Boy, it’s been a long road to get here to the “Design Star” finale, hasn’t it? Surely they’ll reward us for our loyalty, right?
Well, it turns out what we get for our trouble is a previously recorded show stuffed with montages, Lumber Liquidator endorsements, and a not-so-live audience. This crowd is so stale I think they lifted them straight from one of “The Bachelor Women Tell All” episodes. You know the kind, where they edit it so it sounds like the audience is laughing uproariously at everything? And there’s applause every five seconds? Yeah.
Oh, well. At least there’s a little drama right up front when Clive Pearse announces that everyone is here–except Mikey V.
No Mikey V? They’ll surely give an explanation for his absence, won’t they?
I guess not. They move right along and never mention him again. Of course we all know Mikey’s former career caught up with him a few weeks ago, but I’m still surprised they banished him from the finale. I have to say I’m pretty disappointed.
Jen’s gotten a makeover since the show, and I think she looks great. Don’t you like her new haircut? I wonder if my comment about her headbands had anything to do with it?
The first thing Clive does is ask Tracee about the reactions she’s been getting from people. This is the classic Reality Competition Show question that is always asked of the least-liked person in the cast. Tracee insists she has had “mostly all positive reactions from folks,” all who are just dying to see more of her design work.
Okay, that was almost convincing.
There’s a montage of Matt “snoring like a bear in hibernation.” Awesome Mike says he was sleeping in the girls’ room, so he never heard it. (The girls’ room?)
Awesome Mike goes on to brag about how he wears a ton of makeup, which makes him look so awesome, like, all the time.
They run a clip in which D. Wayne–who I had kind of forgotten was even on this show–questions Awesome Mike’s age, telling him that he looks “way older than 23. Like, 30-ish.” So we’re not the only ones who had our doubts about that!
Now there’s a montage of Awesome Mike being two-faced repeatedly, praising each contestant in turn and then bad-mouthing them to the camera. Cut to him insisting, “I am not two-faced!”
We meet Awesome Mike’s Awesome Mom Linda, who is Awesome Mike’s Biggest Fan. He tells us that she is his best friend in the whole wide world. They do everything together. And adds, “I don’t think there’s anything wrong with that. I don’t have a wife. I’m not married.”
So, newsflash: Ladies, he’s still available!
There are more montages. I started writing them all down, about Stephanie mangling words like femininizing and expensiver, and everyone crying, and Tracee dissing the other “designers, if you want to call them that,” but my attention is drifting, to be honest with you.
There’s more fake applause from the fake audience holding fake signs that I imagine some poor summer intern had to make for them to wave around. (Note the sign that says, “DESIGN STAR ROCKS.” I rest my case.)
The judges make an entrance. We see clips of them hating on one blah design after another. Clive says, “You’re a tough bunch.”
Now we see some clips of green room tears and fighting. Clive says he’s glad he never went in there. Montage of people tripping and shopping carts tipping. Kinda funny. Might’ve made the show more fun if they’d shown those during the actual episodes!
We see a clip of Tracee revealing that her secret weapon is. . .her brain. Look how hard that made Vern laugh:
The New Orleans families are back to thank Matt and Jen for making over their rooms last week. Lumber Liquidators and Sears both squeeze one final advertisement for themselves by giving both families gift cards.
Last year’s winner Kim Myles appears on the scene and presents Matt and Jen with two final paint cans. Inside are little cruise ships, which means–you guessed it–yet another endorsement. They’re going on cruises. And we see a mini commercial for it.
I’m yawning now. Let’s cut to the chase. Who won this thing? Whose life, as Clive says, is about to change forever?
It’s Jennifer! Looks like the rest of America voted the way we did on our little poll here. Cue the confetti.
So what do you think? Did the right person win or were you rooting for Matt?
Thanks to everyone who faithfully tuned in every week for my Design Star recaps, even though the season was less than stellar. I never would’ve stuck with it until the end if I hadn’t enjoyed your comments about the show on Monday mornings.
Next up: Bravo’s “Top Design,” which premieres Wednesday, September 3rd. If you’ll watch, I’ll recap!
P.S. Don’t forget I’m hosting a Hooked on House Tours Blog Party here on Tuesday. It’ll be one big Fantasy Open House tour around the blogosphere.
If you have a blog and want to participate, click here for more details. And feel free to take this Blog Party Button and put it on your site (don’t forget to add a link to the button back here).
If you’re joining the party, be sure to publish your house tour post sometime before the end of the day Monday and e-mail the link to me here, okay? Thanks!
