wow didn't see that coming
I wonder if he really stole the idea or saw something like it and it was in the back of his mind.
shareI was so happy that he won....damn. Unexpected indeed.
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MovieChat Forums > Ellen's Design Challenge (2015) Discussion > wow didn't see that coming
I missed it!! I got a phone call and by the time I got back to the show, I saw Katie (with very bizarre hair) being told by Ellen that Tim had been DQ'ed and she was now the winner. You say he stole his design? If that's the case, why didn't they say something during the judging? Or why didn't Chip mention to Tim during the building process that he thought it might be a problem?
I hate to say it because this charge gets leveled at a lot of competition-type shows but it seems like Katie was destined to be in the final all along. The judges always seemed to like everything she designed and while I liked some of it (including her design in the final), it looked like a lot of her pieces were very 1980's, especially with all that acrylic. I liked the red armoire but even it would have looked at home in the movie "Beetlejuice". My favorite piece on the entire show was Tim's table with the steel section down the middle... stunning!
I don't believe he consciously stole it, but it was so very similar to a Scandinavian piece that it's hard to believe that it was entirely coincidental. I think he may have seen it in passing and, as the OP suggested, might have been in the back of his mind.
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The way I see it, they must have had some pretty good evidence that Tim stole the idea. I mean, I doubt they would just willy nilly go 'You know what? We know that we told you that you won the show & $100,000 in front of your friends, family & peers, but we just saw this similar thing on google so we're taking away all of it.' This after they threw a party for him and celebrated with Ellen and multiple big shots in design, business, & furniture. I doubt the decision to disqualify him was taken lightly. Needless to say, everyone who was watching with me was just as shocked! I hope they do a story about it on Ellen so we can find out more about the decision to DQ Tim (Did he admit to cheating? Did they have proof he knew about that other design? Etc.)
shareI assume the show wasn't live so why didn't any of these renowned judges, who act like they know everything about the world of furniture design, take the time to double-check not only Tim's design but Katie's as well just to make sure that they both met the requirement of being original? If Tim's piece, which looked very cool and distinctive to me, was so similar to one that already existed, it seems like at least one of the judges or Ellen herself would have felt their Spidey sense tingling and checked it out before announcing the winner.
This ending doesn't bode well for a Season 2 of "Ellen's Design Challenge".
While I agree that the show should be sure to check for plagarism, I think that expecting the judges to know every piece of furniture ever created by every designer across the globe is a ridiculous expectation. I don't expect the judges of Project Runway to know about every piece of clothing ever created by other designers. If you go back and watch Tim he even says in the finale something along the lines of 'I have to make it look like it was created by me. Not like something created that was created another country by another designer.' Idk about you, but since that is exactly what he tried to pull off, I think he knew exactly what he was doing. Hopefully we will get some more info on the situation. Regardless, a cheater shouldn't win. I would rather they took his prize away a week later than let him getaway with it for the sake of the show having a smooth season finale. If season two happens, the people behind the scenes better step up their game to ensure there isn't another huge mishap like this one.
shareThe judges on Project Runway DO seem to know every piece of clothing created by other designers and they're not shy about pointing that out to the contestants.
As for Ellen's show, I wonder how this alleged cheating scandal came to light in the first place? Did the Scandinavian designer watch the show and give them a heads-up? Or someone who owns that very piece of furniture by that designer? If the judges didn't know about it at the time they were deliberating, someone had to bring it to their attention. Bottom line: Ellen, the judges, and Chip Wade (all experts in their fields and knowledgeable about furniture design) didn't get any red flags about Tim's design until after he was named the winner so something had to have happened to bring it to light. I'm really curious to see if there ever will be more to this story or if it will just be swept under the rug and forgotten.
Even with the DQ, I'm sure Tim will land on his feet as a furniture designer and he might even get more attention because of this incident. Katie will be fine too but I thought she would be even if she hadn't actually won. All of the designers got airtime and recognition for their work and will probably be successful in the future. Well, that one woman who had a stick up her butt, didn't get along with her carpenter, and designed some really bad stuff might not fare so well but the others will.
