The Complex Malibu, Episode 7: Sold to the Highest Bidder

I really enjoy series’ finales and have been looking forward to this one all week. For some reason, the execs at Fox decided to move the finale from Monday, October 4 to Friday, October 8, forcing everyone involved to keep the results of the October 2 auction a secret for nearly a week. At any rate, we have arrived at the end of the road for Steve and Nicole, Scotty and Sam, Dave and Ana, and, of course, the irritating, yet endearing, Barney and Rose.

The whole point of this episode is to reveal the winner of the competition. But, of course, this is an hour-long show, and we all know that no reality show gets right to the heart of the matter. The Complex: Malibu is no exception. The first half-hour of the show is devoted to rehashing the journey and bringing us up to date on each couple’s experiences. Again.

After a review of last week’s kitchen makeovers and the resulting hard feelings, we celebrate with Steve and Nicole, who toast each other with champagne. Nicole is hurt by the comments that Sam made when Steve and Nicole won for the best kitchen, but is ready to “take ‘em all down.” Their friendship is definitely finito.

Scotty and Sam are bemoaning the fact that they never won a single room. “Always a bridesmaid, never a bride,” she says. Regarding Nicole, Sam thinks she is “too emotional” and “wears her emotions on her sleeve.” Upstairs, Barney and Rose, and Dave and Ana discuss the kitchen debacle. Barney still can’t understand why their kitchen didn’t win and Rose thinks the judges “should be fired!” Of course, her aggravating the real estate agent judge (repeatedly calling him Dave when he asked to be called David) had nothing to do with it? Ana doesn’t think that “losing crap,” has anything to do with it, and that the buyers will be the ultimately judges.

Each couple has a little retrospective. Steve and Nicole recognize that they had some problems, but that, ultimately, they were able to get past their disagreements. She feels that they never lost their integrity and is proud of the way that they played the game. Sam is in awe of the entire experience and Scotty knows that there will always be a place in Malibu that they touched and changed. Dave thinks that the prize is worth going through anything for, but Ana understands that there is no amount of money that can make up for the damage to their relationship. “What was lost in this game was priceless,” she says, sadly. Rose is proud of what they did and says, “If America thinks that was terrible, I would think American would say ‘that was pretty shrewd.’” Whatever, Rose.

Host Tyler Harcott strolls up past the auction tent and, after another review of the rules, leads us to the next segment, which is a closer look at of the remaining four couples. Barney and Rose are featured first. There are clips of their first meeting with Dave and Ana, Rose’s brilliant design ideas, and the crucial point in the game when Dave and Ana allied with them to get rid of Kim and Carl. Barney’s idea to intentionally lose the week they remodeled the master bathroom was strategically brilliant, and resulted in the eviction of not only Kim and Carl, but, more importantly, Brad and Lew. Spending all their money on the kitchen was a gamble, and, in the end, it did not pay off, but at least Barney has those self-closing drawers to brag about. Calling them, funny, feisty, devious, and devoted, Tyler asks, “How much would you pay to live in the house that Barney and Rose built?”

Now for a look at Dave and Ana, who relied on “scheming instead of skill.” They knew from the start that there was some big money at stake, but Dave readily admits that he did not have the skills to pull this off. They relied instead on forming an alliance with Barney and Rose. “I can be fake like plastic to ensure that I win this contest,” Dave tells us. Although they made it to the final four, once they were on their own, Dave’s lack of skill was his undoing. Although they won on the second bathroom, his plan to do the kitchen himself unraveled, and they came up short. This further strained their already fragile relationship. Tyler calls them ambitious, calculating, confident, and clueless?

Sam and Scotty – the “Redneck and the Redhead” – had problems with their first partners, Eric and Jayna, but they wisely made a pact with Steve and Nicole early on. It didn’t look good for them, though, as, week after week, Steve and Nicole finished last. Sam and Scotty carried them along and, with the four of them working together, they were all able to do relatively well. In the fourth week of the competition, Steve and Nicole’s living room finished first and they all shared the victory. All of this changed, however, when the teams were split up and each couple was on their own. Steve and Nicole’s hiring Brad and Lew to make the kitchen table was the last straw. Their condo came in second place five times and, once again, Scotty makes the bride/bridesmaid comparison! They are still intact, though, despite all the hassles. “She’s my yin and I’m her yang,” Scotty says as we watch them wrestle each other to the ground.

Finally, we reminisce with Steve and Nicole, the “All-American” couple. He was the captain of the football team; she was a cheerleader. They never pretended to be experts at remodeling, but Steve’s skill at strategizing more than made up for it. After suffering a three-week losing streak, Steve dug deep and, despite his nearly alienating Nicole, it paid off. They won the deck and moved on to the kitchen. Their smartest move was to call in Brad and Lew, even though this cost them their friendship with Sam and Scotty. They won the kitchen, though, and this, of course placed them in a great position for the auction. “We stained everything in that apartment with our sweat,” Steve tells us. “And I don’t want to see it lose.”