They say not to meet our heroes, and in the case of television stars, the risk is that they won’t be the same in real life as they are on-screen. But former HGTV megastars and currently wildly wealthy Magnolia entrepreneurs Chip Gaines and Joanna Gaines are apparently the same off-screen as they are on. 

According to Fox News, Jill Barrett and her husband became longtime friends of the Gaineses after meeting the couple while attending Baylor University in Waco, Texas. Barrett said of the Magnolia Network stars, “I’ve known Chip and Joanna a long time and they’re wonderful people. They’re true blue, real deal, very, very authentic.” And apparently the Gaineses’ willingness to fix things was already evident during their college years, as evidenced by Chip writing a letter to the university in support of a small coffee shop that Barrett owned after a newly opened Starbucks became stiff competition. Barrett said of Chip, “He was always so supportive of me as an entrepreneur. Anything we did, they were there supporting us and so I really, really appreciated that about Chip and Joanna. They are so loyal and supportive of things going on in their city.”

It apparently isn’t just old college buddies who sing the Gaineses’ praises. HGTV fan Maggie Winterfeldt was given a paid opportunity to travel to Waco and meet the couple in person. While it was a press event, Winterfeldt was also pleasantly surprised to find their personas the same in person as on TV. “True to HGTV form, Chip was full of silly jokes, Joanna was there to play the straight man keeping him in check, and neither seemed to take themselves too seriously,” she wrote in a piece for Popsugar.

Chip Gaines and Joanna Gaines are known for calling Waco, Texas, not just their home, but the epicenter of their Magnolia business empire, which they launched after leaving HGTV. Along with remodeling homes all over Waco for their “Fixer Upper” series, they also built their Magnolia Market downtown, creating a tourist destination for diehard fans to travel to Waco and shop and eat and feel just a little bit closer to the real-life Gaineses. But not everyone in Waco is as happy about one of Chip and Joanna’s most controversial endeavors: their off-screen expansion into their hometown. 

A Reddit thread asked what Wacoans thought of Chip and Joanna, and responses ranged from one user commenting, “I really see very little of them ‘doing for the community’ unless there’s a profit involved for them,” to another user saying, “Literally ruined our community. Taxes skyrocketed and so did the housing market. They did nothing for the common Wacoan.” The comments track with others made by HGTV fans who have soured on the Gaineses, with some calling the pair out-of-touch now that they are rich beyond belief. And that’s not to mention Chip and Joanna’s eye-raising attendance at a controversial church.

Despite the haters, the Gaineses’ longtime friend Jill Barrett said that their love of Waco is real, whether Wacoans believe it or not. “Chip and Joanna could have moved many a time over the years. As someone that’s known them a long time, they really felt in their hearts that they wanted to commit to Waco and to making it a wonderful place to raise their children in,” she told Fox News. If that’s the case, maybe the Gaineses’ next project can be fixing up their goodwill with some of the locals who are not fans.