The Out Of Touch Chip Gaines Moments That Had HGTV Fans Rolling Their Eyes

On the OG "Fixer Upper" and its successors, Chip Gaines is an outspoken goofball, while Joanna Gaines is calm and pragmatic. This well-trodden, sitcom-like dynamic helped the couple build a media and lifestyle empire, but Chip's antics have become tiresome to some critics.

There are some savage Reddit threads dedicated to roasting Chip, with titles such as "Can we talk about how Chip Gaines is a low value male?" and "Can Chip Gaines ever NOT be obnoxious?" The answers to these questions were "Yes" and "No," as numerous naysayers chimed in to share their opinions about the contractor's screwball personality. "I would never hire someone with that behavior. Is he just desperate for attention or is he not self aware enough to regulate his behavior for whatever reason?" one Redditor wrote. "Yes he is so irritating! He acts like [Joanna's] child, not her husband," read another comment.

Some fans are also worried about Chip and Joanna becoming different people from the couple who made viewers fall in love with the rustic farmhouse aesthetic. When the couple took on a massive renovation project for "Fixer Upper: The Lakehouse," one Instagrammer expressed disappointment in the miniseries' concept. "It was fun when the fixed up house that REALLY needed it. Now it's just renovating expensive houses," they wrote. In his book "Capital Gaines: Smart Things I Learned Doing Stupid Stuff," Chip reveals that it irks him when fans beg him and Joanna not to change. "Guys, listen, we have changed," he writes. This became evident when he made a tone-deaf comment about money.

Chip Gaines resides in Waco, Texas, home of his family's retail kingdom and Baylor University. In April 2024, he decided to wade into a debate on X, formerly known as Twitter, over whether Baylor's head basketball coach, Scott Drew, would leave his position if promised a larger paycheck at another school. Gaines was convinced that Drew was too loyal to his team to abandon it. Unfortunately, he expressed this in a manner that made him seem oblivious to the financial plights of others. "Money is boring.. everybody's got money," he tweeted, punctuating his words with an eye-roll emoji. "We've got God on our side."

Some people took offense at the suggestion that no one has to consider their finances when making life decisions. "Man I love your show and all, and I absolutely get joking about basketball — but this tweet is not cool," one response read. "The majority of people in this country worry about money because they don't have enough of it." Others disliked how Gaines dragged religion into his argument. "Money is boring when you have tons of it, but what about the poor that Jesus championed? ... I'd rather read the Bible than pretend God is exclusive to me," another person wrote. 

In response to a tweet about how the Bible doesn't hold the rich in very high esteem, Gaines argued that the famous "eye of the needle" verse doesn't say that going to heaven is an unachievable goal for a wealthy Christian such as himself. "Harder, not 'impossible,'" he wrote. However, other X users noted that getting that camel through the eye seems like a pretty futile endeavor.

Avocado toast has become a symbol of millennial decadence, thanks to a "60 Minutes Australia" interview in which millionaire Tim Gurner suggested that the snack was preventing young people from being able to afford a home. It's also something on the menu at Magnolia Table, the Waco restaurant that Chip Gaines and Joanna Gaines own.

As recapped by The New York Times, Chip had no clue that avocado toast was something people actually enjoyed until Joanna was putting together the menu for their eatery. In a 2018 episode of "Fixer Upper," she convinced him to try it. "That's disgusting, babe. No one wants avocado on their toast," was his verdict. He followed up his tentative bite with a bacon chaser.

Real mean eat #AvocadoToast @chipgaines #FixerUpper pic.twitter.com/LIioxBbTVQ

— HGTV (@hgtv) March 28, 2018

A clip of the taste test sparked a debate on social media, where some people argued that Chip was totally in the wrong. On X, one fan of the combo suggested that Joanna could add bacon in the mix to make it more palatable for her husband, but Joanna wanted it to be a vegan dish. An Instagrammer also brought up a good point. "Coming from the guy who ate a dead cockroach!" they wrote. (Yes, this is something Chip actually did on the show.) "Grow up and eat your greens!" another person advised him. "That's a big thing in Texas — lots of places serve it — it's so good," yet another commenter informed the clueless picky eater.

Chip and Joanna Gaines have a lot of green flags in their relationship. For one thing, they built their business together and still continue working with each other — something other couples would prefer not to do. According to Chip, he and Joanna also synchronize their schedules, which he believes has contributed to their marriage's success. "When she goes to sleep, I go to sleep. When I wake up, she for sure does NOT try & wake up ha ... Remember the more 'out of whack' u are.. the more out of whack u will be," he advised his X followers.

Chip's advice is impossible for many couples to follow. "What if we have different work schedules?" one person asked. Another reply read, "It works in theory, but sometimes people are just very different in their sleep habits and it doesn't actually work out that way." There was also an X user who preferred to stay up later than their partner so they could enjoy some alone time and one who noted that snoring can have a profound impact on when couples catch their z's.

When Joanna and Chip's schedules deviate and force them to go their separate ways, chaos sometimes ensues. In an interview with People, Chip confessed to once leaving his oldest son, Drake, at home by himself by mistake when he made a grocery run. Drake was only 6 weeks old at the time.

On the OG "Fixer Upper," Chip Gaines usually looked like he was having a blast, whether he was busting through a wall like the Kool-Aid Man or playing with a machete. Many viewers probably couldn't understand why Chip and Joanna Gaines decided to pull the plug on the popular HGTV show in 2017. But in a 2018 interview with Cowboys & Indians magazine, Chip revealed that the pressure to perform had become too much — apparently, clowning around all the time isn't easy when you're expected to do it on cue. "Toward the end of the 'Fixer Upper' journey, I felt caged, trapped," he said.

Sometimes, it's hard for people to feel sympathy for celebs who complain about fame and what they had to do to become so successful, especially when the stars become as rich as Chip and Joanna. In response to Chip's comments, one Facebook user wrote, "That cage made you very wealthy. Move over and let me get some of that." Another person commented, "Grow up and stop being a baby." From the sounds of it, Chip could have stopped trying so hard to get laughs. "He spoiled the show. Too much nonsense," a third critic opined. It was also pointed out that Chip had returned to TV — in 2021, he and Joanna rebooted their series for the Magnolia Network. He also began working on other projects, such as "The Courage to Run with Chip Gaines & Gabe Grunewald." According to Jezebel, Chip equates grappling with fame to a cancer survivor's struggles in the documentary. 

Chip and Joanna Gaines have been embroiled in several controversies over the years involving their political beliefs and their feelings about the LGBTQ+ community. In a 2021 interview with The Hollywood Reporter, they spoke about their efforts to make the Magnolia Network an inclusive environment. "As an American white male, it's hard to be perfectly diverse," Chip said. This remark rubbed some netizens the wrong way because Chip sounded like he was complaining about doing something decent. One reaction on X read, "It's like he's victimizing himself."

Chip has also been criticized for preaching that people should be more accepting of those with beliefs different from their own. He did this in a 2017 blog post that was an apparent response to the revelation that his family attended a church with anti-LGBTQ+ views. Huffpost writer Noah Michelson argued that it's fine to agree to disagree when the stakes are low, but that Chip is wrong when it comes to weightier issues such as whether LGBTQ+ citizens should have the same rights as straight people.

Chip further annoyed some critics by refusing to tell Variety where he falls on the political spectrum in 2022. "So Chip and Joanna are right wingers but they don't want the humiliation and derision from others that comes with it," one X user tweeted. Another wrote, "Refusing to take a side means choosing to side with the oppressor."