DESIGN STAR DISH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

The fifth season of Design Star premiered tonight on HGTV. The show seems to have been re-tooled from last season. For starters, Clive Pearse is gone as host. The show moved to a host-less format, but, the new segments reminded me a bit of Bravo's short lived design show "Top Design". This season does seem more fast paced and less cookie cutter safe. The contestants are jumping right into the white room challenge (which in itself was tweeked) on the first episode. As a viewer, I liked this because we got to quickly size up and see the designers point of view.

Cast wise, I kinda feel like they keep casting the same "safe" personalities, they just have different names! Every season has the brash girl with an ego, the shy, girl next door, the gay guy, the artist and the mom. When Candice Olsen, judge & designer extraordinairre, joined the series last season, she injected new life into the show. I wish the producers would do the same with the CAST!!!!!! I was THRILLED when Antonio won last season, largely due to the fact he is NOT your typical TV DESIGNER. He is an edgy, rock influenced set designer, which gives him such a unique design perspective and makes him so much more interesting to watch!!!!!!!!

Tonight, Julie was the first casualty!!! - I hated her design but I thought she was more interesting on camera than Emily. Let us not forget, this show is not just about design, but on camera personality as well. It is still early on, but nobody really jumped out at me like David did in Season One, or even Antonio, last season.

The only thing I know for certain is that I am DYING to get cast on this show ( and working my rear end off to turn my design dream into a REALITY (show!!!) LOL!