America's Vote Makes Kim Myles HGTV's Newest Design Star

America's Vote Makes Kim Myles HGTV's Newest Design Star

'Lady Luck' Smiles on New York City Designer Who Beat 10 Challengers to Win Her Own Show on HGTV

KNOXVILLE, Tenn., Sept. 17 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- The Las Vegas Strip will never be the same now that America's vote has made Kim Myles, 34, a New York City-based hair stylist, artist and self-taught designer, the season two winner of the popular reality competition, HGTV Design Star. In just two and a half days, from Sunday, September 9 at 10 p.m. ET through Wednesday, September 12 at noon ET, viewers cast more than 900,000 votes via www.HGTV.com and mobile phone text messages to support Kim as their favorite designer. Kim reigned supreme during the season finale of the nine-episode series, winning the life-changing prize -- her own show on HGTV and a feature in In Style Home magazine. Her new show is expected to premiere on the network in March 2008.

(Photo:

http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20070917/CLM094 )

Kim and her final competitor, Todd Davis, 35, of San Francisco, Calif., exhibited a range of emotions as they reunited with the series' nine other finalists and anxiously waited for the winner announcement. Standing side by side in front of a live studio audience that included their friends and families, Kim and Todd were joined on stage by Michael Dingley, HGTV's senior vice president, programming/content strategy and the keeper of the promised network contract. In the next moment, Clive Pearse, series host, opened the envelope to reveal that Kim had won her chance at television stardom.

"All of this is so surreal," exclaimed Kim, overcome with emotion as tears streamed down her cheeks. "This is something I've wanted since I was a little girl, and I can't believe my life-long dream has come true. I feel like Cinderella!"

During a special guest appearance, HGTV Design Star season one winner, David Bromstad, congratulated Kim and Todd for making it to the end of the competition. In a surprise twist, Bromstad handed the final two competitors keys for new SUVs -- a Mercury Mariner or Mercury Mariner Hybrid. Both designers will choose the preferred color and model of their new vehicle.

Since its premiere on Sunday, July 22, the second season of HGTV Design Star has been sampled by more than 42 million adults and has garnered strong ratings for the network. While most of the second season was shot in Las Vegas, the final showdown between Kim and Todd was an "Island Dreams" challenge that required them to redesign guest suites at the Outrigger Hotel in Waikiki Beach, Hawaii. The highly-anticipated season finale reunited the show's 11 finalists and judges Martha McCully, the executive editor of In Style magazine; Vern Yip, master designer and host of HGTV's Deserving Design; and clothing and home designer Cynthia Rowley.

As the finalists and judges reminisced and offered personal perspectives on the competition, they watched never-before-seen video highlights and bloopers from the series. During each week of the competition, the drama unfolded as the finalists faced design challenges that put them to the test. For example, in one challenge they were required to design a space using items purchased only from a 99-cent store, while in another they had to design two rooms in the guest house of Wayne Newton, aka "Mr. Las Vegas."

"Given the remarkable success of our first season, we knew that season two of HGTV Design Star had to be bigger and bolder in every way," said James Bolosh, vice president, event programming, HGTV. "Our viewers let us know we succeeded by tuning in week after week. Kim is a very gifted designer and we know she will bring her talent, creativity and poise to her new role as a television host. America has spoken and Kim Myles is destined to be HGTV's next big design star."

About HGTV

HGTV, America's leader in home and lifestyle programming, is distributed to more than 93 million U.S. households and is one of cable's top-rated networks. HGTV's website, http://www.hgtv.com/ is the nation's leading online home and garden destination that attracts an average of 5.4 million unique visitors per month. HGTV owns 33 percent of HGTV Canada and provides much of the Canadian network's daily programming. The network's branded programming also can be seen in 124 territories across all seven continents and its selected programming is available to service men and women on board Navy ships and through American Forces Radio & Television Service (AFRTS) which services more than 1,000 outlets in over 175 countries. Headquartered in Knoxville, Tenn., with offices in Atlanta, Chicago, Dallas, Detroit, Los Angeles, Nashville and New York, HGTV is wholly owned by The E.W. Scripps Company (NYSE:SSP), which also operates Food Network, DIY Network, Fine Living and Great American Country.

First Call Analyst:
FCMN Contact: eyarborough@hgtv.com

Photo: NewsCom:

http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20070917/CLM094
AP Archive:

http://photoarchive.ap.org/
AP PhotoExpress Network: PRN10
PRN Photo Desk, photodesk@prnewswire.com
Source: HGTV

CONTACT: Lynne Davis of HGTV, +1-212-549-8612, ldavis@hgtv.com; or
Eileen Campion of Dera, Roslan & Campion Public Relations, +1-212-966-4600,
Eileen@derapr.com

Web site:

http://www.hgtv.com/

-------
Profile: intent