hotel.
Each half hour episode, airing on the Magnolia Network, will take viewers inside what Joanna called “the biggest project of my life” — which is saying something, given that they renovated a castle last year.
According to a press release, the 50,000-square-foot Hotel 1928 features four floors with 33 guest rooms, a restaurant, rooftop terrace, event space and ballroom.
Located just six blocks from the couple’s popular shopping and dining destination, Magnolia Market at the Silos, Hotel 1928 is now accepting reservations through April 2024 on its website.