The dynamic duo Chip and Joanna Gaines created an empire that began with their HGTV show Fixer Upper. Since then, the power couple has enjoyed many more successes. When they first met, however, Joanna was on her way to talk to Chip’s roommate, known as “hot John.”
Chip Gaines was dead set on marrying another woman before meeting Joanna
Before Chip Gaines met Joanna in 2001, he was in a long-term relationship with a woman he was “hell-bent” on marrying, he said in a 2017 issue of Magnolia Journal, per Country Living. Chip gave this woman the pseudonym Amy.
“Amy put up with me despite my terrible approach to relationships,” Chip stated. “She and I dated for upward of two years.” While visiting Amy when she worked in London, the young woman asked Chip where the relationship was going. “
“I, being a complete idiot, said something along the lines of ‘You know, I’ve never given it much thought,’” he shared. After that, Chip “felt convinced that Amy was the one.” He added, “I walked off that plane hell-bent on making that young woman my wife.”
Joanna Gaines was on her way to talk to ‘hot John’ when she met Chip
Chip and Joanna’s relationship started with a chance encounter when Joanna was on her way to talk to Chip’s roommate. “I worked for my dad at his tire shop for 10 years,” Joanna revealed while appearing on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon. She stated that Chip’s roommate, affectionately called “hot John,” came to the shop to get tires one day.
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“All the guys that work at the tire shop all the time would try to set me up customers, and I’d always say, ‘leave me alone.’ But this time, it felt different. They were like, ‘There’s this really good-looking guy, his name is John. If you just walk through the showroom and to the waiting area — just go talk to him,’” Joanna continued.
“I got the courage to get up out of my office. I walk toward the waiting room, and John and I make eye contact, but I’m not really gifted at making conversation, so I looked at him, and I was like, ‘Now what?’ So instead of going to the waiting room, I walked straight outside.”
As Joanna headed outside, Chip was coming inside to get John, and their paths intersected. “She walked past hot John, thankfully,” Chip added. “You know, John is tall, dark, and handsome. I was sort of shorter, redder, and frumpier,” he joked. “Jo and I chatted for a few minutes, and before you knew it, love was in the air.”
John kept Chip from calling Joanna after their first date
That’s not where hot John’s part in the story ends. After their first date, Chip waited months before calling Joanna. The reason? According to People, Chip explained in the book Magnolia Story that he had “made a bet with Hot John to see who could hold out the longest before calling our dates back.”
Chip had $50 on the line, which was the only reason he took so long to call Joann back. Today, the pair have been married for almost 20 years.
