Design Star Season Two Challenge Four: No Joy in Mudville

Y'all. Last night's Design Star. It was a tragedy on so many levels.

With six designers remaining the challenge was to create a Las Vegas wedding reception for 75 guests on a budget of $10,000. Two designers would be eliminated.

The competitors met with the the happy couple, Vegas natives Bruno and Stephanie, who wanted (at the same time, mind you) a lavender princess-style design and a rockabilly Vegas themed red and black design.

Ahem.

The designer coming up with the plan selected by Stephanie and Bruno would lead the group in transforming a basic hotel conference room into the event they envisioned. The designer with the concept judged to be the worst would be eliminated off the bat.

I'll just get right to it and tell you that annoying designer, RobB Mariani won this challenge with a design so heinous it was laughable. Lavender feather boas, giant spinning dice, a DJ platform surrounded by huge painted flames, and a reproduction of the famous Vegas sign blinking away over the bride and groom's table won the day. The couple loved it.

Christina Ray, whose design favored only the wishes of the bride, was tearfully eliminated.

Next, under major time constraints, the remaining competitors set about frantically transforming the hotel space. Designer Will Smith was probably the most vocal critic of RobB's design. Once down to the dirty work, the team came to the realization that RobB's original drawing was not to scale. This meant that many of the elements like the spinning dice, blinking sign, etc. loomed much larger in the space than intended and it ended up being a major challenge just to fit it all in.

But fit it in they did, every tacky, screaming, blinking element. I don't think this photo adequately illustrates just what a hideous design this is, but it's the only one I could find on the site:

Will you look at that? "Winning" design? Please.

The show lost me right there. None of the designers, should they win their own show, will ever be expected to bring that kind of tackiness to the masses. And if they did? They'd be fired, assuming the show ever even made it to air.

I am unsure, then, why the producers thought a princess-meets-biker themed wedding reception was an appropriate design challenge. It is, essentially, a no-win situation. Give the couple the tackiness they want? And lose your integrity as a quality designer (assuming you were one in the first place). Give the couple a tasteful design? And be eliminated for your lack of trailer park sensibilities.

Did the producers think this would be funny? Because, after living through three previous challenges with these designers, I can assure you, it was most certainly not funny. Obviously these competitors all have their hearts set on winning their own show and are putting it all out there on the line in front of millions with each and every episode (and making good money for HGTV in the process). It seems to me, at a minimum, the show could give them in return a reasonable challenge that would bring out the best their talents have to offer.

Can you see where I'm going with this?

Yes. Charming, talented, pithy sweetie-pie Sparkle Josh Johnson was eliminated. And if he'd been eliminated in a reasonable challenge? It would have been one thing. But to be eliminated as the result of a trailer trash wedding reception? Is just not okay. Nevertheless, Josh shows himself to be a class act in his exit interview.

It could be my imagination, but even the judges looked fairly disgusted about this whole challenge.

Hello, HGTV? What were you thinking?