HGTV Couples Who Have Been Together The Longest
When it comes to HGTV's impressive array of television hits, it's remarkable how many of them involve couples. Case in point: One of the network's most popular series was based on the house-flipping renovations of then-married spouses Tarek and Christina El-Moussa (now known as Christina Hall). When the couple split up in 2016 after an altercation that involved a visit from the cops, it would have been natural to assume that "Flip or Flop" would likewise disintegrate; as it turned out, the exes continued flipping houses on camera together for several more hugely successful seasons — with each getting remarried (Christina twice!) before the show finally ended its run in 2022.
"Flip or Flop" was not an anomaly. In fact, some of HGTV's most popular shows over the past few years have been built around couples, including the likes of "Fixer Upper," "Home Town," "100 Day Dream Home," and many others. It's easy to assume that viewers are just as interested in the renos and reveals as they are in the interpersonal dynamics between the spouses tasked with undertaking them.
With that in mind, read on for a look at some of the HGTV couples who have been together the longest.
Fixer Upper spouses Chip and Joanna Gaines met in 2001
While these days, Chip and Joanna Gaines can be seen exclusively on their own Magnolia Network, the couple skyrocketed to fame via their hit HGTV series "Fixer Upper." As Chip told PopSugar, it was back in 2001 when he saw a photo of his future wife behind the counter while getting some car repairs done at her father's automotive shop in Waco, Texas. "I knew I'd marry her one day just by the picture on the wall," he recalled. When he returned to get some work done on his brakes, he met her face to face, and charmed her into accepting an invitation to go on a date.
As they wrote in their book "The Magnolia Story," Chip did not make an auspicious first impression when he arrived for their date 90 minutes late. And when he finally did ask for a second date, it was months later. According to Chip, he'd made a bet with a pal named John, who'd also recently gone on a first date: Whoever broke down and called their respective date first owed the other $50. "I really wanted that 50 dollars from John!" Chip explained.
Joanna was dubious. Apparently blessed with a saintly degree of patience, she agreed to a second date. That was when the two really clicked, and began seeing each other on a daily basis. Chip popped the question in 2002, and in 2003, they tied the knot.
Home Town's Ben and Erin Napier were both in college when they met in 2004
Thanks to their televised efforts to restore and beautify Laurel, Mississippi on HGTV's "Home Town," Ben and Erin Napier have become two of the network's most beloved personalities. As Erin shared in an Instagram post, she and Ben met in 2004, when they worked together on their college yearbook while attending Jones County Community College. "I was the design editor and for two years had noticed him, always the center of attention, everyone's best friend, my biggest crush."
Unbeknownst to Erin, Ben had been noticing her, too. Recalling the first time he laid eyes on her in the college cafeteria, Ben told E! News that he was chatting with some female friends who pointed her out in admiration of her look. "I turned around and Erin had this really short pixie cut and she was wearing these loose-fitting jeans and it was like, oh man, she was so cool," he said. "From that moment on I was hooked."
After spending six intense days together working on the yearbook, Ben dove in headfirst. "Then I told her that I loved her and that I was going to marry her one day," he said. He made good on that promise in 2008, when the couple were wed. "Fourteen years ago today I got a new last name and my parents got another son," Erin wrote in a 2022 Instagram post in celebration of their anniversary.
Renovation Island stars Bryan and Sarah Bauemler had known each other long before they began dating
Known for HGTV's "Renovation Island," Sarah and Bryan Baeumler have known each other since they were teenagers, when they attended the same high school.
"We didn't date back then, but we kept in touch over the next 10 years ..." she told Streets of Toronto. It was in 2001 that each was included in a group email sent by a mutual friend, which led the two to reconnect and go out together for a coffee. Shortly after they had their first official date, which involved sushi and a stage production of "The Lion King." "He definitely pulled out all the stops," Sarah recalled, "and it was a very exciting first date."
As their relationship progressed, Bryan proposed — and she said yes. "Bryan and I were married September 3, 2004, at the Graydon Hall Manor in Toronto," Sarah added. Their wedding was relatively intimate, with just 89 guests, but it went off without a hitch (via HGTV Canada). The same, however, was not true for their honeymoon, with Mother Nature forcing a change in plans when a hurricane scuttled the Florida beach vacation they'd planned. Instead, they ended up pivoting and headed in a whole other direction. "We ended up looking online and booking a last-minute Vegas vacation, which turned out to be a lot of fun" (per Streets of Toronto).
