Why People Think Rachael Ray Caused Chip And Joanna Gaines To Leave HGTV

Major television personalities such as Rachael Ray and Chip and Joanna Gaines are, of course, forces to be reckoned with in the television industry. While they're all impressive in their own right, it's true that they've faced unique challenges while trying to make a significant impact in their respective lifestyle spheres. Take Rachael Ray, for example. The star has worked hard on ventures such as The Rachael Ray Show and earned a loyal fan following along the way.

Ray owes her instructional beginnings to working at a gourmet grocery store in Albany, New York, where she focused on making meals easier for her clients by teaching them shortcuts. The Motley Fool says Ray eventually landed a gig at a local news channel, introducing viewers to her cooking. When Ray joined the Food Network (a channel owned by Scripps) she didn't exactly know what she was signing up for. The opportunity gave her an immense amount of success and made her a household name; But as it turns out, her deal with the company didn't work out so well for others who joined after her.

While Rachael Ray benefited greatly from her association with the Food Network, the company perhaps got the short end of the stick. According to Screen Rant, Ray's contract was quite flexible, which meant that when she gained popularity and began producing her own products, books, and more, Scripps couldn't reap the rewards and money from Ray's successful ventures, reports Page Six.

An insider from HGTV revealed the details to the outlet, "...While Food Network turned Rachael Ray into a star, she made tens of millions and Scripps got none of it. After Rachael, they made sure no talent deal would ever put them in that situation again." Uh-oh. This is one of the reasons why Chip and Joanna Gaines didn't quite enjoy the terms of their contract when they worked with the company. Following Ray's success, Scripps' contracts became much more strict, and this didn't go down well with the home renovation stars at all.

The duo wanted to move beyond the limitations of their contract, meaning they had to make the difficult decision to end their association with the company. As a source said, "As Chip and Joanna grew more famous and popular over the years, the HGTV conceded to a few changes to their contract — like not taking a percentage of their Target collection — but they still wanted the Gaineses to shoot long days, promote the show, and just work their butts off."

Meanwhile, Rachael Ray has undoubtedly done very well for herself. According to The Motley Fool, Ray is one of the richest chefs across the globe. In addition to working with Scripps, Ray has also worked with Harpo Productions (which is owned by Oprah) and has earned a huge amount of money from her endorsement deals, cookbooks, and more. According to Deadline, Ray's show has managed to retain a strong following over the years and is handled by CBS Television Distribution, Scripps Networks, Harpo Productions, and Watch Entertainment.

Scripps was semi-recently acquired by Discovery, which has changed things a little bit for everyone involved (via Inc.). As reported by Deadline, the deal was worth a huge amount of money, $14.6 billion, to be exact. This acquisition led to some new opportunities for Chip and Joanna Gaines, along with other television personalities represented by Discovery Communications.

After the Scripps acquisition, Inc. states that Discovery's CEO, David Zaslav, decided to approach the Gaineses again. Zaslav simply asked the reality stars what he could do to help lure them back to the network. The couple said it wasn't really about money, but that they longed to have more of a say when it came to creative matters. This gave Zaslav some serious food for thought, and he came back to the Gaineses with a suggestion: the couple run their very own network, Magnolia.

This was, of course, a welcome change for the pair. Zaslav explained his viewpoint on the matter, saying, "My job is to stay out of the way and have them be who they are. At a time when there's so much anger in the culture, they represent everything that America wants: faith, family, food, home, kindness, authenticity. We are yearning for a simpler time, and they embody that." 

All's well that ends well, at least for Chip and Joanna Gaines.