If You’re Hooked on Home-Improvement Television:
- Design Star Recap of Episode 8: You Be the Judge
- Design Star Recap of Episode 7: And Then There Were Three
- Design Star Recap of Episode 6: The Dreaded Kitchen
- Design Star Recap of Episode 5: The Case of the Missing Sofa
- Design Star Recap of Episode 4: Taking the Plane to Nowhere
- Design Star Recap of Episode 3: Stand by Your (Haunted) Mansion
- Design Star Recap of Episode 2: Clive Was Just Kidding, You Guys!
- The Design Star 3 Premiere: Guts. Glory. Goofiness.
- Are You Flipping Out?
- Stephanie Dee Wins the HGTV Dream Home But Doesn’t Look All That Thrilled
- Bravo’s “Top Design” Gets New Host for Season 2
If You’re New Here: Hooked on Houses features decorating inspiration, celebrity house tours, fabulous before and afters, real estate news, fantasy open houses and more fun stuff. I love hearing from my readers, so I hope you’ll leave a comment and join the conversation!
{ 31 comments… read them below or add one }
I’m excited for Top Design – hope it’s good this season!
“So, newsflash: Ladies, he’s still available!”
Best. Line. Ever.
Woo, I’m glad this show is over. I kind of dislike myself (strongly) for watching every week, but then remind myself I did it so I could read your recaps and play along.
I couldn’t believe the Mikey V. absence was glossed over like Stephanie fantastically shiny lips! I read he’s in a bit of a “situation” at work (administrative leave, I think? since he was “outed” there’ve been issues with other cops? Whatever it was the whole drama sounded a lot better than Design Star, that’s for sure! Now there’s a show I would watch: Mikey V.: Hollywood P.D.)
Top Design: It can’t be worse, right?
Good lord….this was a poorly designed show! But did you see the show after it where Vern Yip and Cynthia Rowley designed the same room and were judged by past contestants. Surely not their best efforts…in fact terrible. I hope Top Design brings better results. Ginny
Thanks for sticking with the recaps; I enjoyed them a lot more than the show. Thankfully, there’ll be no more Awesome Mike or Tracee. Too bad about Mikey V. And I’m very disappointed in HGTV for not showing loyalty to him fby including him in the finale. After all, he added so much to the show.
But, I wanted Jen to win, so I’m happy.
What did you think of the Sumer Showdown? What a letdown.
Didn’t the gal who looks like Marilou Henner (the one who came in 3rd place, had her ring cut off….) look lonely sitting up at the top by herself? I kind of felt bad for her, it didn’t seem like they brought her up too much in the recap show.
I can’t wait for tomorrow, I worked on my open house while watching this finale.
ttfn,
Bella
I didn’t vote for Design Star this year because I couldn’t decide. I thought both Matt & Jen had different strengths. I would love to see them do a show together!
Ginny and Bonnie–I was too busy writing the recap to catch the Summer Showdown. Doesn’t sound like I missed anything, huh? I’ve got it on my DVR and will check it out when I can, though.
Bella–good point about Trish sitting up at the top by herself. She didn’t get much time or attention in the finale at all, did she? Not a single montage about her. Kind of odd considering she came in 3rd.
Laura–I sure hope you didn’t just jinx Top Design by saying that! -J
This was the most painful finale I’ve ever had to watch. I felt bad for Stephanie, who was clearly roasted in her montage, and not too happy about it, but managed to put a good face on anyway. Watching that Awesome Mike stuff was just incredibly awkward, as were the Tracee montages. Granted, this season seemed to provide a lot more negative stuff for the producers to capitalize on, but this just seemed an over-the-top attempt at humiliating people. I’m with you – could’ve used more bloopers all along the way! I didn’t think the episode was ever going to end. I’m so disappointed in this whole season of Design Star, and I hope next year is a totally different story. Your recaps were the best part about this season!!
I, too, felt bad for Stephanie during her montage. It only served to make her look like an idiot in front of thousands of people, and that wasn’t right. And Mikey V may have decided, himself, not to come to the finale. Maybe he was too mortified. I have to say that I felt deceived when I looked at the pictures from his little movie. I liked him so much during Design Star but lost a lot of respect for him. I mean, I understand that you have to make money somehow, but c’mon. Jennifer got my vote, so I’m excited to see what her show will be like!
Thank you so much for your recaps! They were very fun to read!
Yeah, it was sort of a yawn show. I watched it all & it was a bit anti-climactic after all that hoopla. I missed what happened with Mikey??
I was glad that Jennifer won, she did a good job. I wasn’t bowled over by anyone this year.
