Watch Willie Geist’s Full Interview With Chip And Joanna Gaines | Sunday TODAY

thanks for doing this it's great to see you yes sir welcome to Waco txt time in Waco that's crazy what did you what do you think I love it okay everyone's incredibly friendly when you're in the airport in Dallas connecting to Waco they look at you and they say what are you Oh Joanna they know they know where you're going really in Waco it's like it's pretty great it shouldn't be a show yeah Willie and wait if only you had a network where you need make some program we'll talk about that later let's talk first about this space because we are in what was once a Grand Ballroom and it's about to be a Grand Ballroom thanks to you tell me about Joanna what you saw in this place because this is a big leap yeah and I would start with what chip saw in this place because the story of my life poor chip because he always I get the credit for it but chip loved this building for years and I'm like I don't know that looks kind of it just looked dated it looked hard honestly like a big building I'm like let's just stick with houses so for years he's just always noticed this building on the corner well he started kind of getting aggressive with hey I want to buy this thing and I was like Jim I don't we walk into it I really was like it scares me like all the carpet it just feels kind of hunted a little bit I don't know I was just sure that there's a few things that ships bought in the past that felt haunted but so I had a lot of resistance to it it turns out that the more haunted the property is the better deal and he was like Joe White the advance Mart right deal but finally I walked in one day just going okay chip is passionate about this I want to see what he's seeing and I walked in and I just I saw it and when when I'm in the other mindset of like I don't want it it's easy for my wine to be like nope you know I can just do that but then when I know I want to know what chip is seeing so I walked in he takes me up to this Ballroom and I could see it I could see the history I saw the people in here I saw the parties that were in here and I was like this place is really special and so after that day it's like okay I'm all-in so what did you know about this building because I went back and was reading articles over the years sure it's been on the market we can't sell it we're gonna convert it it's empty they're having meetings in here once in a while sure there was it didn't really have it's purpose what did you see in this place all those years ago you know I I've always had this kind of odd ability I mean the way she described it was really therapeutic to some extent because I've never heard you say it exactly that way but for me it doesn't take a process for me to get from point A to point what it could be right and I step into a place like this and I see past all the paint chips and all the decrepit hardwood floors I sort of to some to some extent I mean you know I don't want to sound like a prophet but I go back in time to when this thing was in its heyday and I imagine and here's that here's the truth of the matter I mean I'm a business guy in my core and I mean that not in this Big Shot business guy I mean just a small business guy and I see this building and it becomes real practical for me if we could buy this building and then improve it for a certain amount of money and those a plus B equal less than what we could sell it for at the end it becomes like the simplest mathematical equation if a plus B equals less than C which is what we could sell this thing for if all hell broke loose it becomes kind of fun for me like I know I've got to buy this building at a low enough price to then put the improvement money into the building and then for this thing to actually be worth more than what we've got in it I mean that's it it's just that simple but then somehow along the way I kind of see the hardwood floors and I see I think that vision that you were just describing about the people that used to actually enjoy this base for what it was back in its glory days I can see that activity occurring in a space like this and I just I mean you know it's just like and then it just takes money and time and effort to get it back to that spot and then I think that's the million dollar question anybody could see no building and then put an enormous amount of money into it and then have a property that's underwater that's worth less than what the market would bear you know for me I get a little bit arrogant like anybody can do that I've got to do it exactly opposite of that I got to buy it right I got to put the right improvements into it and I got to know for for a fact that when this thing's all said and done there's some equity in it at the back end of it so all that to say it's just this is a fun one because it's big and it's gnarly and I think big and gnarly kind of excite Joe and I and then when you get to see this in a year and a half yeah and you see that ballroom activity that she's describing with the people and and the energy I mean you're gonna go I can't believe I saw this before-and-after but off camera we were talking about you saying you walked in and kind of felt it oh absolutely and I want to encourage you that's unique I think most people that walk into a building like this would say quote unquote you were crazy nobody wants to do this for you saying I see it you know I mean that's it you're a step ahead well it's one thing to say I see it it's another thing to say I'm gonna do something about it which is what you all do so I was just saying Joe and I walked around out stairs some of the different floors and yes it's spooky in some corners but but it's nostalgic to its time so from a design point of view how do you see yourself bringing some of that out yeah you know the fact that there's three floors and you can start seeing how even over there like sorry that's it's hard but even on the other side of this ballroom there's this whole section where you're like you can start seeing how it this wasn't a hotel before but how somehow you start gutting everything and you can see this footprint of a hotel I think what I got excited about with hotel is you know obviously the lobby like the first welcome you walk in and what does that feel like what is that first just sense when you step into the place it's already once you've been on this side of it and you're like okay I love the building that's where we are now it's like oh I can't wait for people to experience that magic when they step in and this thing is right and so for me it's really just highlighting the history the nostalgia all the stuff that you feel even in this kind of rough stage rough state and then once we polish it up a bit I think it's just gonna come alive and I think people are can I just feel like this is a really special place but what I love about the rooms is like I get to design you know three or four different types of rooms and then you just kind of mass you know I don't want every room to be completely different because really to me the highlight is the view the trim the windows and stuff like that I get to put a lot of energy and like three or four different styles and then you just to just kind of mass it out in the rest of the rooms I don't know I think it's just gonna be fun I think we've always dreamed of doing either like a small motel or a hotel just because it's like we love the hospitality side people are coming to Waco they're coming to visit the silos there's other amazing businesses here in town that they're coming to visit and so this just felt like the next step of hey if they're coming let's offer them somewhere to stay let's host that tried to host them at the farm we try to add a little complication and so we were like maybe Plan B should be like well you I mean it is you have to have vision to see this obviously but also this is just a different animal from what you all have done before I mean it's one thing to flip the houses that you flipped and even the silos but just from a practical point of view as a builder sure did you think like for a minute all right how we gonna actually do this yeah again it's like if there's not an element of that I'm not interested