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Ten aspiring designers seek to impress home viewers and an expert judging panel with their design expertise, ingenuity, creativity and "it" factor during the reality competition, HGTV Design Star.
“Guts. Glory. Glam.”
2006
The competition begins as 10 aspiring designers meet host Clive Pearse and get their first challenge: Design an entire NYC townhouse in 24 hours! Judges Martha McCully, Vern Yip and Cynthia Rowley are surprised, impressed and bewildered by the results.
The designers choose teams and work to improve the sales appeal of a large suburban home by redesigning the kitchen, living room and master bedroom.
The competition heats up as the designers work on their own individual rooms for the first time. But it's a surprise, as their creativity and talent are put to the test when they shop at only one unusual specialty store.
Two challenges and two eliminations this time, as the designers each present their ideas for a $10,000 kitchen makeover, and then must work together to complete the chosen design. Time is short, and leadership and planning nowhere to be found.
Color is the theme, as each of the four remaining designers must create a New York City studio apartment based on a single assigned color. Individual talent shines through, as they must also host a tour of the completed room.
Competing for spots in the final two, the remaining three designers hit the road, traveling to an HGTV viewer's home. They complete a $10,000 dream room makeover in 28 hours, and then reveal their work to the lucky winners.
In the season finale, the 10 designers reunite to settle the score and discover who will be the next Design Star.
2008
See who makes the cut to compete on HGTV's Design Star and then receive their first challenge.
The contestants design five rooms in their spectacular lake house in the first challenge of the season.
The contestants go garage sale shopping for inspiration in designing an historic Nashville home.
Creativity is tested as the designers use only items from a craft store to design an entire room.
The designers face the music as they must makeover celebrity suites at Nashville's Opryland Hotel.
The heat is on as the final five face off in a dramatic kitchen redesign.
The final three head to their hometowns for a very personal design challenge.
The cast reunites and we reveal who America has chosen to be the next HGTV Design Star.
2010
2009
The competition heats up as eleven designers arrive in Hollywood to begin their quest to become HGTV's Design Star. Host Clive Pearse reveals their first challenge: to design rooms in the historic Hollywood home where they will be living. With the largest budget in Design Star history, the designers split into teams to design a massive living room, a dining room and three bedrooms, all in just 32 hours. Some designers shine, revealing amazing creativity, while others are unable to complete their vision.
The aspiring Design Stars meet their competition and design a fabulous Las Vegas penthouse where they will be living.
The competition heats up as eleven designers arrive in Hollywood to begin their quest to become HGTV's Design Star. Host Clive Pearse reveals their first challenge: to design rooms in the historic Hollywood home where they will be living. With the largest budget in Design Star history, the designers split into teams to design a massive living room, a dining room and three bedrooms, all in just 32 hours. Some designers shine, revealing amazing creativity, while others are unable to complete their vision.
The nine remaining designers face the classic Design Star White Wall challenge, but this time it takes place on a famous soundstage at Paramount Pictures. In this individual challenge, each designer must create a 10x10 room using only items purchased at a surprise location. Where innovation and creativity are key, some of the designers prove their potential, while others fall short.
In a brand new challenge, the designers compete to turn two messy garages into beautiful living spaces. Each of the two teams deals with unforeseen circumstances and personal conflicts. With a tight budget and only 22 hours, the remaining competitors not only have to please their clients but also the judges.
The six remaining designers are deployed to a military base where the drill is to turn two drab rooms into stylishly, comfortable entertainment spaces. However, both teams struggle with in-fighting that threatens to leave two deserving military families in the lurch.
The fab five remaining designers meet their most demanding clients yet: kids. While some designs reach for new heights, others hit a new low.
In a Design Star first, the final four designers must work as a team to design and renovate a 10,000 square foot backyard. In their quest to create a modern oasis, tensions run high as the four strong voices struggle to be heard. When budget problems arise, all of their fates hang in the balance.
What would Design Star Hollywood be without a challenge involving celebrity clients? The three remaining designers face off as they decorate a home office for Kathy Griffin, a guest bedroom for Tiffani Thiessen and a baby's nursery for Jason Priestley. With 30 hours of work time and a budget of $20,000, only two designers will survive to compete for a 50-50 chance at winning their own show on HGTV.
The final two designers go head-to-head in the biggest Design Star challenge yet: making over a deserving family's entire home. Even with the help of a crew of carpenters, it's a daunting task that takes everything they've got. When the dust settles, the final two designers stand before the judges one last time, and a new Design Star is chosen.
The 'Design Star' winner is challenged to a home makeover and must unveil the results to family and friends.
Two designers face the chopping block as the teams makeover neighboring kitchens.
Creativity is tested as the designers use only items from a specialty store to design an entire room.
The remaining designers create a Vegas-styled wedding reception for one lucky couple in just one day.
