Originally aired on Wednesday, 2/7/2007

Episode Rating: ** (2 stars out of 5)

Episode Overview: After last week’s team challenge, the designers are excited to work solo. However, there is, of course, a "design curveball" in the works that requires quick thinking on the part of all the contestants.


Episode Highlights:

• John Gray, one of the sources of tension from last week’s partner challenge, discloses some personal information to the other designers in an attempt to help clarify his behavior.
• The designers are thrilled to work on their own for this challenge, but noticeably less excited that their budgets have taken a serious cut.
• Their clients are once again shrouded in mystery, and when host Todd Oldham introduces them, it requires some on-the-spot creativity from the designers to adjust their rooms appropriately.

Recap:

After the awful tension between John Gray and Michael Adams during the team challenge last week, John feels the need to clear the air. He tells the group of designers that he has been living with HIV for the past thirteen years. HIV can impact testosterone levels, so before he came to the show, his doctor gave him a booster shot of the hormone. John says he’s not making excuses but this might have been a factor in his behavior towards Michael. Hopefully, this will smooth things over, but the group’s reaction seems somewhat ambivalent.

Next, the group heads to the workroom to hear their challenge. Todd Oldham informs them that they will have the opportunity to work as individuals for this task. At random, they will select a brief dossier on their clients, and have to design a twelve-by-twelve bedroom around those details. They will receive $8000 to “shop” at the Pacific Design Center, and $600 for materials to build a bed. Mattresses and box springs will be provided. The winner of the challenge will receive immunity in the next task, and the loser will be sent home.

The designers receive their dossiers, which include scant details about their client, their hobbies and preferred styles. After sketching in the workroom, they head out to shop. Due to the cost of the high-end items at the Center, most of the designers find it challenging to pick up enough pieces for their rooms.

Back at the workroom, Todd announces that the clients are stopping by for a visit...and they are ten-year old children. The designers’ jaws drop. Some designers hit it off with their kids as they try to adjust their designs to be kid-appropriate. Other struggle: Andrea Keller admits that as she had two brothers and now has two boy children, she feels a little clueless as to what to do for her young female client. Matt Lorenz’s young client looks on cheerfully as he agonizes as to how to adjust his design for her.

At the end of the consultation, Todd has yet another twist for the designers: the mattresses they will be provided with are – as are appropriate for kids – single beds. So all the queen- and king-sized beds they’d been planning – with custom-made construction to match – will not work. Felicia Bushman has the quickest and most elegant solution to the problem: she flips the single bed sideways so it is flush with the giant headboard, making that instead a large design element.

The designers head out to Target to pick up some kid-appropriate items. Each designer receives an extra $300 for this step, with the exception of Elizabeth Moore and Goil Amornvivat, who each have a total of $400 to spend at the store because of their win last week. There is a mad dash to collect bedding and other finishing items.

Back at their spaces, frenzied work begins. John is in a pickle: he didn’t select a hardwood floor, and the linoleum he’d intended to use was too pricey. He is left without a floor covering and it’s too late to paint it. He seems stymied as to a creative solution. The other designers are scrambling to complete everything within the timeframe, but most everyone else seems to avoid any major setbacks.

Time is called, and it’s off to the White Room, where they meet with their judges, Jonathan Adler, Magaret Russell, and Kelly Wearstler (in another leggings fashion-victom outfit). The guest judge this week is a familiar name to Target shoppers: Liz Lange, the stylish maternity designer.

The judges take a tour of all the rooms, and then return for the evaluation. Jonathan also has a file of the kid clients’ own feedback to help with the decision-making process. The rooms and comments are as follows:

• Goil: His room was kid-appropriate but still stylish. He chose to put casters on most of the furniture, making it interactive and movable. He also built a nook into the wall, for “hiding.” Kelly mentions that a drawback is that it doesn’t have a door. Personally, I think a door would have made it just seem like a horizontal closet, and with an open space, it leaves it flexible for the kid to build a fort, etc. Goil also uses another one of the Robert Kuo peppers (this time in red). As we discovered in our “Top Design: Blog Chatter” entry, these peppers cost a whopping $1700. With only $8000 to spend, this seems like a giant chunk of change on one decorative element. Nevertheless, my inner child calls this room her favorite as I always liked the idea of a “Transformer/more than meets the eye!” room where one could change and move things around.
  
  
  
  
  
• Carisa Perez-Fuentes: She again goes for the wasabi-green accent colors, and pillows on the floor. Nevertheless, the judges like her room, which has end tables and a desk built into the bed. They also like her climbing ropes, but do mention that her unfinished edges are a head gash waiting to happen.
  
  
  
  
  
• Andrea: Her room is pretty, but, as she feared, not particularly girly, and her client’s comments are: “More glitter.” However, she gets some kudos for her quick-thinking Murphy bed solution to the small bed problem.
  
  
  
  
  
• John: His room looks unfinished and not entirely appropriate. The judges also point out that they think his end tables are too far for the client to reach while in bed.
  
  
  
  
  
• Felicia: The judges also like her elegant flip-the-bed solution to the unexpectedly bed size, but overall think it looks like a “hotel room.”
  
  
  
  
  
• Elizabeth: Her room is a little disappointing after her strong performance last week. It looks like a three-quarters complete Ikea ad set, with a built-in soccer net and cartoonish finishing.
  
  
  
  
  
• Ryan Humphrey: His client is an artist and said her only friend is her cat (um, sad!), so he built an easel and a cat run around the room. The bed is perched on an awkwardly high platform. The judges are uniformly not impressed.
  
  
  
  
  
• Matt: Although the judges think his pale pink-gray and black color scheme might be a little too mature, they concede the stylish client likes it, and are impressed with his “confident” execution. They also like his glamorous recessed wall lighting styled after an old-fashion make-up table.
  
  
  
  
  
• Erik Kolacz: He designed his room around his client’s love of pirates, and it does, indeed, look like it came straight out of the “Pirates of the Caribbean” ride at Disneyland. They judges think he might have gone a little over the top, but did please the client.
  
  
  
  
  
• Michael: He sees his room as “pretty” for his scholarly client. He specifically says he doesn’t want to make a “Disneyland or Chuck E. Cheese” type room. The judges, however, find it depressing, and say it looks like “an assisted living facility.” Yikes!
  
  
  

After a final consultation, the judges deliver their verdict. Andrea, Matt, Elizabeth and Felicia are told they are not the top, but they are safe. Goil, Carisa, and Eric get kudos, and surprisingly, Eric’s “over-the-top” room is chosen as the Top Design! He wins immunity, and the other two are safe for this week.

This leaves Ryan, Michael and John as the bottom three. Ryan is called out for designing a room around a cat; Michael, for his depressing nursing home décor; and John, for not finishing and offering up excuses. And ultimately, John’s poor performance sends him packing.

Some surprising decisions this week! Next week, the designers will have to work as teams once again. Without explosive John, it’s not certain it will be quite as full of friction, but should be interesting nevertheless!

- Leslie Seaton, BuddyTV Staff Columnist

(Photos courtesy of Bravo)