so there's not an element of I can't do this or how we gonna do this I would argue Joe and I kind of shy away from I don't want to say the easy stuff because surely we're not stupid right I only do for a littles I think we're a little stupid but I also think we like to do hard thing and I think there's something about all of that that just you know there's gotta be a little bit of naive it like being naive like let's do it chip I would say very childish in there I think that everything's possible and obviously a few things turn out a little harder than than we expected that's not Mac that this building is tough and challenging and I would even argue a little bit outside the media bubble I mean we did that with the silos you you mention silos the silos were you know we've got a downtown strip which is called Austin Avenue which is really historic that's where the castle is going to be located is located and it just it feels right it's like it's like being you know every town has these historic neighborhoods that have been around for a century you know or so and that's kind of our Austin Avenue area when we built the silos it was a little bit off of that beaten path and there was something about that that really attracted us to the property well this is up on the opposite end of that so we got the silos we got our heartbeat which is Austin Avenue and then on the other side is the Karen building and we thought it would be cool to a book and each of those those neighborhoods and communities and so part of that is even part of the challenge how do we get people on this side of town to experience this part of the pocket community and I think this hotel will become a real anchor in that have you guys thought about a name yet are you ready to go there he's still working on the name of the hotel I want to call it like the Magnolia Hotel I think that number is 16 so she she was smart enough because I'm so passionate about the name Magnolia which is the iris is her baby you know Magnolia was her original little gift shop on the you know the Bosque side of town and little bitty 1,800 square foot you know shopping and so it just has become kind of our first child and we had that little business together before we had our five children and so she's just become so precious that I love the name of it but she was smart enough and wily enough to go what if the name name was like hotel 60 and I was like well there's something there yeah what it is a Cy 16 baseball so keep it 84 it's night so if you want to use 84 that's not being taken you have my authorization use 84 it must be so cool to Joanna just to be in a position you talked about having that shop in 2003 that little place to be in a position in your life where you can drive past this building and it's even possible that you could do something like this and you've worked hard to get to where you are but that's a cool thing I have to imagine it is you know and it's something that we don't forget about I think we're reminded daily of these and I don't know if it's because we have to do that to just keep ourselves grounded of like and we always joke our favorite house was the one that was 800 square feet and those were the sweetest times when we were really broke like just always going back to you hurtin was just a struggle everything was hard yeah but there was something about that hard that just developed something in us that I don't know I think it just made us stronger people where I would argue twofold it's in our DNA it's who we really were so all of this has an any of that we are still that couple that's like striving to just make it you know but to the to your point it's like I'd say the variable is that this success happened a little bit late enjoy nice life sir I already had a few kids on the ground we had you know a half dozen years of marriage under our belt you know we had kind of grown and evolved into who we essentially were and these babies on the ground you know how that is I mean it just takes out that self-centered arrogant narcissistic kind of part of yourself you're like it's all about these kids and so I think with this new like chapter of our life it's less about oh now we can do these things because look what we've accomplished and more about I'm gonna show these kids that there's nothing that's impossible we can do hard things we say this all the time it's kind of a Gaines family mantra like we do hard things when a little boy who's a freshman now playing football and it's just like he comes home our coach made us do this run and this thing is like baby what how'd you think this was gonna go you know we do hard things is practical when you're out doing a bear crawl as a freshman on a football team you know and it's just like for us this is a hard thing and and I wouldn't be interested in it if it was any other way you know and it's a lesson you can teach them that you worked for it and you grind your way from that little shop to where you are right now and I think back to the little shop when I think about that you know we couldn't afford flooring so chip was staining the plywood couldn't afford signage so he like rummaged old letters that literally made up the word Magnolia and surprised me and it cost like 150 bucks is that that original sign that's the original picture of it today when I was done with that I'm no artist but I literally was like back to my point about this building it just reminded me of a piece of art and obviously subjective and Here I am an idiot who what do I know but when I see this building it reminds me of a piece of art that I'm desperate to get back to its original glory when I built that sign and put all those odd letters together I mean you know I think arguably you could argue that it was clay at the end is actually a G upside down and don't look too close but there's some things you know where you just say compromises we had to make but it was so sweet but but I the the point that I try to make it I'm not doing a great job articulating this I would say that the dreams that we had back when we were so broke and they revolved around a 30 or 50 or hundred thousand dollar house where is big to us there yes as this is to us now and I guess that's the point I'm trying to make we were dreaming big it was just a different way nobody would have looked at it and said oh that's a big dream but to Joe and I were like well it's a big dream when you got 50 bucks in your pocket right this is a big undertaking for a couple that has $50 to their name yeah and then you look at this big deal and you're like hey I mean we you know this you know this could sink a ship you know and that in like the financial sense but that something about that drive for us is part of the part of the magic it seems to me you two have always had that even when you were a little bit broke when you wanted to start in that market and chips and you said I don't know if I should do this I don't know if I know how to do this it might fail and chip with the same mentality said go do it yeah go do it chip was just born that way and I was born the opposite which was like I'd like to to stay in this little cubicle and be safe the rest of my life and then I would end up showing me these CDs if we put this $50 in this CD but it's 10 years this will be $59 I mean that was exciting no risk I've got a much more aggressive and yes you did financial plan you're gonna love this that look it could equal $50 becoming $0 there's lots of ways this ends that way but if we play our cards right our $50 will become more than $59 on the CD you're talking about so I don't know I think just being married to the guy it just rubs off on you and then when you're on this side of it you're like oh it's more fun this way and there is risk and even back then when it was the risk of buying that little building and putting inventory Anna that I even know what I was doing I was like I sure hope this person buy it you know just even learning like you buy something for this much you so I mean I was learning everything just business basics 101 I was not this was new to me but once you're on that side of it there's just something it's just it's a contagious thing and so and let's be serious if you could