The Sad Reason Down Home With The Neelys Ended

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It can be quite difficult to work with your significant other, and there's decidedly more pressure when your job entails being in front of a camera. "Down Home With the Neelys" aired on the Food Network for 11 seasons, from 2008 to 2014. Married couple Pat and Gina Neely shared their best recipes from their home in Memphis, Tennessee. The show was a warm, welcoming look into a seemingly happy (not to mention culinarily-gifted) family. But the show ended when Pat and Gina's relationship did, too, and now, they're among the Food Network chefs you don't see much anymore.

Pat and Gina were high school sweethearts who'd been together for more than 20 years before they split. Ultimately, it was Gina who decided she wasn't happy in the relationship and felt she had to move on from Pat and from the show. "Pat is not a bad guy, he's just not for me," Gina said on OWN's "Where Are They Now?", per People. "I didn't want to divorce my husband but it became necessary do it in order for me to be my best self." Gina said she felt that their marriage began to go downhill when they started working together.

Though the dissolution of his marriage was a difficult period in Pat's life, he has fond memories of the time he spent with Gina and their working relationship, too. "One of the things that I'll always cherish about 'Down Home with the Neelys' was that I had an opportunity to get on television every day and invite people into our home," he told People. "And I was able to share that with my high school sweetheart, a woman I truly loved, and to be me. I never had to act."

After Pat and Gina split in 2014, it didn't take long for Pat to find new love. In 2015, he met Tamika Parks, and it was "love at first sight," Pat told People. By 2017, they were married, and as of 2026, they seem to be going strong, according to Instagram. They have two adorable kids together — Elijah, Tamika's son from a previous relationship, and daughter Eriel — and Pat continues to share his cooking knowledge and BBQ seasoning and sauces with the world as a motivational speaker and celebrity chef who can definitely tell you how to choose the absolute best BBQ sauce for all your grilled meats.

According to Gina's Instagram, she is now an "international speaker and health and wellness advocate," and it appears she's been staying quite busy. After "Down Home With the Neelys" wrapped, Gina had her own show on Aspire TV, appeared on Bravo reality dating show "To Rome for Love," and became a grandma.

Gina and Pat have two grown daughters, Shelbi Neely and Spenser Lewis-Neely. Spenser gave birth to baby Noah in August 2022, and he's a fixture in Gina's life (and on her Instagram). "This little boy is my whole heart!!!!" she wrote in the caption of a post featuring Noah. "He actually saved my heart. I was becoming a little jaded about love but then my Nono came along and he softened me. God always gives you what you need even when you aren't aware of what you need."