Winner Disqualified for Plagiarism on Ellen's Furniture Design Show  

Interesting! I've watched a bit of it, though compared to say Project Runway, where you get a sense of the design and construction process, I've found it kind of wanting. I bet it wasn't Ellen or the production company that found this problem, but the actual designer of the furniture.

Actually, I think Bob Vila (of all people!) had pinned the original design on Pinterest and one of his followers, (who are all wood fanatics), alerted Ellen's show, but I could be wrong.  I agree though--highly doubtful that HGTV discovered it.  I bet they are researching Tim McClellan's other five designs to see if they are going to have any more egg on their face.

Good for the Bob Vila fan, then. Wonder what this means for a second season -- wonder if there was going to be a second season anyway.

I just googled the story.
Some people are having a whinge but the show is quite correct in disqualifying Tim McClellan.
A very embarrassing issue for him and crazy to think you could get away with it.
It is obvious he has copied the genuine piece especially when you read his limited responses to the issue.He has not denied it and I they say he was supposed to make a statement back on the show.I can't see any way out for him except admitting to his copying the design.
 
 

Well, the Washington Post is having "a whinge" too.  
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/style-blog/wp/2015/03/03/a-woodworki...
My first thought was that the show's producers knew that this was a knockoff but they let it go so that they have a super-dramatic, ratings-increasing end to the first competition. And maybe that was the case, or maybe they didn't bother to research the designs at all (it's not as if HGTV has impeccable standards, after all).  So when this Big Dramatic Reality TV Twist lands fortuitously in their laps, they run with it.  I agree with the Post--very badly handled however it came up.  But is anyone surprised?
PS, I think that Colorado guy's furniture looks like Western-style Restoration Hardware and/or Pottery Barn.  I wonder how much of it is truly original?

My guess is more incompetence than plan (then again, that's my guess in most circumstances) on HGTV's part. The "expert" judges seemed pretty thin on actual expertise - maybe Wayfair's sponsorship meant that competitiors (designers and sellers) weren't asked.  Also, originality isn't everything - I'm talking about that chair in the first episode, that you couldn't sit in or, comfortably, look at.

These days many shows are getting to be about reality and controversy but I don't see the problem as people create that demand.
I personally can't watch reality shows as I find it painfully mind numbing.How many times has it come up about reality shows being completely set up to create tension and therefore viewability.Like a car crash they want it so you can't turn away.Most of these shows they are for the masses and are not meant to have any real depth or substance to them.
If they deleted the part about the disqualification there may have been nothing left of the episode.Maybe their method to cut in with voice over could have been better but I still think it best they let it all show.We have enough people out there,even big name designers who bring out new pieces to much fanfare yet they are obviously copied or very similar to vintage pieces.Yes being inspired excuse is very common and not exactly the same as a close copy but they still never admit to it up front.
About time we get some air time about copying someone elses designs so maybe people will think twice if they are concerned abut being outed.Copying is just a lazy way of designing when you lack the skill to design something aesthetically pleasing by yourself from scratch.

As evidenced by the existence of this thread, the plan is working.
 

Can't disagree with you about reality shows in general, Starline, but the only ones I watch (Project Runway and Top Chef) give me a chance to see people with real skills -- ones I don't have -- using those skills -- that's what I like. I'd hope for that with this furniture show, but there wasn't much of it, even without the copying.
glassartist, sure, but it's fun to know what people on this forum think.

There are just too many coincidences for this not to be plagiarism.  This young designer submits his final design for school in the spring of 2014 in Germany, in German, mind you.  His desk is noticed by the blogger at Homeli Design blog in the UK who posts pictures of it on 25 November, 2014.  In English.  Our man Tim, out in Jerome, Arizona, USA is picked to be a contestant on Ellen's reality show and starts filming in Nov/Dec.  Show premiers in January, 2015.
I'm gonna bet that Tim doesn't speak German and doesn't follow the happenings at the Scharfenberg carpentry school in Weisbaden.  However, when that desk hit the Homeli page, (which has some great things on it, by the way), he saw it and said to himself, "no one in America will ever find this odd German student desk reference.  I'm gonna use it if I can."  And he did and now he is caught.
Link for Homeli blog:  http://homeli.co.uk/sekretar-wood-beam-desk-by-simon-schacht/
 
 

I've watched a few episodes and thought he was clearly the most talented overall (assuming he was creating original works).  The furniture on his website looks nothing like pieces he "designed" for the show.  Maybe he is just a complete hack and a fraud.

I wish I knew what the Homeli site means when they tell us there's a translated description of Schacht's desk on the Scharfenberg site.  Translated into German, maybe ?  I would like the designer/maker's own words about how and why he made his piece as we see it . . .