go back and be the safest person in the world every now and then I'm punching the clock going to the mall I'll say it's more fun it is it is fun but there's always a thing because it's not my natural instinct that fear is always creeping in like oh what if it's this thing what if it's there's always that element of if I fail then what and I when I told chip that you know 2003 I want to do this shop at chip if I fail then what he's like oh we get back up and do something else and when I heard that and almost had the freedom to fail I was like oh well if that's the scariest thing right even if it was a financial thing his fearlessness really kind of just set me up to say okay I think we can do it and and yeah we have failed there are some things that we've done that we look back and like oh I was a stupid idea but I think even in the failure just the value that we learned not in the money side that we've lost but the value we learned from that to then take into the next thing is just that's invaluable so for me it's like you're never really losing if you're going for it and you're moving forward you can't lose even if it doesn't something you're even if it isn't something you're doing long term just that lesson and everything you're learning learning in those opportunities I think are the most valuable thing I call him coach he's coached me coach I'm a little my oyster had a much more romantic wouldn't idea coach like I could see crew having a little sip Willy I didn't bring it up another steps of the agenda here chip alone I mean when I'm 50 chips gonna want my kids just know this is gonna be like the headline forever Joe's pregnant again for the record we've gotten like almost like odd about this every time we have a child it becomes like a national news cycle every time I like base was this is down wait I mean our productivity our profitability I mean we might need to have another child here I don't see you know they're out here get this much media attention part of the business plan chip with children is like this there's never too many I'm like I think we've got enough biz I think we're good that's how chip is with children and he's like I just think we can keep having them I mean I think chip just loves a full plate it helps when you don't have to carry the child yeah that's right it's a little easier to be aggressive on something like that a much better position that I find myself and when you come to Waco and you walk around even in the airport there's a brochure for the chip and Joanna tour or there's all that that going on there are these sort of like historic spots and one of them is the tire shop where the two of you met your father's tire so doing the tour so there's a whole tour yeah I appreciate Willie's bringing this to our attention we'll send up so but that isn't the farm on there I don't think so okay no I don't think they're violet your prides like to but the for people who don't know where this all began began in your father's tire shop when you were getting your brakes fixed is that right yeah and it's the story true that like that day you said oh she's the one what I feel like that was more your he's like no but no it was not my thing you wish Italy oh I'll be completely clear here's the thing yeah there was this family business this tire shop yours too and they had a family photo like some family business sure do behind the counter right and there were these beautiful three Stevens daughters so Jerry Stevens and man Stevens my precious mother and father-in-law had these gorgeous three daughters and I would just look at this family photo of me like man if I could find any three of these ladies I would just be like the happiest person on the planet so it's definitely like in that way but when Joe and I struck up a conversation she's always been like a bit of a fly on the wall I mean it takes a little bit of effort to kind of draw out like her heart her personality and he's kind of thing and I'm sort of opposite you know I'm like my personality and my heart are like right on my sleeves so you like you don't take it or leave it and so it took a little bit of dancing as I was pursuing Jo for her to kind of open up little by little but I can definitely say the more she opened up the more I liked know what did you think Johanna when he says I saw your picture on the wall I just had just a creeper the first thing he said to me because I did these local commercials from my dad and hold my hands like this I was but I did these like local 30-second spot do one do it like we remember I remember at one point I said we even give you a free ride to work oh my god do you remember at one point I had the line up like will even change your lug nests and all the radio station that's when you own is worth like I think she just said like that I said that I got the chills back to my were you writing the script do you don't have daughters say will even change your lug nuts sorry how old are you at that point I was like 16 my dad for 10 years right and I was gonna take over the first that was um you know he had three daughters and I wanted to be the one that was I'll carry on your name so I was training something from a dream perspective she was this girly girl but in this real mascot I mean every person that you shook hands with at the tire shop had dirt underneath their nails and I was kind of that kind of guy I mean I was a real blue-collar hard-working dude so I mean me and these guys were shooting the bull and then her mom struts around like the Queen of England she's got these three beautiful daughters that literally have just come back from like a manicure running this tired shop with their dad and it was just I always loved being at the counter cuz a guy would walk up and I was like okay what size tire you needing and they would they look at me like okay well can you get someone who can actually and I would okay tell me what tell me what kind of car you have anybody got to 35 60 feet like island I loved the challenge get okay see where you come from but I'm telling I knew about cars and I because in my mind I'm just gonna run this place I better you know sure that was like my school so for chip it was one day I was walking out and he's walking in and we just bump into each other and he was like hey here's that girl on the commercials I could I thought right off the bat I'm like I looked up at the family photo thinking maybe the person that I thought was on the family photo was gonna be removed and there she is in real life but it was really her and that I confirmed the photo was still had three daughters I was like what the Freak my aunt my prayers at first I was like this guy's kind of just one of those typical and so I sat because I like now so I just sit out there and it's a somewhat recognizable person would people do that to us it's always this I roll thing it's just like I thought it was the most original unique on that I could have possible and I hear it every day when they come into the shop so in my mind it's like steer clear of that one so I was just kind of like but then he started asking really interesting questions and I realize this is the first time I've had a conversation with someone where I feel like I'm actually getting to know myself better because it's like that was an interesting way to ask that and so we just ended up talking for like an hour and a half and he laughs and I thought oh that was just a great customer that's sweet then next day I get on my desk chip Gaines called here's his number stop I hung around the tire shop for an hour and a half just chatting her up just checking her up and I mean you know back in those days I didn't have a lot going on so I kept telling her I had all these businesses I had a little wash and fold business I had a lawn business I had a fireworks business I literally had all these businesses and so because her dad ran a profitable business she assumed that I having three of them meant three times the problem right I was like none of all of these are not for profits none of these make any money but she didn't know I mean I carry this pocket I didn't really have like a bank account so all his cash was in so our first date he like Stan up and I'm like what's