 I should be putting on my evil voice because the time has finally come, it's time for winter home on afternoon express where three young design contestants transform three properties at the Valdivia State into dream homes using finishes provided by Caesar Stone as well as Plaskon. Now, after our design contestants received their first brief, the guest bedroom, they were faced with the task of decorating and designing the first room in their Valdivia apartment. Now, while having to bring their own flair, keep in touch with the expectations of the beautiful Polo Village and present their very first room, our three judges kept their close eye on them and now it is time for them to reveal their scores on each room. We're joined by our three contestants, Joanne, Mila and Rudolf. Hi. Oh gosh guys, how are you guys feeling? Nervous? Joanne? Yeah, quite nervous. I wonder what they're going to say. OK, what are your expectations? What are you feeling? Where's the mood at? Because you guys have been under a lot of stress. Are you tired? What are you feeling? Yeah, I'm quite tired. It's been a process but I love my guest bedrooms. I really hope it's going to be OK. You're keeping your cards as close to your chest as possible. I wonder how that's going to turn out. Rudolf? Yeah, I'm exhausted. I'm ready to make aluminium snow angels in that guest bedroom bed. And also bearing in mind, that's the room I'm coming to stay in. So all of you, I'd better have really good guest bedrooms this time around. Minanchal, how are you feeling, my friend? I'm excited in a sense that it's always good to get feedback on your work. Yeah. I think that's probably the most first time I've ever heard Minanchal say he's excited about something. There's an emotion. He's feeling something. I'm excited to see what it turns out. Also joining us in the loft today and opposite them is our three judges and result from Plaskon. She's the global colour manager, Simon Bray, CEO from Private Property. And last but not least, Mark Riley from Arc, Lady and Gents. How are you guys feeling today? It's Mark. Start with yourself. How are you feeling about the contestants? Yeah, all good. I think it's been an exciting time and we're quite excited about revealing what they've produced. Yeah. Simon spending that much time with these guys and checking out the properties and obviously, thinking from a business perspective, you've had to analyse this on a much deeper level than I think they expected. Yeah. I mean, we've hopefully stuck to our wheelhouses and got some good constructive feedback for the guys. I think that's very much what we want to achieve is first time out, judging, give them a good sense of where to go to next. Yeah. And Anne, your surname says it all. You've got to reveal the results of all of this stuff. Anne, how are you feeling? Well, they're obviously very talented designers. So I was very impressed with the standard. However, I must say I was a little bit disappointed in that. I felt they played it a little bit too safe. Hmm. Interesting. OK. So, lady and gents, this side too. We are going to have to get into judging those scores. So what I'm going to ask our judges to do is they're going to share a little bit of feedback on each of you individually and then give you a score which they've been rating you guys out of in the process. So, we're going to start with you, Minentale, as we reveal what exactly you guys thought. Mark, let's begin with you. Yeah. I think what I liked about Minentale's room was that there was a very clear, clean approach. I think he used a beautiful sense of colour and I quite like the mix of that. I think where he came a bit short in terms of the brief was that he didn't really approach the out-of-the-box approach that we wanted for the headboard design. I think he played it a bit safe with the four-poster bed and just the plain headboard. But I like that he used an accent colour to try and accentuate that. I think I also like that he used the mirror cupboards for the bedroom and that created a greater sense of space within the room. I think where he felt a bit short was just the practicality. I mean, he had positioned a chair and a plant in the one corner, made it a bit difficult to get around the room, to walk around the bed. But overall, yeah, I think I was impressed. I think when I scored Minentale's room, I kind of looked at various aspects in terms of originality of the design. I think he didn't score too well. But overall, I think he came out with an average mark of a seven. Sure. OK. That's not too bad. I think from what you mentioned, I think that's not too bad. And he's still giving you that deadpan look. Minentale's always got that chilled face on. So let's see what you have to say, Simon, from your side. Well, first of all, guys, congratulations. I thought high level of design, I think the brief. You guys really interpreted it well. And I think for the most part created rooms that any guest would be thrilled to be in. So when it came to Minentale's room, some of the similar feedback to Mark, I looked specifically at the marketability of the property. And to that point, all three rooms were incredibly well