I'm guessing someone other than the original designer noticed, since the show just aired Monday. But he may have been contacted after this happened but before the show aired, to inform him of the situation. Ellen mentioned on her show that she was planning on doing a second season a few weeks back, and this was after she knew about Tim's fate (which had been decided for months, by this point).
I feel like they should address these issues before the next season. Possibly why it took the plagarism so long to be found out or if Tim purposely copied the piece. I agree that the publicity was mainly good for all the people on the show, designers and carpenters. And even negative publicity still puts you on the map (like the negative nancy designer with the glasses). I hope there is a next season, but I hope that the people who work behind the scenes do their job better to check for cheating, seems like a rookie mistake. The easiest thing would be for people not to cheat, but obviously that is too unrealistic. Thus it is the job of the show to make sure the contestants follow the guidelines.
I guess the ball is in Ellen's court. Tim and Katie were both on tweeting about the finale, but no one mentioned the DQ. She should take the time to address it on her talk show because her fans deserve to know what the hell happened lol.
I suspect they took it at face value when they awarded the price and then investigated after, before issuing the check. They could have done a reverse image search.
It was so blatantly the same, it had to be stolen. Maybe he figured that since it was Scandinavian, no one would know.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/style-blog/wp/2015/03/03/a-woodwor king-plagiarism-scandal-on-ellens-design-challenge-hgtv-handling-of-fi nale-sparks-controversy/
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Oh that affectation drove me crazy.
Tim was on Ellen's show a few days ago. He said he honestly doesn't recall seeing the original Scandinavian piece, although he, (like all designers) look at tons of things for inspiration, so that maybe subconsciously it just stuck. He seemed totally sincere, but that piece was basically the same. Although Tim's finish and metal was more aesthetically interesting.
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Thanks for the link, Goody. In my field of literature, we constantly allude to the "anxiety of influence," which can certainly be extended to any creative endeavor. As a professor and author, who also dabbles in jewelry and fibre arts design, I bend over backward to keep the lines between knowledge/homage and outright copying clear. Had I been familiar with the original design, I would have been extremely careful to do something different from the original, while exploring the idea of stacked wood, which could also have been accomplished in various ways. I felt shocked someone of Tim's experience would take such an enormous risk with so much on the line. It's such a shame something of that sort marred the end of the season.
We liked Tim's designs and craftsmanship, but we found Katie a much more intriguing designer. She seemed much more style forward, as so many designers/critics are fond of saying. We tend to prefer whimsy in our designs, as well as a blend of the masculine/feminine. Tim's designs have an extra shot of testosterone that limits their audience a bit, just as some viewers found Katie's designs more geared to children. We found the latter reaction rather short-sighted, but there is no accounting for taste. Therein lies the reason I watch few design challenge shows anymore; taste is so subjective. I'm tired of spending time, then watching the judges make strange choices that often feel inexplicable since shows are so tightly edited. I didn't notice which judge said Katie has a lot to learn about design, but my companion and I both disagreed with that notion. We also adored the purple wood Katie used. HGTV handled this mess rather poorly, but that is what has happened to the network during the past few years.
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I used to watch Project Runway, but I got so annoyed at the selection of butt ugly stuff that I quit watching. It was clear the judges hate women, even though most were women. I find that true with most design competitions, so I only watch when I'm spoiled and I'm ok with the ending. So I didn't see all of this one. But enough to know what happened.
Katies' stuff is youthful and trendy. So it may not be something for the ages, it is something that would appeal to young adults.
I think Gaspar was more innovative while producing things that had a chance to be popular later on.
A lot of Tim's stuff was derivative, so I'm not surprised.
Of course, in the small print on these shows, it says that the sponsors and producers have a say on the final winner. So I'm thinking Wayfair had a lot of say based on what they want to sell.
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