The final four design the home of a special celebrity guest and must show off their hosting skills.
The final three designers travel cross-country to create $10,000 room makeover for three deserving families.
2012
Designers get into six teams of two and three days to design a great room, three bedrooms, a den, and a design studio and lounge.
The White Room Challenge using items from a home and garden store.
The remaining seven designers must create small lounge areas for a party thrown by the Hollywood Chamber of Commerce. Each lounge must be inspired by a different time/design period seen in the history of Hollywood. For their Camera Challenge, the contestants must speak publicly to the event's guests about their space.
Designers randomly select different color hues and work on different condominiums and appear on National Daytime Show, The Talk.
Vern Yip
Self - Judge
2013
Ten gifted contenders will compete for their own show on HGTV. Host and Mentor David Bromstad gives the Designers their first challenge: to create a vignette, or section of a room, that represents their personal style or brand. To make their space really distinctive, each Designer will have the opportunity to create their own original fabric and wallpaper. The challenge winner will have an item from his or her space adapted for sale on the popular website One King's Lane. Stress levels are high as the Designers race against time to showcase their POV's, and prove that they deserve to be the next HGTV Star. Genevieve Gorder and Vern Yip are joined on the Design Panel throughout the season by fellow HGTV host Sabrina Soto. At Evaluation, the winner of the challenge is declared, and the first Designer is sent home.
2011
The competition kicks-off as host Tanika Ray issues the first challenge to the finalists: to makeover their living space, an empty three-story New York City penthouse. Before they can get to work, however, mentor David Bromstad delivers the first hosting challenge. On camera, each finalist must deliver a compelling, one-sentence statement about who they are as a designer. After the work is completed, judges Genevieve Gorder, Candice Olson and Vern Yip walk through the spaces to evaluate the results and select the best and worst design.
For their second challenge, the nine remaining Designers must transform an old industrial warehouse loft into a multi-functional space for living, eating, sleeping and working. The Designers divide into teams to take on the various areas. Some teams get along swimmingly, but others butt heads under the pressure. In keeping with the theme of repurposing this old warehouse loft, each Designer must also creatively update a vintage item and integrate it into their space. This item forms the basis for their first camera challenge, intended to test their TV hosting abilities. Host and Mentor David Bromstad asks each contender to show the viewers how they are transforming and using their vintage item. The performances are wildly varied, from smooth and slick to comically disastrous. At Evaluation, the Designers must defend their work before the Panel, HGTV hosts Genevieve Gorder, Vern Yip and Sabrina Soto.
Host and Mentor David Bromstad informs the eight remaining contenders that they must work in pairs to transform four identical new apartments, all for the same young married couple. Each team has a short meeting with their clients to learn about their tastes and desires, in hopes of designing the one apartment that the clients will want to move into. Some Designers ask thoughtful questions; others aren't nearly as prepared. With only two days to complete this challenge, tension on the teams runs high. There is added pressure, because at the end, two Designers will be eliminated. On the morning of day two, HGTV Magazine Editor-in-Chief Sara Peterson arrives to add a major incentive: the winning design will be featured in HGTV Magazine! The Designers' work is evaluated by the Panel, Genevieve Gorder, Vern Yip and Sabrina Soto. The winning apartment is announced, and two Designers are eliminated, leaving only six to compete for the grand prize: their own show on HGTV.
The six remaining Designers must transform the kitchens and dining rooms in two neighboring homes, in just three days from start to finish. This is a historically difficult challenge, and in all the years of this competition it has never been one hundred percent completed, so the stakes are extremely high. The Designers divide into teams and meet with the homeowners to find out their tastes and desires. Each team must help demolish the existing kitchen cabinetry, and make decisions about every aspect of the spaces. Host and Mentor David Bromstad checks in with each of the Designers, and also oversees camera challenges, which test their hosting skills. This week, each Designer must give a tip about one of three aspects of kitchen design: flooring, cabinet hardware, or backsplashes. The Designers race to complete the kitchens and dining rooms, and to satisfy their clients. Their finished work is evaluated by the Panel: Genevieve Gorder, Vern Yip and Sabrina Soto.
The five remaining Designers find themselves on a major college campus, where host and mentor David Bromstad tells them that they have just three days to make over the main room in a sorority and a fraternity house. It's boys against girls as the male Designers take on the fraternity, and the women work on the sorority. While the Designers race to make over their spaces, they must also showcase their TV hosting skills in the Camera Challenge. This week they must work on camera with another person for the first time, as they teach a home improvement task to one of their sorority sisters or fraternity brothers. The finished rooms are evaluated by the Panel: Genevieve Gorder, Vern Yip and Sabrina Soto. And they are also revealed to the students, who react energetically to the transformations. One Designer is chosen as this week's winner, and another is eliminated from the competition, leaving only four in the running for the grand prize: their own show on HGTV.
