Wickedly Perfect: A Disappointing Ending

Wickedly Perfect was a good concept gone bad – and it only got worse with the final two episodes of the show. Don’t get me wrong, the idea of finding a new great stylemaker was an interesting one! However, it seems that’s not really what producers wanted. If they had, evictions from the show would have been based on how contestants did at the various tasks. Instead, it was largely based on politics, social relationships, and individual side projects that had nothing to do with the main task at hand.

I think two people were qualified to win this show in the end: Darlene and Mitch. However, Darlene never even had a chance to compete in the finale. Why? Was it because she screwed up a challenge? No, that was Heather, who at least got to have a screen test (which she similarly screwed up). Darlene completely carried her team in the challenge of turning a lot into a park. Her specialty was decorative sewing, but she wielded power tools like a pro and created a picnic table and pagoda from scratch.

Unfortunately, her team lost – again, not her fault. But because she spent so much time on the group project, she did not focus as much on the individual project. Heather, who only contributed problems to the group, created a round topiary. Yeah, that about sums up her creative ability. But the judges thought it the best of the three (we’ll discuss more about the judges later).

After Darlene’s exit, it only got worse. Kimberly was brought back despite the fact that I agree with what Mitch said – he had more creativity in the tip of his thumb than she did in her whole body. I mean, ribbon flowers for a third time. The judges didn’t like them the first two times, and they didn’t rip her a new one for doing it again? How utterly ridiculous. Meanwhile, Mitch came up with something new and interesting.

At least I had hope – Mitch was in the final two, and I was certain he would win. Even after watching the parties, I thought he did a better job. Mitch entertained guests; Kimberly kind of just hung around. Mitch featured a drink that he had created; Kimberly picked hers out of a catalog. Mitch kept an eye on the details, like food; Kimberly couldn’t even be bothered to taste the food at her party (and it turned out not to be good!). Mitch picked out his own floral arrangements; Kimberly relied on somebody with more knowledge than she had. When Mitch introduced his magazine cover, he explained it and provided some amusing background about himself; when Kimberly introduced her magazine cover, it was basically, “I’m a housewife. Here it is.”

It should have been no contest, based on the party alone. If the judges were taking previous accomplishments on the show into account, it should have been even more lopsided in favor of Mitch. Unfortunately, the judges didn’t see it that way.

Frankly, I’m not sure why Candace was picked to be a judge on this show, but it was a bad casting move. She had made odd choices all the way through, and made it even worse in the finale by picking Kimberly. Bobby should have stuck to what he knows – food. The food at Kimberly’s party was bad. But he chose to focus instead on the fact that, horror of horrors, Mitch chose to feature a tomato martini in the winter, totally ignoring Mitch’s creativity in coming up with the drink and Kimberly’s total lack thereof by using a catalog drink. Funny, I thought creativity was the whole point of this show.

And let’s look at who was consistently the most interesting people on the show: Darlene and Mitch. While you might not have always liked his attitude, Mitch always had something to say, and it was usually funny! There is no doubt in my mind that Mitch could easily carry a TV show, and I have heard from others who would certainly watch. Kimberly? Nope.

The show was flawed from the start. The method of choosing who went home was a poor one, and the judges were often no better. However, now it feels like the entire season was a waste. Kimberly will get to go on the Early Show six times. Great, we’ll learn how to make six different kinds of ribbon roses. I can’t even begin to imagine what her book will be like. Meanwhile, if I were a competing network, I would snap up Mitch and/or Darlene in a minute! I wish them both the best of luck.

David Bloomberg is the Editor of RealityNewsOnline and can be reached at RNO@pobox.com.

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