I was rooting for Meg from day one. I think she's very creative and relates well to the clients. Had she gotten the other couple I'm sure she would have done just as well but we'll never know.

I think Meg is fine, but Karl is the better designer overall. Meg's voice does annoy me - I keep wanting to tell her to clear her throat.

But don't kid yourself, the audience vote NEVER counted. If you read the fine print when you voted, it said HGTV reserved the right to make the final decision. I think they always picked who they wanted.

Every year they have pretty much alternated between a guy and a woman winning, so theoretically, this should have been a 'guy' year. But they ended up short a woman from a few years back, when Jennifer won, then got pregnant, and has never actually had her own show.

But in the end, does it matter anyway. Previously losers of the competition, like Todd and Donna, now have shows anyway. In fact, Kathy (the bug-eyed, big-toothed woman) already HAS a show on HGTV in Canada - I really have NO idea why she was even put on DS, unless it was to see how American audiences felt about her, so they could syndicate her here.

My original pick was Tyler. I do think they made good choices overall on who needed to go.

I haven't been really impressed with any winner since David Bromstad. I like Meg well enough, but both she and Karl seemed VERY rough around the edges, design-wise.
I liked Tyler a lot. Karl fretted too much, but is definitely talented, although I can't imagine ever letting him loose in my home. Meg's talented, too. And, unlike most people it seems, her raspy voice doesn't bother me; it's just part of her charm . . . and she is very charming IMO and very likeable.
Last year's Design Star was a huge bust IMO - boring and many of the challenges were ridiculous. I could never stomach Antonio the year before or on any of his episodes since then, either. The year-or-so before's winner, Kim Miles was darling, charming and very likeable but I thought her show was too cutesy and it never caught my interest.

The bottom line for me is 'Give me PRACTICAL, BEAUTIFUL, PROFESSIONAL design . . . or don't waste my time!' Do you hear me HGTV?!?
Lynn

I think with the show's focus this year being so much more on the camera challenges, HGTV finally admitted that the competition was more about presentation skills than design skills. I thought Karl's "pilot" went extremely well . . . for Karl, who was typically a nervous wreck. But Karl was a little more architect-y and studied and high concept. Meg was more middle-America, Rachel Ray-ish and more of a presentation natural. She was just going to be easier to plug into a show.

I don't get much out of the team challenges: "you must work as a cohesive unit but also have your signature element in the room." What the heck is that? How realistic is that? Realism doesn't matter so much, I think.

Yes, what does that mean? And the signature element- is that like Vern Yip's row of votive candles or something? Do designers really have a signature element? Sounds kind of silly.

I thought Meg's design was better in the final room. Karl put all those family photos so high no one would be able to SEE them! Why bother?

I just finished watching all the shows... I started late and watched them online. My main beef with this show is that it's supposed to be a "reality" show, but so many things are staged.

Like the black paint that Leslie accidentally spilled on the floor because she thought she was picking up putty. Why in the world would they have had small can of black paint, sitting open? Did they use black paint in that room at all?

Or the one where three out of the four teams chose the same color green for their kitchen, and then Karl? was like "We have a gallon of orange paint, we should paint an accent wall!" Why do you just have a random gallon of orange paint sitting around?

And don't get me started on the product placement... I will admit that watching David drive up in the BMW every time tickled me because I just love him, but having every single one of them drinking the same drink in the lounge with all the labels facing the camera is a little much.