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TL;DR:

  • Chip Gaines first noticed Joanna in a local tire commercial.
  • Joanna said Chip was really chatty on their first date — but not in a bad way.
  • He played a game of ‘chicken’ when it came to calling Joanna and it almost ended badly.
Chip and Joanna Gaines seated and smiling appear at SiriusXM Studios interview
Chip and Joanna Gaines | Cindy Ord/Getty Images for SiriusXM

Chip and Joanna Gaines discussed the beginnings of their relationship during an appearance on The Drew Barrymore Show. He found himself playing a game of chicken with Joanna after their first date and it might have ended badly.

Chip and Joanna Gaines talked about the beginning of their relationship

During an April 4 appearance on The Drew Barrymore Show, the host asked the couple about how they first met. Barrymore mentioned the tire store commercial Joanna starred in back in the day that got Chip’s attention.

“It wasn’t that I saw it. Every male in the central Texas region saw this commercial you’re referring to and were drawn to moth like flame to this town trying to meet the beautiful and talented Joanna Stevens,” Chip shared.

He explained how Joanna’s description of “tire technology, coming out of those lips and those eyes” was particularly appealing and “made for an insatiable desire.”

Chip and Joanna Gaines shared how they played a game of chicken after their first date

Barrymore asked what their first date was like and Joanna recalled how they met. “I was physically at the tire shop when I first met Chip and I was walking out as he was walking in the doors,” she said. He stopped her to say, “Wait, you’re that girl on the commercial,” which prompted her to roll her eyes.

Her reaction didn’t deter Chip, however. “So we chat for about an hour and then he leaves and I think, ‘Sweet guy. He was a great customer.’” Joanna looked him up in the system to see how much he had been to her dad’s tire shop.

Chip and Joanna went to dinner on their first date. “All I remember is Chip talking. I don’t think I said maybe two things because he was just talking and talking,” she recalled, noting, “Everything he was saying was just so interesting to me.”

After their date, Chip played a game where he held off calling Joanna. The move, it turned out, was risky. “I picked the wrong girl to play this game with, I will say that,” Chip admitted.

“Long story short, you go on a date and then you play a little game with your friend,” he added. “And so I was going to see how long it would take for her to call me back. But I ran into a brick wall in that regard. Months and months go by and my friend and I are like, ‘What is happening.’”

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Joanna admitted she was too ‘traditional’ to call Chip

Joanna shared her perspective. “So me and my friends are like, ‘Oh, he didn’t call.’ And they’re like, ‘Would you call him’ … I was like, ‘I’d never call him, no.’ I don’t call him and then three months later he calls me and is like, ‘OK, I’m done playing these games. I’m sitting here going, ‘What games?’”

Chip recalled saying, “Let’s quit jacking around. And she was like, ‘Nobody’s been jacking around. What’s wrong with you?’ And I was like, ‘I’ve been waiting on you to call.’ She was like, ‘I’m not calling you.’”

Once Chip called, they went on a date the same night and the rest is history. “We were engaged a year later,” Joanna said.

Chip joked, “Jo, if you had just picked up the phone, this whole thing would have been a lot more efficient.”

Joanna admitted, “That’s probably why I never had any boyfriends because I would never call. I mean, I was so traditional. Now it all makes sense.”

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