The finale of the current season of HGTV’s Design Star aired Sunday, and the gay guy-vs.-straight guy match off for the winner and the straight guy, Antonio Ballatore, bested the gay one, Dan… and deservedly so. Antonio has personality, edge and great design sense. And he was the front-runner from early in the season, so they had to bend over backward to make it look like Dan, who was pretty much a stiff on camera and too young to have earned a lot of cred, look like a viable winer.
17 Comments
I was disappointed in choosing Antonio. I did not think his house in the final episode was nice at all. I think Dan did a much better job. I believe you liked Antonio’s different’ness’……but I think Dan improved so mujch each week….
I also think Miles of Style is different as well. All of my friends dislike her show and none of us will watch when she is on………
I do miss Peterson who was contemporary and Kevin Brown and Debbie Travis.
I think Divine Design is always great ……… I think you missed the boat….sorry
Arnold,
I totally disagree and I’m embarrassed to share my last name with your first name Mr. Jones. I can not believe you feel that joke for a designer, Antonio, should actually win over Dan. I am an huge fan of Design Star and every year I’ve known from the first who would be the winner. Unfortunately, this year was no different. After about the second showing I knew it would be between Dan and Antonio. Dan for obvious reasons (great designer) and Antonio because he is just a novelty with a little design flair and nothing more. There was no contest — what so ever – who is the better designer and that in my opinion was Dan. Dan may not have been as comfortable on camera as Antonio, but you Mr Jones have soon forgotten the very first Design Star winner, David B. of Color Splash, how uncomfortable he was in front of the camera at first. You can cultivate a great designer for camera appeal, but Antonio is no Design Star. I can’t even stand looking at Antonio’s face because I think he is a lier and a total jerk. The way he handle the “Tan Paint” situation was so irresponsible not to mention how he would take over every situation. Yes in the end he luck out because the client seemed to be okay with his paint choice it on camera, but I wonder how they actually felt once they had to live with the blue for a while. In my opinion, weather the client liked the blue or not, the worst thing he did was lie to Tori about forgetting to get the tan pain. That was so childish and I can’t believe a great designer such as Candace would put up with that crap on her show. I do not feel we should admire, or for that matter, reward a lier and or one who manipulates just to get their way. He even admitted he lied on camera — What a JERK! It would have been better if he just told her to trust him and if it didn’t work out he would take the blame. Now getting to your point of Dan not “having earned a lot of cred”. You also have forgotten about the second winner, Kim Miles from Miles of Style. She is a self taught designer with very little experience in home design…. where was her creed and she won deservingly because she has natural talent? In the final design it was so clear who has the better design. Dan’s room was designer worthy. Antonio’s ugly Kermit The From green bedroom with pictures tossed on the wall looked awful. A first semester designer could have done better than that. I am one who will never watch Antonio’s show because he’s the biggest Jerk on HGTV. Good luck Dan, I hope you win the on line show YOU deserve so much more!!!!
I agree. Antonio had a bit too much testosterone and a few too many tats, but he clearly bested the pretty boy.
Gay or straight is not an issue. If best makeover mattered Dan won. It appears to me that HGTV wants to go in the direction of orange county chopper. Who wants to look at a person covered in tattos from head to fingers? Not the image we want our children and grand children to look upo to. A bad day for fairness. Heli B.
Well everybody has their on views !!!
It was pretty clear that Antonio was upfront and ahead of the curve from the start. No shock that he won. What really bothered me was the fact that Dan did not get one ounce of a chance to express his feelings or for that matter say goodbye. He is a very talented designer and I hope we see more of him in the future. As far as his hosting skills are concerned I think he was just fine and a very warm and sincere guy with whomever he dealt with on the show. Factoring in Gayness or straightness to this outcome is so lame- shame on all the folks who made that an issue !!!
I agree, gay or straight, it doesn’t matter. But I liked Antonio from the beginning. Remember how he offered to help Lonnie when she could NEVER finish anything? He did lie about forgetting the paint; it was his way of wanting everyone to step outside the box of the usual ‘safe’ beige walls. He did jump in and make decisions when others wouldn’t or couldn’t. I’m not a fan of the tats, but he has a great, strong personality and natural talent. He also had the most confidence in himself all along.He’s genuine and I think that comes across on camera. I like that! Now I hope HGTV doesn’t market him like they did Bromsted, using the ‘sexy’ aspect.
What a joke! Antonio’s rooms were nauseating and his lack of hosting abilities is obvious to anyone, even those that speak other languages. The green in that bedroom was hideous, the colors in the family room were garish, and that TV cabinet—are you F’ing kidding me? Disaster.
Dan’s rooms were leaps and bounds above Antonio’s and his hosting had improved dramatically over his prior efforts. I’m really stunned that he did not win, and i am not alone. The message boards at HGTV are flooded with complaints.
Good luck Antonio…you’ll need it. A lot. I won’t be watching.
