Chasing Dreams All the Way to Waco

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Welcome to Spotlight. I’m Roger Basick.

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And I’m Marina Santee. Spotlight uses a special English method of broadcasting. It is easier for people to understand, no matter where in the world they live.

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Soth Sopheap grew up in Kompong Chhnang, Cambodia. Sopheap wanted to become a famous musician. He moved to Bangkok, Thailand, for more music opportunities. He worked as a waiter in a restaurant to support himself. He spent two years playing his guitar and singing on street corners for money and attention. He formed a band with a few other musicians. The band played shows wherever they could. The competition with other bands was strong. Many musicians lived in Bangkok. They were trying to become successful. Finally, some of the members of Sopheap’s band quit. He was all alone again. He lost his job as a waiter. Sopheap could not afford to live in Bangkok. He moved back to Kompong Chhnang. He found a job as a construction worker.

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Millions of people like Sopheap dream of being successful. They want to become famous artists, athletes, and businessmen. They think they need to move to larger cities to make their dreams come true. They believe their hometown is too small. It is too unknown. They could never make their dreams come true in a town like Kompong Chhnang. They moved to Bangkok, Tokyo, London, and New York City. Or in a town like Waco, Texas.

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Today’s Spotlight is about Chip and Joanna Gaines. We learn about their small beginnings. We explore their rise in popularity. We will discuss their famous television show. We see how their show’s success led to many other opportunities. We examine the changes they made to their hometown.

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Waco is not as well-known as other Texas cities like Dallas, Fort Worth, Houston, or San Antonio. Only 145,000 people live in Waco. By comparison, over 1,000,000 people live in Dallas. Until recently, the main thing people knew about Waco was that a religious leader named David Koresh lived there in the early 1990s. He and his followers, called Branch Davidians, lived off by themselves. Law officers discovered that the Branch Davidians had many illegal guns. When they tried to arrest Koresh, he and his followers shot at the law officers. The officers shot back. They killed Koresh and 76 Branch Davidians.

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Until Chip and Joanna Gaines became famous, Waco was known for the shootout with Koresh and the Branch Davidians. When the Gaineses first got married and started their home design and repair business, it would have been easy for them to move to Dallas or Houston. Those bigger cities had better reputations. They offered more potential customers. But the Gaineses did not want to leave their friends and family in Waco. So, they focused on flipping houses. Flipping houses is when someone buys an inexpensive house that needs repairs. The person then fixes everything. They sell it for more money. Joanna Gaines said:

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“Once I discovered the idea of buying something that is undervalued to then put value into it to sell it for a profit, I could not stop.”

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For several years, the Gaineses grew their business and improved at making home repairs. Joanna Gaines added posts about home design to a popular blog, Design Mom. Gaines’s posts were noticed by Home and Garden Television channel, or HGTV. Producers from the channel decided they might make a television show about the Gaineses. They went to Waco to film a pilot episode with HGTV. The pilot episode is the first show filmed in a new program. It is a chance to see if the program will appeal to many people. If the Gaineses’ pilot episode succeeded, HGTV would order more episodes.

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Unfortunately, the pilot episode did not go well. The Gaineses were visibly upset. Chip and Joanna did not seem to be having fun. It looked like the Gaineses would not get their own television show. But at the end of the pilot episode, a houseboat was delivered to the Gaineses. A houseboat is a house that floats on water. Chip had ordered the houseboat without telling Joanna. It was a surprise Mother’s Day gift.

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Chip exclaimed:

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“Ta-da! This is where we are going to live for a couple of months.”

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Joanna did not believe he was serious. She said:

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“Baby, really, is this a joke?”

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Joanna was not happy about a houseboat sitting in their driveway. But Chip was very excited about it. The producers realized this was when the Gaineses were at their best. They just needed to be themselves. They needed to joke with each other. They needed to interact naturally and not follow a script. HGTV decided to make more of the show.

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The Gaineses’ show was called Fixer Upper. In each episode, the Gaineses worked with a married couple who wanted to buy a house in Waco. The Gaineses found three houses that needed repair. The couple picked their favorite. Then the Gaineses redesigned the house. Chip and his employees worked on repairing the home. When they were done, Joanna made the inside beautiful. Many people watched the first season of Fixer Upper. Twice as many people watched its second season. By the end of its fifth and final season, Fixer Upper had become the most-watched series in HGTV history.

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People loved the way the Gaineses had fun with each other. Chip usually said or did something funny. Joanna was very talented at making the inside of houses beautiful. Viewers also enjoyed watching the Gaineses play with their children. They liked the way they spent time with them no matter how busy they got. They played with them, worked with them in their garden, and fed their animals together. Viewers also liked how the Gaineses improved their local community. They turned old, damaged houses into beautiful new properties. They helped improve areas across Waco.

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The popularity of Fixer Upper led to many opportunities for the Gaineses. They started their own design company called Magnolia Homes. They opened Magnolia Seed & Supply and The Shops at the Silos. They also own Magnolia Market. They later opened a restaurant called Magnolia Table. They started the Silos Baking Company. They even started their own television network called Magnolia Network.

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All these businesses brought visitors to Waco. 30,000 visitors a week visit the Magnolia businesses. They want to shop at Magnolia Market and eat at Magnolia Table. They want to experience in person what they have enjoyed on television. More visitors have helped local Waco businesses make more money. More people are moving to Waco and renting properties. Home prices have increased. Waco has become one of the most popular places in Texas to visit. Reporter Anne Helen Petersen writes:

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“Chip and Joanna Gaines are the two-person engine of an entire small industry and economic boom. They have cut history in two: Before Chip and Joanna, and after. The Old Waco, and the New Waco.”

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Perhaps the biggest impact the Gaineses made was convincing people that anything is possible. Whether it is starting a business, going back to school, or simply fixing a bathroom sink, people are inspired to try. If the Gaineses can do it in Waco, Texas, anyone can succeed anywhere.

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Have you ever heard of Chip and Joanna Gaines? Have you seen the show Fixer Upper? Have you tried doing a home repair project? You can leave a comment on our website at www.spotlightenglish.com.  You can also find us on YouTube, Facebook, TikTok, Instagram, and X.  You can also get Spotlight episodes delivered directly to your Android or Apple device through our free official Spotlight English app.

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The writer of this episode was Peter Anderson.  The producer was Michio Ozaki.  The voices you heard were from the United States and the United Kingdom.  All quotes were adapted for this episode and voiced by Spotlight.  No AI or artificial intelligence was used in this episode.  Spotlight episodes are written, voiced, and produced by real people for real people, no matter where in the world they live.  This episode is called, “Chasing Dreams All the Way to Waco.”