HGTV Stars Sued For Fraud Over Show

The Dallas Morning News reports:

Chip Gaines’ two former partners in Magnolia Realty claim in a lawsuit filed Thursday that he defrauded them by withholding information when he bought them out for $2,500 each just days before HGTV announced it was picking up the Fixer Upper show.

Waco attorneys John L. Lewis and Richard L. Clark are seeking more than $1 million in a lawsuit filed in state district court in Waco. The lawsuit was first reported by the Waco Tribune.

Lewis and Clark said in the lawsuit that if they had been privy to Gaines’ ongoing discussions with the television network, and knew what they said Chip knew about the prospects for Magnolia Realty, they would never have sold their two-thirds share for a combined $5,000.

The Gaines were in the national headlines earlier this year after a Buzzfeed piece reported that they attend a church headed by a virulently anti-LGBT pastor. Buzzfeed‘s article was widely-criticized by the right wing media.