staged. I mean, that's one thing that a lot of people miss is it's not just about the finishings and the furnishings, but it's how you present it to the audience. And I think you guys did a great job there. Just in terms of your room, the value added to the room. Some feedback that I would have is that furniture is not always a great value add. Furniture often leaves with the owner of the property. But fixtures are. So didn't see a lot of fixtures in Minentale's room. Would have been good to have a little bit more of that type of design in the space. Would have added more value to the overall room. But beautiful interpretation. And in the end, just that lack of fixtures probably let you down. The lack of additional furnishings let you down. You know, perhaps some side tables or something just to make it feel a little bit more complete. Six and a half. Six and a half. Still not a terrible score, I think, coming from you. No, not by any means. Given that feedback. That is well done so far. It's our first scores. We don't know how to compare it with the rest. Anne, your feedback from Minentale. Well, what I loved about Minentale's design was that he really thought about the guests coming to stay there. And I thought it was great that he put a queen-size bed in. And that it was a full poster bed because it takes your eyes sort of up and around. And you don't really notice that it's a really small room because you've got a queen-size bed in there. And I disagree with Simon a little bit because I think less is sometimes more in a small room. So instead of having lots of bits and pieces in a small little desk or whatever, your guest is going to have a comfortable night's sleep. I love that you bought in a feature wall and that you thought about colors of Valdivia and bought those colors in. I thought your room had a spirit and a character. I love the little African flavor that you bought to it with your African design. It wasn't a zebra carpet or anything that was cliche African. But it had something African about it. And I love that you bought that spirit and that character. And please carry on with that because that's important to have in design. Good feedback. And your score? My score was 6.5. 6.5. So two 6.5s and a 7 coming in for Minentale. Let's move on to Rudolph. We'll start again with you. Mark. Yeah. Well, I think Rudolph definitely raised the bar. And I think he set the bar for the rest of the competition. I think in terms of his room design, I think he ticked all the boxes. I think the main essence of the brief was to create, was to be a gracious host. And I think he's definitely captured that. I think he's thought about every single detail within the room. Right down to providing the guest with the slippers. And I think that's really what we were looking for was that sense of luxury and that kind of wild factor. Rudolph also did tick the box in terms of looking at the design of the headboard. I quite like the juxtaposition of the design of a marble element and then combining that with the lever paneling. I thought that was really lovely. In terms of creating more space, I also like the approach that he used in terms of having an open dresser unit and I think together with the layout of where he positioned his bed, where he put the full length mirror, all of that creates a great ambience and a kind of much more bigger sense of space within the room. Really positive. What score did you give him with all of that? Well, I think Rudolph scored quite high on this and he got a 9.1. Wow. That is incredible. Really, really well done, man. That is really good news to hear. Simon, are you as positive? I am, actually. We seem to agree on a few things tonight, Mark. You and I are going to class as we go. OK, good. You know, I agree with the space in the room. As you walk in the bed and the positioning of that, the mirror, particularly like that, again bringing space into the room, the fixtures that we were talking about, the floor in particular, I think that adds a lot of value to the space. I think that is going to be something that people remember. I think that is going to be something that adds to the marketability of the home in years to come. So I really enjoyed that. Again, I thought that there was an opportunity missed. You brought the desk into the room. Excellent. We wanted to see a multifunctional space. We wanted to have that option of the guest perhaps having a private space to work. But this is the only spare room in the house. So it made sense to bring some type of clever storage solution into that space. And I don't think any of you guys really did that. I would have liked to see something innovative, perhaps with the bed in mind, under the bed, or something just to create a little bit more storage space for the apartment as a whole. I think that was an opportunity missed. So how did you score that, keeping that in mind? In terms of the marketability, in terms of the value added, I think it was an 8 out of 10. 