this guy to pay for the bill pulls out this water - which now is like it was like a hundred one dollar bills and right at twenty and I was like dude loaded little did you know that we every dime he had it all worked all the minutes work look at you now all the money I had in the world was in your pocket and it wasn't in this gaudy arrogant thing I wasn't like this you know this New York Mafia type that was like out flashing around I just really always carried a lot of money in my pocket I had employees that I was always having to pay in cash in some cases and I was always trying to buy something you know for a discount so if you've got a little cash on your pocket right he'll sell you something for 50 bucks instead of a hundred you know I just kind of always had this cash reserve and I remember that date and I stood up because you couldn't really you can't sit down and take out 870 dollars in singles and so I had to stand up and I was trying to be respectful about it so I turned my back to him counted out the money but show you're saying it was a practical question you under that was the show right the show and it worked look at you look at you know oh that's so funny so I'm just leaping ahead to the show so you're you're cruising along here you got to started some businesses you're doing pretty well for yourselves and then you get a phone call from HGTV what was the connection there you I know you had a design blog it was literally like nine people that followed me so I don't even know how anyone saw the pictures and it was one of the houses we were living in and it was just the before and afters and someone from a production company High Noon who works with HGTV her name was Katie and she called my cell phone and said I saw these before-and-afters I see you and your husband work together hey what do you think about if we came came to Waco for a couple days been a week with you and shot stuff and I was like what and so I called chip and this is a true story he said do not call that person back it's a scam how much did they say you have to pay for them to film you and I think I don't think thing scam talk about like my instincts because I'm like a live or die by my using thing so this building I've got these gut instincts you watch it'll play out this way I mean for the biggest opportunity of our life there's like a dumb and dumber I mean I was adamant and Joe was like I think she's telling the truth I was like babe she didn't say anything about senator or $5,000 in advance because I went out honestly in all honesty in high school I was reached out by like this this is a face shot what do you what would you call a head shot darling angel I went to the mall wow I didn't know I go they take pictures of you and your underwear I didn't know what was happening baby there's a lot of yes sirs and no man's I was just there along for the ride and then at the end of this this production do you think like you're so hot that you're gonna get this like opportunity of a lifetime Erlang Aries or at the time it was like or for pennies Donny Donny Mark Wahlberg Oh dealing up your line is hot and I literally thought maybe baby and so when you get to the end of it like well five hundred dollars today and then equal payments of five hundred ollars you know three months and you're like I don't have any of this money how am I supposed to do and I was positive that these two things were somehow synonymous but Joe well there's a weird phone call if you've got nine people following your blog for some big production copywriter how in the world did she see that yes so it was it and then they make literally a few weeks later they come in and it was legit I mean all the equipment and the sound guy has been with us for now you know seven years he's been consistently with us and I remember him his name's David and he had this sound little bag bag and he said he sat out on our curb and I I mean it was six o'clock in the morning I'm looking out going what is this guy doing and he was sitting there messing with the sound equipment kind of getting ready for the day yeah and real quickly it went from this this has to be a scam to Wow what uh what an opportunity to be a part of something like this and they rolled in with the cameras and the sound equipment and Joe and I were off to the race and it's a crazy thing I have to for them to put a camera in front of you and say okay be TV stars be funny be charming he was and do it on command was the worst Willie I didn't know this I had an actual phobia of cameras but you know before you've seen a snake you don't know whether you have a snake phobia or not and this dude rolled up with these big cameras like this and wore this red light pop song I mean it's like a Volkswagen on this guy's shoulder and he was like hey tell me your name and I was like it was just I thought he was joke I was scared yeah right look you have to like hey stop talking I really thought this is gonna be the chip show and I'm really introverted so it to me it's like chip just carry it and not be in the background like he making pancakes she he literally stopped talking he went through anxiety this is really true story I got behind the camera and before you know we all became friends ish after a few days it was a great experience great people and as we were wrought rock-and-roll I was behind the camera going on the show you're supposed to freaking be anymore it was your way to get out of the shot and side break to your own and I like this house because for so it was just like the worst you're like the worst we were in these like fights Joe and I are like like mad look at him I'm literally giving the stank it just looked like oh my god it was so bad again really the kids were holding onto her leg because they're tearing through the house we need out features of this remodel the adults two kids on each leg and a husband behind the camera asking the camera operator what certain buttons of this equipment work you know so three days into it he came to us I was like hey guys we don't have much so listen we've got to figure something out can you Joe will you surprise chip with something and then I didn't know this they go to chip and they're like hey for this last day we're here can you just do something to just get a little more emotion out of your wife chip can you surprise Joe with something and chip you don't ask chip to surprise me because it's like I bought you a hotel oh this building was a surprise to some extent what I I barely tell chip my dreams now cuz he just goes and gets it I didn't really mean that but so chip they asked him to surprise him I come up with this dumb idea that's like oh I'll do a frame about all the houses we lived in and it'll be like the addresses because we had no money so it was like 20 bucks be like a picnic Willie she was gonna give me this thing at the end of a picnic but I was like that's the surprise we can't afford the tip was like oh I got a surprise he literally gets online has been looking at a houseboat online so sight unseen in between houses and somes thinkin hey the Hat the family on this houseboat first time money like nothing but two young kids on a boat you thinking Jeff he like pushes by now buys the thing the next day only and only the way he can do it it rolls up so they surprise me where I got a blindfolded and I think we're about to have this picnic moment with the sunset and to frame each other and I'm blindfolded and he takes the blindfold off and there's the semi-truck and this boat with all these holes in it I mean it literally look like it had been shipwrecked turned out it was not seaworthy and I was like oh and she was like to die this secure because I know how much money we have in the numbers for a business for I knew how much we had and we had he bought this boat so I'm just mad so what happened to the boat the houseboat the boat we we we got into a tiny legal predicament okay we lost the pickle we got to keep the boat turns out if you buy something it's like the buyer beware thing I found that out Dori that's a tiny print but the pictures were from like 1988 when the boat was pristine it was dirty I did get done dirty but we broke out of this shell because now we're in this boat