Rhoda
Well you know I didn’t watch this season and just relied on you for the re-caps, but I did watch last night. I want to thank you for suffering thru the season for me. The finale was dreadful and I don’t see any reason to humiliate people on TV regardless of their vocabulary, syntax, sensitivity etc. I did, however, attempt to watch Summer Showdown, but couldn’t get past the “get up” that Cynthia wore. How old is she? I certainly think she is too old to wear what appeared to be some sort of toddler/sandbox outfit. It was painful!! The potential room designs were dreadful….mirror tiles to cover the fireplace and she claimed that the tiles and the builtins would not be busy…what was she smokin’? I turned it off by 10:30.
OK, done with the rant.
Janet
Done the rant
”Awesome Mike was sleeping in the girl’s room”….WHAT IN THE HECK?! What kind of comment is that?! I’m not so sure about that.
Well congrats to Jenn. I hope her show does good. I completely
disagree with deliberately making fun of people, especially when
they are in front of thousands.It seemed like the season was just
kind of, whats the word, maybe groggy. It seemed like no one
really wanted to give a lot of effort to the entertainment of the audience.
Thanks for the recaps! As another poster noted, this recap was better than the last show. Midway through the show we started flipping back & forth to another channel (it was somewhere after Tracee’s statements of self-delusion and “Awesome” Mike’s two-faces caught on tape.
I was glad to see Jen win – her kitchen was SO much better than Matt’s. And his living room had the “centerpiece” wall item stuck behind the tv – what was with that?
watched the follow-up show with Vern & Cynthia – made me wonder why they’re the judges – both rooms were a bit, uh, lacking.
thanks again for a great summer season of Design Star commentary!
How about Summer Showdown! Was the Rowley design aweful or what! Good thing she wasn’t a DS contestant!
Thanks so much for making this show bearable. This is my first season to really keep up and I leaned heavily toward Jenn. I’d love to see Matt on a design program, though. Perhaps he could be Jenn’s carpenter? He’d be so informative and they seem to work well together.
Weird finale moments for me:
1. The Miss America smiles and graciousness were exceedingly Stepford. Tracee must have been doing major cheek muscle relaxation during those breaks. There was one tiny window when they showed Amazing Michael’s reaction to Vern’s, “I look more Spanish than that room,” but then he recovered like he’d been zapped by a cattle prod.
2. What was the deal with Clive’s American accent in the “blooper” montage? It seemed more believable than his regular speech.
3. They asked the entire audience to do a “Jenn laugh.” Why was that necessary?
4. Tracee’s “mostly positive” comment was absolutely priceless. Most of us read Design Star blogs and recaps, right? I’ll bet she does, too. I wonder what color the sky is in her world?
5. I felt so badly when Scotty was voted off in the beginning UNTIL he started talking last night. Cry me a river, Greg Brady. And Cynthia’s Rowley’s drag queen eye roll mimicked that of my 11YO daughter except that Cynthia is… um…not 11.
6. Jenn’s congratulatory kiss for her husband was sweet and tells me she’s been missing her man. She strikes me as a wildcat kinda girl. (Headbands are good for that sorta thing. Alice in Wonderland by day…Samantha Jones by night!)
Kudos to the shout-out for your blog. I’m certainly a fan.
Firm Embrace!!!
Thanks Julia for your great re-caps….the show was just so-so I agree.
See you tomorrow girlfriend can’t wait !!!! woop woop
Kathy
Glad I tuned in late.
Did you see the show afterwards with Vern vs Cynthia ?
Thank GAWD it’s OVER. This was a terrible season overall.
And by the way, could Lumber Liquidators and Sears have been any stingier with the gift cards for the New Orleans families? $1000 to LL and $3000 to Sears? $4000? Hello?!?! These people are rebuilding their LIVES!
*grumbles off line for a few*
You know, this season was just such a disappointment overall. I have very little good to say except that there were a few rooms done this season that looked warm and comfortable and livable. But that’s about it.
p.s. – “Awesome Mike” not married? Was anyone in America surprised at all? Helloooooo Captain Obvious!
I’m another one who missed the Mikey V. story. I thought at the beginning of the series it might be Matt Locke, but when it came down to the last few episodes, I had an inkling it would be Jennifer.
Now about that show, that followed. I’m dismayed about that one. I guess I expected something different.
I put the tour button on my sidebar, Julia. No house to tour this time. But I’ll be better prepared next time.
I’ve enjoyed the Design Star posts and applaud you for the work you’ve done here, Julia.
I knew it would be Jen from the get-go. I just did. lol This season was so boring… last night was no exception. Did you watch Summer Showdown afterweard? I dvr’d and watched today. That show didn’t do much for me either. I’m excited for Top Design on Bravo to start. Bravo has all the good shows!