8 out of 10. Also a very good score already. Two and a half above what Minentale scored in the same department. So Ann, over to you. OK. Well, I thought it was a very modern and edgy room. And I really loved the use of textures, you know, the marble with the leather and then the sheer curtains and all of that was, you know, I loved the mixture of that. I also loved the wallpaper and the relief it brought. It made the room look bigger. But I felt it was very masculine. And it looked a bit corporate to me. And while my son, who's 20-something, absolutely would love to stay there, I don't know if my mother would. So I felt it lacked the feminine touches. I also feel, for guests, it's not a good idea to use brown sheets. I'm one of those people who like watchlets to sleep in. So I don't know if that's a good idea. I loved the yellow throw because I thought that lifted the whole scheme and it gave a little bit of cheeriness to it. Overall, for 75,000 rand, I think you could have added a lot more. Your attention to detail was fantastic. I mean, I've got a complimenting on that. But it was lacking something. For that amount of money, it was lacking soul and spirit. It was a bit too corporate for me. Yes, how did that affect your score? It affected my score a lot because that's what I think. This is somebody's home. It's a guest room where you're inviting people into your home. This isn't a hotel room. So, and I didn't, although you used natural elements, I felt they didn't reflect well to be enough. So I scored you a 5.5. A lower score today, so far from Ann, lower than me and Claire, whereas the other two judges seemed to have really, really liked what you had done. So lots to think about. All that's left is one more contestant. Joanne scores coming up after the break. Welcome back to Afternoon Express. I have a big smile on my face. It's the best time of day because we have got a winner home right here in Afternoon Express and our contestants are sitting very, very tight on the edge of their seats but who's gonna be the winner by the judges of their first room, which is their guest bedroom? Our judges join us in the studio with us today. It's good to have them as well as our three design contestants. So far, we have me and Claire sitting on 20 points and we have Rudolph sitting on 22.8. Rudolph slightly in the lead. All that's left is Joanne. Mark, any comments for Joanne? Yeah, well, I think Joanne's room for me was a little bit too minimal. I do like that she ticked quite a few of the boxes and I particularly liked the scale of her headboard. I thought that was very interesting. But I scored her still a high score of about 8.1. 8.1, so giving a nice high score. They're not as high as Rudolph's score but still a very, very high score. It's still a chance for her to sneak in that first position. Simon, solubility. I thought it was a great room. You know, it definitely ticked the box. That spa feel, that relaxation feel had lovely light quality to the room. I thought one practical element that a lot of the other guys overlooked was the window covering. Yes. Did a great blind in that bedroom as opposed to flimsy curtains. I gave her a 7. Wow, okay. Simon is scoring quite nicely here. So that's your second highest score so far and that means over to you and if you give her a high enough score she could take that leading position. I absolutely loved the headboard. I thought it was beautiful and the colour was also gorgeous and it just blended beautifully and made the room really look bigger and brighter and friendly. But I felt it was a bit matchy-matchy and I just wanted a little bit more interest in there and I didn't feel you bought in the essence and the colours of Valdavi. So I would like to see a little bit more of that. So beautifully styled. I mean, you could snap that for a magazine straight away but again, I'm thinking of a guest coming to stay reflecting Valdavi. That's what I'm looking for. I'm not looking for a beautiful room that could be anywhere in the world. But this is a contest. We need to give her a score. Okay, I gave her 5. Okay, so that is her lowest score today so far. So that means our leaderboard leads as follows. 20 points to Minentia, 22.84 Rudolph and we have got Joanne sitting on 20.1. Congratulations on Rudolph. You are officially got the high score so far for the first bedroom but it's all to the rest of them. You set the high standard. You've got to keep it there. The rest of you have got a chance now to grow as you become. Well, certainly a tough first round and interesting introduction for our design contestants. Apart from our judges' votes though, you, the viewer, also have a say. The design contestants with the most amount of viewer votes by the end of Winner Home on Afternoon Express, not just this challenge, at the end of the competition, will also win a cash prize of 50,000 rand. We've tallied the votes and that you guys have made so far. And this week, these are going to be the results. We'll quickly show them to you right now. And here they are. We have 49% to Minentia, 26% to Rudolph and 25% to Joanne. So Minentia is the winner. Remember, you have until Thursday, the 16th of June to vote for your favorite guest bedroom. For myself, Genie and Bonnie, thanks for tuning into Afternoon Express. See you tomorrow, right on Afternoon Express. Good night, happy eating.