that we can't afford I've had to rob Peter to pay Paul and you know whichever one I owed the money to was like it you know at the house and so here we are in this boat and I'm like dang this is not the boat I agreed to buy and it really wasn't this was not part of the surprise this part of my surprise so but as Joe got off the because she kept saying send it back and I was like well in the semi I couldn't drop it because it didn't float so I'm not joking he was gonna put it back at the docks I was at the dock but he's like it won't float so if I let this thing off it will sink so he the semi guy is like screwed because he's like I have a boat that won't we had nowhere to put it right so buddy had literally on the fly build this little temporary platform for this boat sitting on on dry land it was like Gilligan's Island I mean this thing just sat awkwardly not in the water because it couldn't float and all that to say but but my point is Joe and I started rocking and rolling I get this guy that I bought the boat from on the phone so I'm wearing this dude out I'm talking to the guy's boss who owns the trucking company that brought it to us and yeah you've got to take this back where it came from my wife's gonna leave me and I've got these kids I adore I mean this is this is terrible and he's like I don't care we're dropping the boat no matter what but all this happened and it's sort of all of a sudden that red dot on that guy's big Volkswagen camera yeah disappeared into the into the backdrop and Joe and I I'd say for the first time we're kind of ourselves last ship was arguing I went in the boat because I thought oh it's a done deal I have to get my head around it so I start imagining what it can be so I'm like okay so listen if we're gonna live in this so then I start seeing it and start getting a little excited I didn't tell chip at that point but I was like this could kind of be fun so I start sketching daydreaming it's just I don't want to be surprised but that's how it kind of that's how it happened so did you feel that in the moment like oh this is working now or were you just being yourselves and later you said oh this works the cameras were gone and we it was now problem-solving we gotta figure this out but the funny thing that happened we did not feel it then I felt devastated because I like it hit me like a ton of bricks like the last day of this filming thing I blew it like I thought this was gonna be fun and romantic and the surprise really wasn't to screw us it was to be this is a fun project and we can take it on but it was not that we really got screwed and Joe and I are having to manage that total natural-organic disappointment now kind of force fed organic for sure but all that to say and we were just I was devastated because I was like man Cho wanted this I blew it I thought this was gonna work it didn't and so finally we get off the boat and we walked towards the truck and this guy's got this camera on us the whole time and he's walking backwards shuffelin shuffelin shuffelin and we're like and i literally in complete disgust and defeat I was like well hopefully that made for some good television you know almost like like really you crazy thing and this guy puts his camera down big ol smile he goes bro if we do our job you just landed yourself a reality television did you say that just like that Joe and I both got the chills and were like wait that what was interesting about I just got screwed there's no way I can ever make this 15,000 bucks back how is that entertaining right and his point was just hey yeah we're natural you ourselves you forgot about the camera you know all the normal stuff that you would think about prior to by an airboat happen because of that freaking houseboat so I tell my friends and I actually do this little seminar I want to charge people like 9 or 10 bucks teach them about like how really bad things can be really smart if you just figured right like a house buying all the stupid things that just were stupid what I did write a book and did that but those were like stupid things that turned out good what about the stupid things that were well that's what I'm saying I wrote a book I don't really go on and on about myself and like brag all the time but it's called capital gains kind of smart things I learned doing stupid stuff and this is a perfect example getting to people who aren't smart enough to decipher stupidity at that moment with the houseboat which got you the show gets to the success over five seasons of the show doesn't it where you could just be yourselves because people are like what is why is that show so good and why is it so popular there are a bunch of shows or people renovating houses and they're like I'm likeable enough people but there's something different about your show obviously given the response to it are you able to put your finger joana on why it took the way it did no I can't I mean gorgeous that might be something I I even because when we think about ourselves if I were at home watching television I'd watch a show with you because you were the creeper who loved the three sisters behind the register no one's the right sisters just skywrite know maybe I was dragging this down all these you know Willy driving here we both are like can you believe willie Geist is in wait I heard you two it still look at you it hasn't settled in that people would come from New York City to interview us in a you know broke down building like it doesn't and I don't ever want it to sink in I don't ever want it to become normal like you think once it's there then it's just I want to stay in this place of like I don't get it and wildermann yes and even with the show we don't know what you know I'd like to say there was just hope there was you see these families you see these projects that just looked daunting they looked hard and that's when we loved to step in and say hey let's help you see the finish line let's help you get there and there's just something about that but I feel like people resonated with there's just hope in the show there's the hope of seeing what it becomes and not just the house I think it's just you know how maybe we problem solve together but even seeing these families knowing we can walk away and now they get to settle into their home I don't know I think there's just something that's so special about that but again as far as like putting my finger on no idea well you chip you thought about it at all I mean I would argue if it's not her being hot then it must be me you being hot or just you and gentle just me in general yeah the back in high school back when I did that headshot Oh back to the mall yeah now I'm pretty I'm seeing myself in the in the in the full-length mirror and I'm like no way is anybody because but but you know funny and charming and I mean you ran through walls rustically handsome could work but uh but but why how the show resonated I don't know we've been asked that question a lot and and we almost always turn it back to the question asker like I had had you you would have a better opportunity answering that question than for us because for us it's like watching family videos of yourself yeah of course you're in love with the family and the video that you're watching but other people watching that wouldn't be equally as interested you know so I think are the two guys is your humility about it I think honestly maybe it's because you don't have a TV and you don't even know the impact you're having maybe I'm sure you feel it when you go to silo bration and you see the crowds that come into town but that must be a crazy thing to know that people from across the country and around the world are flying into Dallas catching a connection to Waco to come and buy things at Magnolia or maybe catch a glimpse of you too sure is that just a nuts and we were yesterday we're at the silos and I was looking down I was like chip I'm gonna go walk out there he's like what I'm gonna go walk out there I'm gonna go meet some people so we walk out I walk out with a few friends and I asked people where they're from and it was LA New York Atlanta and I'm sitting there going what like people planned an actual weekend trip yes to come here from all over