Chip and Joanna Gaines have spent more than a decade in front of television cameras, beginning with their hit HGTV series “Fixer Upper.” While that was their first experience with the industry, Chip discovered quickly that he may not be cut out for the small screen.
Chip Gaines Reveals He Has an ‘Actual Phobia’
When a production company came calling, Chip’s immediate reaction was to write it off as a “scam.”
“This is gonna be some kind of a, you’ve gotta pay somebody $5,000, and they’re gonna come down and produce some nonsensical thing,” he recalled during his October 20 appearance on the “How I Built This” podcast with host Guy Raz.
However, after some convincing from his wife, the couple decided to give it a shot. While we all know how it turned out, Chip very quickly discovered he had a phobia that threatened the show’s success.
“I’ve got the gift of gab,” Chip explained to Raz. “[But] I didn’t know, of course — because how could you know, you’d never been on television, you don’t even know anything about television…I have an actual phobia of cameras.”
According to Joanna, Chip “turned into a totally different– when I watched him, I was like, what is…? He would sweat. He couldn’t get his words out; he couldn’t breathe.”
Chip Gaines Overcame His Phobia of Cameras
The “Capital Gaines” author revealed that his phobia kicked in whenever the “red dot” above the camera would turn on.
“I would see that frickin’ red dot, and it would just terrify me, A. And B, I need like immediate affirmation,” he said on their podcast appearance. “I need that sort of interaction, where when you’re looking at a camera and saying something funny and nothing happens as a result of that, then I get in my head going, ‘Oh gosh, that didn’t land. That wasn’t funny. I need more this, I need less this.'”
While Chip went on to explain that he has since “worked it out,” Joanna recalled her husband removing himself “from that side of the camera” in the early days of filming.
The Texas-based couple ultimately stepped away from their hit reality show, “Fixer Upper,” in 2018 to focus on their growing family. After a break from the spotlight, Chip and Jo launched their own TV network in 2021. However, they both admitted at the time to missing their lives pre-fame.
“The good news about me and Jo is that when the cameras happen to be there, we’re rocking and rolling. We enjoy that relationship now,” he told Entertainment Weekly in 2021. “I mean, at the beginning six or seven years ago, I was terrified of it. And I’m a really outgoing, kind of personable guy. But there’s something about that intimate relationship with a camera operator with a red light and you. There’s no feedback.”
For Jo’s part, she has always felt like her calling back in the shop helping customers.
“I just like being at the shop every day. I feel like I’m a shopgirl,” she told the outlet. “I love being behind the counter. I love interacting with customers. As Magnolia has grown, that’s not necessarily my reality anymore, but I miss that.”
he seems to have a phobia to showers
I thought it was hair cuts
he seems to have a phobia to showers