Nate Berkus and Jeremiah Brent's relationship blossomed after tragedy
In 2004, interior designer Nate Berkus and fiancé Fernando Bengoechea were vacationing in Arugam Bay, Sri Lanka, when a devastating tsunami slammed into their hut on the beach. Berkus survived, but Bengoechea drowned.
Berkus spent many years mourning Bengoechea. Eventually, in 2012, he went on a date with Jeremiah Brent. "I didn't even want to go on our first date," he told A Drink With. However, their connection was instantaneous. "I remember thinking to myself, oh God, what is this? This is not what I thought it was," Brent shared with People. The attraction also took Berkus by surprise. "My mother said to me, when Jeremiah and I met, 'The light is back in your eyes,'" Berkus recollected. "And I remember thinking to myself, I know. You're right. I know." As Brent recalled for their website, Berkus proposed while they were vacationing in Peru — on top of Machu Picchu, no less. "I was not expecting it," he admitted.
They got married in 2014. The nuptials were held in the New York Public Library, with a star-studded guest list that included Oprah Winfrey, Rachael Ray, and Busy Philipps. In 2017, the couple opened up their lives to TV viewers with their TLC series "Nate & Jeremiah By Design." In 2020, they launched their HGTV series "Nate & Jeremiah Save My House," followed in 2021 by "The Nate & Jeremiah Home Project."
Married to Real Estate's Egypt Sherrod and Mike Jackson have been together since the early 2000s
On HGTV's "Married to Real Estate," real estate broker and interior designer Egypt Sherrod and her husband, builder Mike Jackson, help people find ideal Atlanta properties to buy and then customize. It's something with which they're familiar; as Jackson explained in HGTV's press release, they'd lived in 11 different homes that they renovated themselves and then flipped at a profit.
When Sherrod first began flipping houses in the early 2000s, she came to realize she required assistance with the renovation aspects. She wound up bringing on a builder — who happened to be her future husband. "And from that point on, we were inseparable," Jackson shared with The List. "For those who have been in a coupleship, like Mike and I, for a long time — we've been together for 17 years — you know what it's like. Every day you gotta make a choice that this marriage counts, and our relationship is worth it, and so I'm going to put in the effort," Sherrod told HGTV of what's kept them together for all those years.
In an interview with TV Insider, Jackson revealed that the secret to their lasting marriage has been keeping their business relationship and their personal life as spouses separate. "We go on dates where we don't talk about business at all," he explained. "We got remember to be in love and lovers and not just partners and parents."
It was love at first sight when Down Home Fab's Chelsea and Cole DeBoer met in 2014
When Chelsea Houska first came to television, it wasn't while performing home renovations, but because of an accidental pregnancy that brought her to MTV's "Teen Mom 2" in 2011. Some time after the end of her turbulent relationship with boyfriend Adam Lind — father of her daughter, Aubree — she first laid eyes on Cole DeBoer while they were filling up at the same gas station. "I went home to my friend and I was like, 'I just saw the guy I'm going to marry at the gas station, but we didn't talk,'" she told Us Weekly. Figuring that was the end of it, she was shocked when Cole tracked her down on social media, sparking their romance.
After dating for a year, DeBoer moved in with Chelsea and her daughter. The couple got engaged in November 2015, and wed the following October. In January 2017, the couple welcomed their first child together, Watson Cole.
In January 2022, the DeBoers joined HGTV with the debut of their own home renovation show, "Down Home Fab." As the couple explained in a press release for the series, they'd moved to Cole's home state of South Dakota, where they'd launched their own home-reno business with Chelsea handling interior design and Cole in charge of building. "This is what I want to do forever," she said of her new career in design.
100 Day Dream Home's Brian and Mika Kleinschmidt met in high school and reconnected years later
"100 Day Dream Home" has been a big hit for HGTV. According to a network press release, the first season of the series — in which spouses Brian and Mika Kleinschmidt create spectacular custom homes for their clients within a tight 100-day time span — attracted a staggering 23.9 million viewers, landing No. 1 in its time slot among all cable shows.
