Quite possibly, Matt should be the victor. Matt's design skills are more than just adequate and his time management skills were so good that even when his carpenter accidentally cut his thumb on an electric saw and disappeared to the Emergency Room for a few television minutes of manufactured drama (presumably) a few hours, he still got his Luxury Hotel Suite done and done. Goil was faced with no blood on wood crisis (why did Bravo keep showing us the blood?) but could not get the project done in the three days alotted. And it was clearly a time management issue. He overestimated how long it would take to complete his flaming wall of reds, and devoted insufficient time to bedding and furniture. (What was with the shameless product placement for those G---- scented candles that appeared in the harried last seconds of Goil's room and then later on the Bravo website?) The room looked great, but not luxurious. Clearly, any luxury hotel patron would have felt more at home in Matt's room. The other remaining contestants, Carissa and Andrea, produced average rooms, with Carissa's being the better of the two. Still, the only thing that saved either of them from elimination was Goil's unfinished room. Goil, as usual, had the most ambitious and most innovative concept.

Despite his enormous talent, Goil did seem almost perpetually anxious, repeating that Jan Brady comment, and stating with dismay in the last episode that he felt ignored by the others as though they didn't perceive him as a threat. I give him a bonus point for saying on camera that the first thought to pop into his mind was "disco" when he was told to incorporate the element of fire into his room design. He also gets four more bonus points for each of the four times he said "fabulous" in the last episode (three of them were in the on line "exit" interview posted on Bravo's website). He gets an "awww" from me for saying that his heart was in every design, and then choking back tears, although his faux hawk was high enough this week to regularly exceed the limits of my television screen on close-ups. (Not a hair complaint; they should have pulled back to a wider shot.) My strong embrace of his raw emotion emanates from my fascination/suspicion of Matt's comparatively reserved demeanour. Because if there is a gay contestant on Top Design (and, after all, my friends, this is interior design, someone has to be gay) my best guess is that it would be Goil, with the married-with-wife-and kid-at-home-Matt miscast misunderstood obviously presented as the talented straight alternative. So I guess this means that the Top Designer will not be a gay man, finally putting to rest millenia decades of vicious/benign stereotyping of all gay men as genetically pre-disposed to that particular skill set. Goil, you are already missed by your TopDesign fans, but New York welcomes you back from West Hollywood. Create, Design & Decorate!