the map there wasn't I really thought it'd be like San Antonio Dallas like close and it was people from all over and I think I left that when I went back upstairs like this is crazy that people would come to this event even a celebration not so the fact that they'd come drive here fly here make plans and it'd just be a thing for them I think just was really it felt like wow this is special but it's a crazy honor you know you say humility and I appreciate that because from my perspective specifically it's like I've never been a humble guy you know that's not a thing that you'd naturally assume about me but in this experience it is so humbling because you really know there's something about these folks coming to town to get a glimpse of us to your point experience some of the things that we build that's just it becomes like a complete honor I mean it's just like you feel a whole lot less about I want to beat my chest like King Kong and more like I want to people I want to say thanks for watching the show in the world to us for us to put ourselves out there and that way and on Tuesday nights Joe and I would go to a friend's house hold hands have popcorn and watch it just like everybody else was watching it we've watch and go this is cute and this is a great fun show about a family it just happens to be about our family so again it makes sense that we like it it makes sense that my grandmother likes it but why does everybody else like it and that's the part that every Tuesday night we would leave just going I cannot believe people are watching this this is mind boggling and it just kind of I don't know sets us up in a really healthy place to where we just feel extremely thing and then these crazy moments along the way we were talking about the last time I saw you was in April at the time 100 so you find yourselves a builder and a designer from Waco Texas on a list with heads of state and Taylor Swift top it and activist Stompie athletes know there you are in that same room and Taylor Swift looks up and points at you guys because she wants to meet you study process moments like that you can't yeah we couldn't he's trying to what's the lady's name they're dolls make people crying Barbara Walters she called and gave me a list of questions yeah that hurt real like little Bowie kind of place I mean Willy we walked into this room we knew we were invited I mean we knew that we were technically supposed to be there this is actually a funny story we get out we're in this line of basically limousines they're just bands but you know you kind of feel like you know a limousine and a prom kind of an event so you're getting dropped off we have to wait in line obviously is each individual person that's been invited to this thing gets out of their car and so here we are and we get pulled up and the first guy I see did I tell you this do you know who the first guy is okay so the first guy I see when I get out of my little van is literally ninja be like yeah legend right I only sort of know the guy but my kids are like infatuated with wars so when I see him he's got this purple hair he's got his beautiful date on his on his hip and I was like oh my gosh there's ninja I'm gonna go get a picture with this guy so I go get a picture Joe and I and ninja send it to my boys all the kids are freaking out about this experience you know Meryl Streep's there and here my kids are geeked out about ninja but all that to say it was just like it's set in really quickly and very overwhelmingly that it was like what are we doing here felt like we had crashed a wedding and we were like kids and we're like yeah let them see it was the whole time I forgot how to speak English we forgot a lot of things I think the second we stepped out of the van we saw all the people that like take pictures and you're lighter in my mind literally I'm like oh they're gonna be like who are those two jokers so we step out and they start saying our name I'm like oh gosh they know us or like hi then we get to this moment ready yeah chip and Joanna so I'm literally thinking oh we know some people in New York so chips like trying to make I can't like find the person that said his name like chip let's keep walking but then we get to that moment where there's the red carpet yeah and I said oh I don't I don't want to do that let's I wanted to go the other way she goes this is the only way in and I go oh so we had to walk on the red no one trained you on like how you see and how you don't smile or I'll tell them about that idea that girl - Oh Sophia Bush yes is adorable so she and Joanna you know Twitter or Instagram friends oh right sweet Sophia hangs out with Joe and teachers her like how to stand which fell everything just felt awkward again precious watch out her dude who's giving you the poses thing and right when she did it I was like you do little Cotter somehow how is that hotter than like she did her makeup and made a few little modifications to Joe's beautiful faces like and did you have your poses to chew you know she was like there's nothing we can do have you seen the Saturday Night Live skit - where Chris Farley falls into that lay the table dining room table she's like if you could do more of that I might be able to get you out of here I can do that so everything was just overwhelming like well this is this is a different caliber like this is two people from Waco we just didn't feel we just felt a we weren't prepared like we were literally thought with this me phone party and then the second we severide oh shoot we were not is a big deal yes is the question about what art had inspired I think it was Lily I would never ask you a question like that because I knew it couldn't he was like oh what 20 did you eat last wait I tell you though for real I think you did interview and you said if you could if you could say one thing on stage and speak on it for 60 minutes and I've been messing in my mind teeth Jack's with me so I in my mind well I'm my I have blacked out so even seeing you there was really like Oh home Willie please help us take us away she said she tried to hug you in this really odd way and you were a little put off by I don't know but you asked a question and my mind is just blank and I'm not feeling super cat this point I'm like what are we doing here hook gorgeous thank you bye for the belt calm I was blank and so you said if you could talk about anything and I'm not prepared and yeah but I didn't mean like I'm being confident in it I meant like confidence and who you are and what you're meant to be right I only stopped at confident comment but in confidence okay oh yeah you could just randomly differently our speed most in longer and chip after that was like confident is but I didn't mean the rest of the deal I'm Jim got push-up bra that was a crazy night what I do I do remember when he came in we had our little Today Show corner okay and I could see you guys just go here for a little bit yeah yeah I had like five or six other people you had to get to and Joe and I literally would not leave your little well those are like two minute things which is a weird thing anyway so okay but I wanted you to be able to hang out a drink or something at least but but the truth about that night and I said this to you earlier is there were as many people in that room impressed by you and looking at you as you were there I mean Taylor Swift what was the gesture stop show me the gesture and literally did it and I can see the heart clearly and I was like it's like I don't really know how to get this naturally now it's not down there that's for sure mine's Joe's always like that's like a knock to your tiny it's okay you talked about some other things well I know it's good we've got five children everything must be alright sorry well you didn't have to be personal like yes I really went to a dark place there for a second but but she gave you the Erhart not to you as I saw her I literally was like she did Earhart is dorky as we are we're like I wonder who she's err Harding and we look behind us and we're like wait there's no one but it was amazing and I mean the the energy that Taylor brings with her I mean you know as powerful as all those yeah I mean they're the wrong shifting the