The best example of reality vs reality tv is Man vs Wild. You can tell this by the initial reaction people had upon learning that Bear Grylls doesn't actually spend the entire time they shoot an episode out on location. For those nieve enough to think reality TV is reality, their illusion was shattered, and they were devistated, and vary angry at the network and at Bear. For those with half a brain, they realized that, it can take hours to find a proper location for a particular shoot, and then an hour or so to set up. When they begin shooting, they may have to shoot from various angles, and if he is doing something like crossing a river, they may have to do it twice. They do it twice, once for each camera's point of view. All this work is taxing, and so for him to be rested enough to have a good screen presence, he goes back to a hotel to rest, keep in touch with his family, etc. I notice a lot of the new shows involve the biker and tattoo scene, the newest one involves a team of animal rescuers who save abused animals. Its called something ink, and the cast look like they have all done time and have tattoos. Soo, its no surprise that, given this competition, HGTV would want a show with an edgier feel to it. I think they said to themselves, well, we already have a good looking brunet white male designer who is gay, do we really need another? I have no problem with them going for someone who is edgy in a more biker, Gothic, way, if they can in fact design well. Its sort of like Guy from Diners Drive-ins and Dives on food network, he is vary different from almost anyone else on that network, but he can cook, and ha has vary good screen presence. I do not see that same level of presence in Antonio, he just seems like someone throwing stuff together faking it and hoping he can fool everyone around him.

Dan's rooms on the other hand were well design, the only thing they commented on was, he should have put a strip of trim molding at the top of his back splash in the kitchen. Not only did Dan open up the kitchen by opening up a wall, he maximized space by stacking that washer and dryer. The daughter's bedroom was vary small, but he maximized space by putting storage under the bed, and, including pull out desktops for her to use for homework, doing artwork, etc. Had he used a standard bed and tried to put in a dresser and desk, her room would have been impossible to live in. Likewise, the solution to the mother's ugly window, and the creative use of mirrors on the closet doors were innovative because, many designers just do solid mirror rather than break them up with the for inch wide trim. So, not only did the better designer loose, the winner is someone who likes to intimidate other to get his way, and is someone who has tantrums when he doesn't get his way. Maybe the judges were afraid of him. I mean, I saw how he tried to intimidate the other contestants, I was glad when Dan stood up for himself and said he would not shut up just because Antonio told him too. I give Antonio's show 2 or maybe 3 episodes at most, and that's being generous, for I think its in trouble already, why else would the show rely so heavily on footage from Design Star, and of footage of him running around buying stuff, and soo little of him actually designing anything. If anything, he simply had other skilled workers come in and install cabinets, counters, tile, a tub, a toilet, etc. Compare that to design star where, you see David Bromstead draw out a design with a few different options, and then you see him and his team go about building that design. I've seen the other season's of Design Star and felt, the winners were no where as good as David, but this time, even though Dan wasn't as consistently as good as David, I see the potential for him to be another David Bromstead. He has the personality, he has the design since, I mean his white wall challenge could go head to head with Davids. I just think David has had more experience than Dan working for Disney, doing kid's rooms, etc, which gives him an edge. However, given a chance, I think Dan could quickly find his nitch, and have a vary successful show. I don't think the same could be said for Antonio and his show

I thought the kitchen looked good except for the corrugated aluminum back splash, that just looked cheap. I liked the dining room table, but the stools were a bad choice, when you sit and eat, its nice to lean back and relax. He has all that space, it would have been easy enough to simply have a couple of chairs styled the same way as whatever chairs were used in the dining room, but have them taller so, they could be used at the bar. I saw no real seating in the living room, but the thrown. My friend and I agreed that, the headboard in the bedroom would be better in a gaming room, garage, or on a van or low rider. What women would find that bedroom romantic and or cozy. The bathroom like the kitchen was done well, and that's the problem. Antonio doesn't know how to intagrate the elements of a house's space together. This was seen when he did the office space when he used undersized chairs and a vary small table for a seating area. Its like he made a tiny area off on its own in one spot, and did the same in another spot. Basically what won the judges over was his color pallet, and the shelving/cubical units he had built. He repeats this mistake in the final episode, which is why I think he should have lost. As Vern pointed out, with the couch in the middle of the room a long with the big thing the TV was in, it takes a narrow liking space, and makes it even narrower. Secondly, I thought the red and white chair in the corner was too low and even tilted sort of forward so as to make it uncomfortable to sit in. He could have built a slender thing for the TV to go in and used a flat screen TV. He could have used a sectional couch that has part with no back that forms the L, which could either go against the wall with cushions or, it could go between the dining area and the living room area to act as a devider between to two spaces. The kitchen was nice, but its style was country while, the rest of the house was more modern and or eclectic. I don't like what Antonio did with the bathroom, from what I could tell, there was more space where that corner was, why not just knock the wall down and build a new wall to make the bathroom bigger rather than just relocate the door around the corner? The kid's room was the biggest disappointment, anybody can throw a bed, and ottoman, and a few odds and ends. Anyone knows that, if the mother wants to go in there and sit with her son to spend time with him, she will probably want to read to him before he goes to bed, so she could have used a nice overstuffed chair that they could share. There should have been a reading light, and as Verne pointer out, some real toy storage.

Antonio didn't like Dan's idea for how to use the rocks/pebbles, but Verne said Dan's idea was better. Dan also did most of the grunt work in the yard. Yeah, Antonio helped out when time was running out, but the first day, it was him and doing a lot of the cement work. Antonio not only admitted that, he isn't a designer, he only learned what he knows by picking things up from creative people in his life, but he doesn't know how to work with other people. Not only does he have a temper tantrum and deliberately forget the brown paint, rather than have a sane discussion as to why he didn't want to put tan or brown on the wall on the house on the military base. I actually agree with his reasoning, but disagree with how he went about negotiating it, thats not how someone who is part of a design team or company operates if they plan to be in business for any length of time. To further illustrate his lack of social skills and why he is undeserving of his new show beyond his lack of ability is what occurred on his new show. He pulled a John and Kate (aka John and Kate Gosslin of John & Kate plus 8), he went into an antique furniture store and saw either an 150 year old chair, or one that was styled after one that old. Anyways, this chair was worth $1,200, and Antonio has the nerve to ask the guy on camera, "can I get a deal. hows about I pull up with my truck with some cash and you sell it to me for $600". What the heck does he think that place is, the flea market or something. It was obvious from the video that, the store owner was caught off guard, was nervous with all the cameras around. I think he thought about it and decided, he didn't want to come across as a bad guy on TV and possibly get some negative press, so he decided to eat the $600 dollars. This was bad enough in itself, but Antonio goes into a second store and spots a 6 foot long metal shelf he wants, and again asks "can you give me a break on that". Me and my friend were like, this is not the, lets see what we can get at a discount show.