The final four Designers face their most ambitious challenges yet. For their Design Challenge, they must each transform the inside of an old school bus! The sky is the limit, as they can turn the bus into any sort of space they want. This week's Camera Challenge is also the biggest yet for the Designers. They must appear on the national daytime show, The Talk. Each of them must present an unconventional design tip to the viewers, while interacting with hosts Julie Chen and Sheryl Underwood. The pressure is intense, as the Designers attempt to complete both challenges successfully. The performances on The Talk and the bus designs are evaluated by the Panel, Genevieve Gorder, Vern Yip and Sabrina Soto. When Evaluation is complete, only three Designers remain in the competition for their own show on HGTV. David Bromstad serves as Host and Mentor.
The three remaining Designers are surprised to find out that all three of them are moving on to the final challenge. They are further surprised to learn that the finale will take place in the glamorous resort area and design mecca of Palm Springs, California! There they will each make over a huge suite in a resort hotel. No sooner do they arrive at the resort and see their spaces, than each Designer is surprised by some of their former competitors, all of whom have come back to help. Three days of work fly by, as the Designers and their support teams transform these massive spaces, which consist of one bedroom plus an open living, dining, entertainment and bar area. The Designers will have two very special guest mentors for the finale: Drew and Jonathan Scott, The Property Brothers. For the final camera challenge, each Designer must take the viewer on a walkthrough of their finished suite, highlighting the most distinctive features.
Standing outside of a graffiti-covered building, host Tanika Ray reminds the finalists that they must always think creatively. Inside, the finalists discover that this is HGTV Design Star's famous white box challenge in which they must create an over-the-top, customized room that represents their style as a designer. The finalists, who must express their design ingenuity with materials found at a restaurant supply story, also must complete a creative how-to tip or technique used in their white box design. Judges Genevieve Gorder, Vern Yip and popular designer Thom Filicia will visit each space and select which finalist executed the most creative design and who will be sent home.
For the challenge "old room, new life," the finalists will work with real homeowners to redesign four underused rooms in their homes. The finalists will team up to redesign rooms such as the basement, living room and bedrooms into livable, functional spaces. Guest judges Robert and Cortney Novogratz will join Genevieve Gorder and Vern Yip to determine which team created the most successful space. During the episode, mentor David Bromstad will ask each finalist to demonstrate an on-camera design tip from the makeover.
At an outdated bed and breakfast in New Jersey, the finalists are challenged to turn the place into a modern boutique inn. The competitors, who must adhere to the design preferences of the innkeepers, will team up to create four unique and beautiful bedrooms. Entrepreneur and designer Kathy Ireland, along with judges Genevieve Gorder and Vern Yip, will review each space in the revamped B&B to see which team’s design is a winner. For the on-camera hosting challenge, the finalists must demonstrate how they repurposed an existing item from the inn in their room design.
In this episode, the finalists must design kitchens that represent the four most popular layouts and design styles in the U.S. Emmy award-winning TV personality and best-selling cookbook author, Paula Deen, will visit each kitchen design alongside judges Genevieve Gorder and Vern Yip to determine whose design takes the cake. For the on-camera challenge, mentor David Bromstad asks each finalist to host a web video that teaches viewers how to make the most of their kitchen design.
This week the finalists must collaborate to create a fantasy wedding reception that is both fabulous and functional in just 24 hours. The bride and groom will provide their wishes for the theme and color, but the finalists must figure out how to execute the couple's dream design while accommodating practical needs including seating, lighting and space planning. Event planner and former Real Housewives of New Jersey cast member, Dina Manzo, will tour the party set-up with judges Genevieve Gorder and Vern Yip. Meanwhile, mentor David Bromstad will ask each finalist to deliver an on-camera presentation of a party-styling tip that they included in their design.
It's Design Star meets HGTV'd as the designers help an HGTV fan and her family revitalize their home. The finalists, who will surprise the family with the ultimate multiple-room makeover, will each be responsible for a different room in the fan's home. This week's hosting challenge requires that each finalist show how proficient they are in showcasing a great on-camera reveal of their rooms to the homeowners.
Each finalist is assigned a studio apartment with minimal furnishings and a minimal budget of $2,500 to decorate the place from top to bottom. Judges Genevieve Gorder and Vern Yip will visit the spaces with designer and talk show host Nate Berkus. During the episode, the finalists find out they will appear on Nate’s nationally syndicated television show where they must complete the on-camera challenge of presenting a “look for less” design demonstration.
In a series first, the finalists must design the interior and exterior of an entire house — a "tiny house" of just 110 square feet. Each finalist must demonstrate ingenious creativity and savvy space-planning skills in order to execute an inspiring home design that is both comfortable and functional. As carpenters from other HGTV and DIY Network shows arrive to help the finalists complete their work, mentor David Bromstad will coach them as they interact with their crew on camera, just as they would in a real HGTV show.