rock is not but you know twenty feet from us and when she walks in the room all the oxygen gets kind of sucked to her little ya sanera little environment and the rest of us are just like gasping for air right he's really fast I know I was in that room thing I don't know how I didn't faint I did not get a near heart you did clear I thank you exclusive Earhart for the games is yeah and it's when she did that to you I literally was like Joe's gonna make it she's gonna be a big deal and I'm gonna be like her I don't know I'd be you're like road manager carrier bags which is what you're doing at the hotel is that money the bellhop I'll maybe the bellhop so the outfit perfect little red thing I mean it back to my point I saw something like that at the front of this hotel the first day I laid eyes on it I could see the elevator operator I could see the employees bustling around I mean it really didn't feel like I step back in time a little bit so how do you given what we're talking about right now in the way your lives have changed how do you keep it normal for your kids yeah because I think you've done a great job of that I just don't know how you've done it you know I think when you ended the show you said part of it was to just kind of circle up as a family and focus on that how do you the range of kids who is 14 yeah right how do you keep it normal for them when they're at school and their chip and Joanna's kids and all that how you work on that it's nice that all the kids are home bodies and I don't know it's not like we instill but it's just they naturally love being home I don't know if it's just the farm and that you have everything that I think any kid would want on the farm you've got the animals you've got the land you can just go outside and be a kid that I think being home for them is their favorite things so it's not like they want to go out a ton and even when we go out we always we're in the car like hey if whether I'm in Target or at a restaurant you know hey if people come up to us remember they're coming into town like we always explain it to them they've come into town to come experience silos to see Waco and you know since they're coming for this we have to you know hold on how am I saying this you can help me the fact that there's the fact that they're coming into town for this we're gonna be pleasant and we're not it's not I mean gracious you know an abort we we always talk to people no I'm gonna be like the kids or you I would say the kids do they'd always get because we think we're normal then we walk in and the kids kind of peel back because we don't love people taking pictures of the kids and they kind of go do their thing and I started realizing oh you know if they don't understand the heart of this and they just just like the why are we doing this so it now becomes a thing where when we before we go in anywhere even if it's Epis Eilis it's like hey these people have come here so we're gonna host them well and if I run into the target hey if and I need to take a picture you guys just it's almost like we've tried to make it normal for them this is our new normal and once you explain the heart and the why behind it they get on board it's just what we weren't they were confused and a little bit scared like you know we're now they understand it and and it is something that I feel like they've adapted to and you know they're just I think they've just the way they've handled this is they're kind of like our heroes like you just watch them and they're like kids are just resilient yes they're also kind and they don't they don't have a million filters they have to filter things through they just see it as that's a person and once you picture that's fun you know it's just yeah I don't know they've handled it so it seems like an extension of work to them to some extent when we're out in something like that happens they just realized basically mommy and daddy are working when we go and do these pictures or if we chat with folks right and it but you know I appreciate you saying that we've done a good job because we we we have to have done a good job you know when this is all said and done with those kids we'll trade all of this and move to some mountain cabin and Tennessee tomorrow hang out with Taylor Swift me but before we look up and find out that what we've done here has somehow adversely affected those kids and to your point it's definitely that they know that this is not you know average or not normal quote-unquote but I would argue our life wasn't going to be average or normal regardless so this is definitely amplified that and made things a little bit more complicated but for us and the kids is just like y'all it's us it's us versus the world Gaines's do hard things we can we can make it you know no matter what it will kind of stick together and I think that somehow the backbone of some of those philosophies that we've instilled in these kids back when we were just completely broke I think will will prove and here's the the awesome part of this I mean you know the proof is not in the pudding you know these kids got to go to school and go graduate from school and go to college potentially and go off and start their careers and become family people of their own then we can step back and say we did it you know the proofs in the pudding we're now we're still in the process of this whole thing and I think just the fact that we know for a fact if any of this stuff were to were to making impossible for us to raise these kids right we would we would we would abandon it I think they know that I'd say I think they feel that we showed your priorities when you walked away from the most popular show and television and make your family a priority so there's that yeah I want to end an easy decision I'm sure we wrestled with some counselors for lack of a better term that sort of helped us articulate do we want to do this or not and I would say the overwhelming majority of those people said you do what you want to do but make no mistake when you turn that television show off all of this other stuff will will come crumbling down and Jo and I knew that that was a very real possibility and we both said our kids our marriage our life is worth all of this stuff basically going away and we kind of mourned it I mean it was a sad season to where we were like I think this is going to be over and instead when we turned the television off in some irony the exact opposite occurred I mean we got invited to that times 100 event a year and a half after the last episode it aired so how we are still relevant in that way without the television show really speaks volumes to that us being real to who we were was more important than that television show being broadcast to millions of people every week you know and that's encouraging I mean I think if we could all take the lesson and Joe talks about this in the magazine it's like if we would all be who God made us to be and actually walk out in that I think the world would be a whole lot better place but the problem is we all become who our parents wanted us to be or we become what society tells us we have to be you know instead of who we were supposed to be and I think that the television show was a bit of an example of like hey who we're supposed to be is not on television for a season and this is probably all gonna come crumbling down the second we make this decision and for that ironic and complete opposite reality to have occurred is pretty powerful testimony to just be yourself man being yourself is more powerful than whatever it is that everybody's telling you you happen to do or you're supposed to do you know yeah it's very well said on my hair good your hairs hanging in tight good well you did the opposite of kind of go away and have it all crumble down you got your own TV network now Joanna I mean my goodness it's launches next year and he says that I mean the opposite feeling that I have about Taylor Swift the one is like oh stop I'm so excited yeah there was like oh stop so much work so much stuff so when they came to you and said we don't just want to give you another show here's an idea we want to give you 24 hours a day to play with what was your reaction and that whole