While talent was a definite factor in choosing the cream of the crop for the third season of HGTV’s Design Star, in the end, the winner came down to who the viewer liked better.

The final two contestants were Jennifer Bertrand and Matt Locke. Jennifer, 32, is a designer from Olathe, Kansas, and Matt, 38, is an interiors, furniture and lighting designer from Los Angeles, California.

For the final challenge, Matt and Jennifer traveled to New Orleans to help two families who had their homes destroyed from Hurricane Katrina.

With only $20,000 and 36 hours, Jennifer and Matt had complete a new kitchen, dining room and living room areas for the families. While Matt went with a contemporary design, Jennifer used bold colors and dramatic design elements. Both families were very happy with the end results.

“Jennifer and Matt are fantastic designers and proved their skills as television hosts during the show’s intense design challenges,” said James Bolosh, who is HGTV’s vice president of event programming. “HGTV would be pleased to have either designer join our roster of network talent.”

But who came out on top and will be getting their own HGTV show soon? Find out after the jump!

The winner is…

Jennifer Bertrand!

The winner of Design Star 2, Kim Myles, presented both Jennifer and runner-up Matt with seven day Caribbean cruises for two on Princess Cruises. Host Clive Pearse also gave Matt and Jen a $5000 gift card from Bank Of America.

Congrats, Jennifer! I have to admit, I was kind of rooting for Matt. Who did you want to win?

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