I’m going to jump in here and say I was GLAD Antonio won. I loved the green in the bedroom and moving the bathroom door was genius. Dan was too stiff and WAY too smiley. It was really annoying. At least he finally toned down the giggling. Dan’s final design was good, but I questioned the heavy use of purple in almost every room. And I LOVE purple. This was my first season watching Design Star, so I have no basis for comparison of previous seasons. I think Antonio was the better choice as a designer, as a on-air personality, and as a unique show concept. Come on now, there can only be so many design shows hosted by gay guys. Why is it so bad to have a unique show with a rugged guy who is natural on camera and has an interesting point of view? I don’t think that means that HGTV is trying steer towards “orange county chopper,” I think it means they are trying to have a unique show that pulls in a new viewer for their network, which is a very smart move on their part.
I am not surprised Antonio won. I actually found him very attractive. I don’t care if he is straight. I’d watch his show. But, I think Dan was the better designer. I didn’t like what Antonio did to Kathy Griffin’s office. That was pretty horrible. I also hated the final show where he painted the bedroom that awful puke green color. Yuck! Then he just threw pictures on the wall. Wow! Dan’s work looked much more professional. I’d hire him first any day. Dan also looks great with his shirt off. 🙂
I felt totally disgusted after the winner was announced. I’ve been watching and taping every episode just to see what Dan could come up with. He is a design with a vision who has a clear concept, creative ideas, and functional designs. Antonio never demonstrated that he had a big picture of what he wanted to achieve. He’ll have a little idea here and there based on what he found by chance. He actually messed things up with that backyard contest where he stopped the that nice organic flow with the ugly concrete. He’s just a control freak. What a joke. HGTV betrayed what this show stood for.
What a joke! Antonio set up Dan to screw up when he was the FIRST ONE to say that the amount to spend on the gazebo is $10,000, not $5000! The guy is a liar and a cheater. I will never watch one show that he is on. Design Star stinks. Candace is the only one with any intelligence.
Go to HGTV and click comment. I did. Swam them with complaints.
Yep, their are so many complaints on HGTV’s blog of how people won’t even watch his show. The person who said HGTV made a good move needs to read them. This is one of the worst moves they could ever make. I watch design shows all the time to get inspiration and not one time did Antonio’s designs inspire me. Yes it was nice of him to help Lonnie out that one time, but one good dead out of the many manipulations, take overs, control freak person that he is only shows me he had one good moment. If Antonio came to my house to get my business I wouldn’t even let him crosse my front door.
I just caught the repeat of the Design Star finale and, there is NO way that Antonio should have won.
The living room he designed was HIDEOUS; the bedroom wall color was atrocious; the kitchen wasn’t bad but, the wall color was ugly and did not match the floor, appliances or cabinetry.
Dan’s design, on the other hand, was beautiful, classy, and thoughful – almost Candice Olsonesque, IMO.
I think the judges had already made up their minds that Antonio was going to win. And, TBH, I can see their point – Antonio is “different” and “edgy” and does appear to have a charismatic persona (LOL: I think Candice Olson was seriously crushing on him the entire season).
But the better designer?? Get real!
BTW, who the hell CARES whether or not Dan is gay?
Sure Antonio is “different” and “edgy”, but charismatic persona — Not at all. More like disgusting and I can’t stand looking at him when he smiles big — PUKE! I do not find him entertaining one bit. He needs to go design on a biker show. Have you seen the promos? He cuts a cake with a circular saw and then with his bare hands picks up a piece of cake and hands it to one of the workers — Yuk!!! What a disgusting slob!!!!
I agree with Melissa above that Candace Olson seemed charmed by Antonio’s personality no matter what he did, even when he said he “forgot” the tan paint. I believe it was Candace who said (if I recall correctly) that his insistence on the blue paint and refusal to paint tan showed how passionate he was about his work and how much he wanted to win, or words to that effect. If it had been my home, I would have been angry at him — when I’m the customer, I don’t like to be second-guessed unless the person doing it still gives me the final word.
I too thought Dan did a better job, but I decided to give Antonio a chance by watching the first show where he designed his own home. I believed that perhaps his unusual hosting style and edginess might be good for the network. However, I was pretty disgusted by his first show. Referring to women as “chicks” (twice, I think), and making his house look as if he was designing it mostly to eat and have sex there (and even alluding to having sex when asking one of the people helping him to make sure the headboard was secure) made him look vulgar and too testosterone-driven. Whatever talent he brings to his show, we can do without the sleaze factor. He may be a very nice guy, but comes across to me as quite an unpolished and disrespectful vulgarian.
seriously who gives a crap if the dude is gay or straight? I’m a straight guy (yeah my girl got me into watching the show) but while Antonio may be chill and fun to hang with, his designs were crap and if he actually was hired to be a designer or a contractor, he would have fired for not working with his client or his crew.
And really his house remodel is something my frat house would have loved but now that I actually own a house there is no way I would decorate my house all in that style. Not to mention what guy would turn the living room into a dining room?