process was interesting because stepping away and kind of reevaluating hey what are we doing what are we supposed to be doing that period of time was so good for us and our family and then you know even if there was anything on the table during that time we'd say we don't wanna hear about it we don't want to we're really trying to just regroup sure relax we don't want to hear offer nothing we just we want to kind of things to stay quiet and then when that year kind of ended we would look at all these opportunities and some were just like really like do a show here on this in this category or do this the network thing was like oh that's too what and that work like that's that's a huge honor but and we were just thinking do we do another fixer-upper type thing but when the network that thing just kept coming back to us like that's a lot of work and I kept thinking about the magazine and how involved I am with that and how that's an everyday thing I mean that's why I go to work right now just like how we get this magazine how do we roll it out every issue I kept thinking the network's gonna be like that but on steroids and so but for whatever reason we both just thought hey it's not about us it's not about having 24 hours of chip and Joe it's about hey there are so many people out there that have these stories that need to be told there authentically doing things they are passionate about how do we get that somewhere it's know we didn't want it to be about one show over here which was kind of the same when when you do the math you're like that's a lot easier that's a lot still a huge impact and that just involves us it's quick and easy this was like oh that's gonna be hard work people were saying don't do it you know literally that was the one that was the big scary monster that said don't touch that but of course you tell us that right well interesting let's look at it say here we are again yeah sure but with the network the idea that now we get to highlight these people that are doing things that they're passionate about that they're just something about that I think made us we just got excited like this isn't gonna be the chip and Joe network this is gonna be yes we want to do some stuff but we also think there's so many great stories to be told and if we get to have the platform to tell those stories that's a huge honor absolutely and we looked at it as a business you know it became a business deal for both of us and the business I would almost say was incubated in the magazine and watching Joe come to life building that magazine every quarter was a real fun thing for me to experience because again she didn't have to be on camera she didn't have to do the dog and pony show she literally just sat in an office thought about each of those pages poured her heart and soul into the content and then by the time you got a hold of the magazine and you thumb through it that same feeling I think some people felt with the show I felt reading the magazine as a lay person me I just sit there and thumb through the magazine going I don't know there's something different about this I love it so my point is as I watch the business evolution occur with the magazine it really became pretty clear to me that we could translate this to a 24-hour cable network and I think that to Joe's point there's stories that were dying to tell there's people that we've already met that we're like you know it's terrible Willie because I'm doing it like everybody that's the like on the the inside of y'all's business industry literally you're like chip don't tell people that because I meet people and I'm like listen Anna I don't want to go on and on you're gonna be crazy rich fame all your wildest dreams are gonna come true and that's just from our experience and we can't speak for everybody but trust me this is gonna be an amazing deal you make a good TV executive that's what they tell you that you're being just like everybody else in the industry cuz you know that's a lie remember when that headshot person told you they'd come to the mall it's gonna be this amazing experience you're sounding a little bit like that good but all that to say is just like when we see these stories we're like this is gonna work man I don't think that story is being told that way and I can't wait for our network to be able to communicate those points to the to the audience and I think it's gonna I think it's gonna be a huge hit I cannot wait it's almost like I hope the cable industry survives long enough for us to launch this freaking Network because if we do and if it does I think this is going to change things I think people are gonna look at television differently and I don't mean to say because of what we've done for television in that way but I just mean I think that that the authenticity piece has been messed with you know you watch every show and it's about a doctor or a lawyer or a crime it's like great I'm sure there's a market for that but god there's got to be a market for just a sincere true story about a sincere true couple doing some real thing and even when I say couple it doesn't have to be a couple we've got examples of people that are just doing things that are completely unrelated to design a construction you know maybe entrepreneurial ISM or or something that they've done for a community but it's just like we can't wait to tell these stories and I think that that piece of the equation has just been desperately missing from the market and I think back to even your question about the hotel like when we step back and we can see it like the original intent of this place and what it was and just the the ballroom and all that stuff I think for us we love that back to the basics thing like what was it back then even when we bought the silos we stood on the grounds and said what did this place what was the life that used to be here what can we do to kind of bring that life back I think with television when you think about the original intent I think of my dad and the 50s sitting around with his nine brothers and sisters watching you know whatever was on then was at the Ed Sullivan Show sure and that was time well spent it was family it was together it was watching the tube and turning it off and going to bed over time it's become I think just something very different and now where we're sitting today it's you've got your computer you've got your phone you've got your tea there's so many different things that now people are watching these things and all different corners over there it's no longer about let's get in front of the television as a family let's be together and let's you know have this moment together as a family or as friends and I think for us we want the network to feel like it's time well spent when you come to this channel which sounds so weird when you come to this channel that you leave not feeling sick like you've been watched something but instead going I want to go do something yeah I'm inspired to go risk I'm inspired to go do something I'm passionate about and then it was time well spent whether it was with your spouse your kids by yourself that it just feels like hey there's just something here that feels different well we talked about why your show works I think it's that it's the fact that I can sit with my 12 year old daughter who loves you and wants to be when she grows up and my mom who's 73 years old and has decided she's moving from New York City to Waco taxes because of the tube but that's your point is family can sit and watch a show and learn something and feel good about it so I'm sure you'll succeed Congrats on everything guys appreciate the time so it's good to see you thank you great guys are the best amazing to have your Waco Texas Willie thanks man appreciate it I can't wait to come back and see the finished product 84 80 84 say there's a line linemen defensive or offensive side linebacker tight end I love it yeah receiving tight in my hands dirty alright I had that feeling sweet

Channel: TODAY

Views: 1,218,487

Keywords: The TODAY Show, TODAY Show, TODAY, NBC, NBC News, Celebrity Interviews, Show, Ambush Makeover, Kathie Lee and Hoda, KLG and Hoda

Id: 3AeVuJd_fRM

Length: 64min 17sec (3857 seconds)

Published: Sun Oct 27 2019