The Antonio Project: Will This New HGTV Host Fly or Flop?

Last season's Design Star competition proved to be rather interesting as the competition neared its end. Two opponents stood out from the beginning, but only one prevailed. His name is Antonio Ballatore. He hails from L.A. and from the beginning stuck out like a sore thumb. America was bound to like him because of his no nonsense approach to people and design. After watching his design style morph into a more politically correct and mainstream state, America (at least middle class house wives) began to fall in love with his New Yorker transplant style. Choose your coast, it did not matter he was "in" by anyone's standard.

Well, following his televised win, HGTV began a campaign to build his image. He slowly started to become the "rock star" of HGTV. Like most dedicated viewers of Design Star and loyal fans of Antonio, the sneak peak of his series was highly anticipated. His edge was growing addictive. The show was scheduled to premiere on New Year's Day after 10 p.m. HGTV did a great a job of making all of us want more of this offbeat, tattooed newbie with the edge and personable quality necessary to consult with even the most discerning clientele. He was a must see when New Year's Day arrived.

After viewing the show, it seemed to fall short in the personality department. His tasks were to build a non-profit music studio. Although, Antonio 's final design concept was incredible, his journey was less than appealing. First, his crew was quite unpolished and unprofessional. Their unorthodox techniques even led to injury when one crew member failed to break a large piece of glass into smaller pieces before placing it (with help from another crew member) into a refuge dumpster. It was a messy and immature affair. Even though viewers know these guys must be highly skilled they did not come off that way on national television.

Towards the end of the episode, we see a content Antonio headed home and reflecting on his good charitable work. If it were not for the scene prior to his exit with the inner city children rapping, the show may have been off of my list completely. Children and animals are hard to resist. For some of those who fell in love with Antonio during the competition, the revamped and slimmer Antonio seems to fall short as a charismatic and professional HGTV host.