Chip Gaines Steps Out Without Joanna for a Major New Solo Project

Chip Gaines is stepping into unfamiliar territory after years of sharing the television spotlight with his wife and longtime creative partner, Joanna Gaines. The Fixer Upper star is preparing to host Pretty Good Advice, a new Magnolia Network YouTube series that puts Chip front and center without Joanna as his co-host.

The project represents a notable first for the Magnolia co-founder. While Chip and Joanna have built much of their television empire together, Pretty Good Advice is being described as Chip’s first recurring solo hosting series. The first five episodes are scheduled to arrive on Magnolia Network’s YouTube channel on Monday, August 17, 2026.

Chip Gaines Is Going Solo

The concept behind Pretty Good Advice is considerably different from the renovation programs that made Chip a household name.

Instead of tearing down walls and transforming houses, the 51-year-old will set up an advice booth outside Magnolia Market at the Silos in Waco, Texas. Visitors will be invited to bring Chip their questions and problems, giving him an opportunity to offer practical suggestions along with his familiar sense of humor.

Topics are expected to range from business and home renovation to relationships, family and everyday life.

It gives Chip a chance to lean into the spontaneous personality that became such an important part of the original Fixer Upper formula.

His Advice Booth Will Welcome All Kinds of Questions

The people visiting Chip’s booth will bring surprisingly varied dilemmas.

In the premiere, he meets a baker hoping to rebuild his life by reconnecting with his passion for baking and entrepreneurship. Chip also advises an elementary school student preparing to attend camp for the first time.

Other conversations are expected to involve business owners, families and younger visitors.

The premise means viewers shouldn’t expect the polished transformations associated with Fixer Upper. Instead, conversations and Chip’s reactions will drive the series.

That format could prove particularly well suited to his television persona, which has always relied heavily on improvisation and his willingness to joke about himself.

A Major First After Years With Joanna

The significance of the announcement comes from just how closely Chip’s television career has been associated with Joanna.

The couple became nationally recognized through HGTV’s Fixer Upper, which premiered in 2013. Their combination of Chip’s construction expertise and energetic personality with Joanna’s design approach helped turn the program into one of HGTV’s signature franchises.

After the original series ended, they expanded their business interests considerably and eventually launched Magnolia Network.

Magnolia’s current lineup includes the couple’s Fixer Upper projects alongside programs covering food, gardening, design and other creative subjects.

Pretty Good Advice therefore isn’t a separation from the Magnolia brand. It is an expansion of it, with Chip getting a recurring format of his own.

Chip and Joanna Are Still Working Together

Despite headlines suggesting Chip is “breaking away” from Joanna, there is no indication of a personal split.

In fact, the couple recently celebrated 23 years of marriage on May 31, 2026. Joanna marked the occasion with photographs spanning their relationship and described Chip as her “forever home sweet home.” They married in Waco in 2003.

The pair also recently appeared together in Fixer Upper: Colorado Mountain House.

Chip’s solo show is therefore better understood as a new professional direction within the media company they have built together rather than evidence that their longtime partnership is ending.

Joanna Has Projects of Her Own

Joanna has also increasingly established projects outside the traditional Chip-and-Jo format.

One of the most prominent examples is Magnolia Table with Joanna Gaines, her cooking series, which appears alongside the couple’s renovation programming within Magnolia Network’s catalog.

Meanwhile, Joanna has continued discussing her creative work and life at the family’s Waco farmhouse.

She told People earlier this year that she was embracing a quieter summer at home as her family entered another period of transition, particularly with some of the older Gaines children reaching college age and adulthood.

Family Remains at the Center of Their Lives

Outside their expanding television empire, Chip and Joanna remain parents to five children: Drake, Ella, Duke, Emmie and Crew.

The Gaines family has grown up considerably since viewers first encountered them during the early Fixer Upper years. Drake is now 21, Ella is 19, Duke is 18 and Emmie is 16, while youngest son Crew is 8.

Joanna has occasionally shared glimpses of their changing family life, while both parents have spoken about adjusting as their older children become increasingly independent.

A Different Kind of Show for Chip Gaines

Pretty Good Advice may ultimately reveal whether Chip’s personality can carry a recurring series without renovation projects or Joanna alongside him.

The concept certainly plays to his strengths. Rather than asking him to become a conventional talk-show host, Magnolia is putting him in an informal environment where unpredictable conversations, humor and personal experiences can shape each episode.

After more than a decade of audiences knowing Chip and Joanna Gaines primarily as a television duo, viewers are about to see what happens when Chip gets the advice booth entirely to himself.

Featured Image: instagram.com/chipgaines