BIG RETURN

Chip & Joanna: As they prepare to welcome a baby boy, Chip and Joanna Gaines return to the small screen

Just months after retiring from their HGTV show, Fixer Upper, Chip and Joanna Gaines are working on a new TV project!

Last fall, Chip and Joanna Gaines announced that they were ending their HGTV hit Fixer Upper after just five years on the air, shocking and disappointing millions of viewers. “While we are confident that this is the right choice for us, it has for sure not been an easy one to come to terms with,” the couple wrote at the time on their blog. “How bittersweet to say goodbye to the very thing that introduced us all in the first place.”

But Chip and Joanna didn’t say goodbye for long. On March 1, they announced a new 15-episode spinoff, Fixer Upper: Behind the Design, premiering on HGTV on April 10. And sources say the couple, who are expecting their fifth baby — a boy! — soon (see sidebar), is considering yet another joint production in the not- so- distant future: a brand-new show. “They’re at a stage where they can demand big bucks to star in TV shows, and networks are fighting to sign them up,” an insider tells Life & Style. “The Gaineses are certainly open to returning to TV once the baby is born — as long as the show is made under their terms.”

The most important of those terms: Fa m i ly comes first. With four (and soon to be five) children to take care of, Chip, 43, and Joanna, 39, aren’t interested in any project that takes them away from home for too long. “They don’t want to be traveling all over the place, working long hours, for weeks at a time,” notes the insider.

WHAT THEY WANT

That’s what made Behind the Design a “no- brainer” to agree to, the insider says. “Unlike Fixer Upper, which required a huge amount of the couple’s time, the spinoff has been much more straightforward to produce,” the insider explains of the

show, which focuses largely on the interior design and staging work Joanna does as part of their home renovations. “It includes never-before-seen footage from the original series to give viewers a behind-thescenes look at how they designed the projects,” the insider adds, “and it actually went into full production last year, before they even announced they were quitting Fixer Upper.”

Chip and Joanna are thrilled with the results – and hope Behind the Design will help promote their other ventures, like their Magnolia Market home decor store, Magnolia Table restaurant, various product lines and their real estate business. “They’d love to become HGTV’S version of the Kardashians, but without all the drama,” the insider says. “They’re business- minded and know that television is one of the most powerful tools needed to stay relevant.”

A DELICATE BALANCE

With their continued popularity, future TV gigs continue to tempt them. One source even says they’ve been talking to ABC about starring in a potential reboot of Extreme Makeover: Home Edition. For now, though, their new addition remains their No. 1 priority, with Joanna determined to take several months off after the baby is born. But post-maternity leave, both Chip and Joanna are leaving the door to more TV shows firmly open. “We’re so excited about this break,” Chip says. “But would we go back and do this again? Absolutely. It was a joy. It was a pleasure.”