Oh…. and the home tourfor tomorrow. Is it a tour of our OWN homes??? I’m panicking here. lol
Your recaps were by far SO much better & interesting than the actual episodes!
HGTV owes you big time for getting me to tune in to watch the next episode.
Your recaps are so fun to read! Thanks for doing them and I look forward to the ones about Top Design, which HAS to be better than this season of DS.
You know, there were plenty of posts on the HGTV boards from people saying their were frustrated by how the Mikey V. situation was handled. Some even thought Trish was visibly annoyed at the finale. There were many “threats” on the HGTV boards from people who vowed to never watch the network again. Pretty harsh, but I guess people wanted them to honestly address what had happened.
Oh well…can’t wait to hear the format for Jen’s show. We have to wait until January…no fair!
I had not watched the previous seasons of “Design Star,” but being a reality show fan and an HGTV watcher, a friend persuaded me to give it a try. I thought Matt was the most talented of the bunch. Honestly, in the remodels of the New Orleans family homes, I thought Jen’s rooms were very blah — white on beige on cream. Yes, she had the red cabinets. Big whoop. I agree about Matt’s problem with the wall design being obscured by the TV, but that was minor. Jen couldn’t even think to get couches that didn’t need to be hooked together. I find her very ditzy whereas I find Matt — being a carpenter, too — has much more multi-faceted strengths than Jen does.
I won’t watch Jen’s show.
The other thing I liked about Matt is that even though he is gay, he is not over-the-top the way that two-faced, are you kidding me Mike was. (Love the clip where Mike is standing next to Matt and Mike is saying how they’ll dance and then dance some more and then sing show tunes and all Matt does at the end is let out a butch, “yeah.”).
I felt the final show was lacking in that, yes, it was so canned. It shold have been live. It was so clearly edited together that it robbed it of any spontaneity. I had an inkling that America would go with Jen over Matt. I have only watched a few minutes of David’s “Splash of Color,” but I find him so annoying that can’t watch more than a few minutes.
Cynthia Rowley said that the talent among this year’s designers was a million times better than Season Two, which was a million times better than Season One. If that’s so, why not give Matt a show if you have a show for David Bromstad and Ms. Myles?
And, yes, as for the “Summer Showdown” afterward, what a train wreck. They should have had the designers go to the actual home of the family.
Putting together a faux recreation of the family’s home was cheesy and then having the two designers argue over who got to which prefab material first….. I like Vern but this was not his best design.
Thanks for a great site!
The best part of this year’s Design Star was your recaps, Julia. Seriously! Shall we blame Mike Dingley? Isn’t he a new program director? I think last year it was a very classy lady in charge. Maybe they need to bring her back because the Summer Showdown was just more of the awful staged crap that ruined Design Star. Also, big night for HGTV and the eight o’clock hour brings us….House Hunters? I’m so sick of that show!
On the plus side, watching HGTV tank makes it easier for me to avoid the TV!
It was so obvious they had 20 minutes of content but 60 minutes of airtime. They even dragged out the “who won” bit at the end, it was so painful. I’m thinking that THIS show has been cancelled. If not, it should be.
I think I’m glad I missed it. I voted for Matt because I’m not sure that I could watch a whole show about Jen but I’d at least watch it a few times and give her a chance. I voted for Kim last year but she lost me on her first show. I think she painted silver stripes on a beautiful barrel vaulted ceiling- it looked like a circus tent. All in all I thought this show was awful and I was really disappointed. Of course, I’m a sucker and will probably watch it anyway.
I did not watch the finale last night, and even though I recorded it your fabulous recap is more than sufficient. I’ll definitely be checking in for Top Design!!
Yeah Jennifer!
I’ve never watched Top Design. I’m quite excited!
Hi there! My first visit to your spot and I couldn’t agree more with your comments! HGTV has taken a definite nose-dive with their programming. I wish they would get some shows where everything isn’t about young contemporary design!!!lol I need to go on your tour now but just thought I’d give you my 2 cents! Have a great day – Jeannette – Thanks for hosting the tour bet it is better than TV!lol
Kind of anti-climatic…. Your commentary was better than the show, but I’ve already said that
Cuz_I’m_the_Mom, I heard that American accent too! My jaw dropped as soon as I realized it, and now Clive’s accent sounds so incredibly fake that he is hard(er) to watch. Glad to know I wasn’t imagining things when I heard that.
I really wish that Matt and Jenn could have won together. I didn’t really care for either one of them on their own, and also thought this season was really poor overall, but when Matt and Jenn were together they made a fantastic pair. I really think the two would have a fantastic show together, better than either one individually.
Chris