Fans of the show clearly love the husband-and-wife rapport between the couple, who've known each other since high school. As Brian told The List, he began crushing on her when they were teenagers: "It was love at first sight for me, but it took a little bit longer to convince her." At that time, however, the feeling was not mutual, with Mika admitting that her focus on getting good grades prevented her from reciprocating. It was 12 years later, after each had been married and divorced, that they reconnected and began dating. They tied the knot in 2015.
As for why they think "100 Day Dream Home" continues to appeal to HGTV viewers, Brian believes the reason lies with the authenticity they both bring to the show. "I think it's because we keep it real," he said. "We show the good, the bad, and the ugly of working with your spouse."
Dave and Jenny Marrs tied the knot in 2004
Since its debut in 2019, HGTV viewers have fallen in love with Dave and Jenny Marrs via their hit home-reno series "Fixer to Fabulous." The show features the Marrs taking on ambitious renovations of decrepit Arkansas properties, a gig they juggle with running a family farm and raising five kids.
The tight bond that viewers see between the couple is the result of a relationship that's lasted for two decades and counting. The two first met back in 2002, Dave told About You, when both were recent college graduates who landed jobs with the same company. By the following year, the two had become a couple when Dave decided he'd had enough of corporate America and went into business for himself as a builder in Arkansas, drawing from his previous experience building log cabins with his dad. "When I said I'm going to start building again, Jenny took a big leap of faith and said we'll try Arkansas for a couple of years," he recalled. Not long after, in 2005, the pair exchanged vows.
Those years were not easy ones. "We were broke, and I had a real job. He was just starting, so I was the 'sugar mama,'" Jenny joked in a different About You interview. Gradually, though, the business gained traction. "After eight years, I left my job and joined him full-time in 2012." In 2016, HGTV came calling, and their lives have never been the same.
Bargain Block's Keith Bynum and Evan Thomas have been together for a decade
In 2012, HGTV introduced viewers to renovation experts (and engaged couple) Keith Bynum and Evan Thomas via their show, "Bargain Block." As HGTV stated in its press release for the series, the series focuses on the fiancés purchasing dilapidated Detroit homes situated on the same block, and then transforming them into beautiful yet affordable homes that will enrich the community. Viewers — more than 20 million in the first season alone — have become taken in with the show's charm, and the fact that the two men are no design dilettantes. "In order to keep our costs down, we basically do everything ourselves, even the gross grunt work," said Evan.
In 2022, People noted that the couple had been engaged for five of the nine years they'd been together at that point. Bynum explained why they still hadn't made it to the altar in an Instagram post marking the anniversary of their engagement. "Five years ago today we got engaged but we've been too damn busy to actually get married," he wrote.
According to Bynum, the opportunities presented by a hit HGTV show have made their collective plate so full that they simply don't have the time to plan their wedding and do it right. "We are really, really swamped," he told Out. "I don't want it to be an afterthought. I want to have the time to put it together like we want."
Property Brothers' Drew Scott and Linda Phan began dating in 2010
"Property Brothers" star Drew and Jonathan Scott have been staples at HGTV since making their debut on the network back in 2011. Since then, they've embarked on plenty of spinoff series, ranging from "Celebrity IOU" to "Brother vs. Brother." Another "Property Brothers"-adjacent project was the 2017 series "Property Brothers at Home: Drew's Honeymoon House," devoted to the renovation of a 1921 Los Angeles mansion purchased by Drew Scott and then-fiancée Linda Phan. "I see us raising our kids there," Drew told the Los Angeles Times.
The couple met back in 2010 during Toronto Fashion Week, when he was a celebrity attendee and she was serving as a "fashion police" officer. "She was wearing a big cop badge and giving out tickets for 'bad' fashion," Drew recalled (via People). A few months later, he took Linda out for a multi-part extravaganza she described as "the longest first date ever," where sparks flew.
In 2012, Linda moved in with Drew, in the Las Vegas home he shared with his brother Jonathan. "People were always like, 'Isn't that weird?' But there's an ease to it," Phan told People. In 2016, Drew popped the question. "I've never met another woman like her and once you do, you want to be with her forever," he shared with People. In 2018, they got married in Italy, and in June 2022, they announced the arrival of their first child, Parker James.