Katie Stout, 26, a furniture designer from Brooklyn, N.Y., has been crowned the first season champion of HGTV’s furniture design competition, Ellen’s Design Challenge. During Monday night’s finale, Katie received the surprise of a lifetime when Ellen DeGeneres delivered the news that the initial winner of the competition was disqualified. Ellen then told Katie that she was, in fact, the winner of the competition and that she would receive the $100,000 cash prize courtesy of Wayfair.com and a feature in HGTV Magazine.

Ellen DeGeneres (left) with winner of HGTV's Ellen's Design Challenge, Katie Stout. (Photo: Business ...

Ellen DeGeneres (left) with winner of HGTV's Ellen's Design Challenge, Katie Stout. (Photo: Business Wire)

“Throughout the competition, Katie’s innovative, dynamic and exuberant pieces were beyond creative. She constantly challenged herself and her final piece blew our minds,” said Ellen.

For her final design, Katie, with help from carpenter Karl Champley, created a dynamic and fun console that featured unexpected materials, veneers and functions, such a sliding side table and two stools crafted from purpleheart wood. During the deliberation, judge Christiane Lemieux, executive creative director of Wayfair.com, expressed that “from a design execution standpoint… it’s pretty amazing,” while Amanda Dameron, editor of Dwell, said that “Katie [demonstrates] her mastery of materials.” Guest judge Jane Hallworth said she loved the purpleheart. “I haven’t seen it in a really long time, but it was used in a really refreshing way.”

“I competed on a national televised show with the best of the best and came out on top,” said Katie. “I see my future so differently now… and winning Ellen’s Design Challenge is a life changer.”

The six-episode series, Ellen’s first on cable television, featured six competitors as they tackled ingenious challenges to sketch, design and build extraordinary furniture. Produced by Ellen’s production company, A Very Good Production, and A. Smith & Co. in association with Telepictures, Ellen’s Design Challenge required contestants to create inventive furniture designs to avoid elimination. Television personality Jay Montepare served as the series’ host.

Executive producers for Ellen’s Design Challenge include Ellen, who first conceptualized the series, along with Jeff Kleeman of A Very Good Production, and Arthur Smith, Kent Weed and Tim Eagan of A. Smith & Co.

ABOUT HGTV

America’s leading home and lifestyle brand, HGTV features a top-rated cable network that is distributed to more than 96 million U.S. households and the HGTV website, HGTV.com, the nation’s leading online home-and-garden destination that attracts an average of four million unique visitors per month. The brand also includes the HGTV HOME™ consumer products line which showcases exclusive collections of paint, flooring, lighting, furniture, plants, fabrics and other home-oriented products. In partnership with Hearst Magazines, the HGTV Magazine, a home and lifestyle publication, is currently available on newsstands. Viewers can become fans of HGTV and interact with other home improvement enthusiasts through Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest and Instagram. Headquartered in Knoxville, Tenn., HGTV is owned by Scripps Networks Interactive, Inc. (SNI).

ABOUT TELEPICTURES

Telepictures is an industry-leading and Emmy® Award–winning producer of innovative, multiplatform advertiser-friendly television series and digital content for the first-run syndication, cable and digital marketplace. Programs produced by Telepictures have won 85 Emmy® Awards in the last 18 years, including Outstanding Talk Show or Outstanding Talk Show Host for 15 of the last 17 years. Current Telepictures series include The Ellen DeGeneres Show, Ellen’s Design Challenge, Extra, Judge Mathis, The People’s Court, The Real, TMZ, TMZ Hollywood Sports, TMZ Live, Candidly Nicole and Let’s Ask America. Upcoming programs include Crime Watch Daily and Hello Goodbye. For more information about Telepictures programming, please visit www.telepicturestv.com.

ABOUT A VERY GOOD PRODUCTION

A Very Good Production (AVGP) is the Emmy®-winning television and film production company of producer/writer/actor/host Ellen DeGeneres. Based at Warner Bros. Television Group (WBTVG) with an exclusive multiyear deal, AVGP produces the nationally syndicated daytime talk program The Ellen DeGeneres Show and develops television projects for all divisions of WBTVG, including scripted and unscripted primetime series for network and cable, as well as additional syndicated fare. AVGP’s current slate of television projects includes the new scripted comedy One Big Happy for NBC; unscripted series Repeat After Me for ABC; unscripted design competition program Ellen’s Design Challenge for HGTV; and Hello Goodbye, an upcoming unscripted series for the Travel Channel highlighting heart-warming — and sometimes heart-wrenching — stories of love, sorrow, family and friendship from travelers of all cultures and walks of life. Jeff Kleeman serves as President of A Very Good Production.

ABOUT A. SMITH & CO

A. Smith & Co. Productions creates some of the most innovative, highly rated and high-quality programming for the domestic and international television marketplace. The company has produced more than 2,000 hours of award-winning programming. Current productions include such hits as Hell’s Kitchen, Kitchen Nightmares, American Ninja Warrior, Unsung, Full Throttle Saloon, Burns BBQ, Celebrity Crime Files, Conspiracy Theory with Jesse Ventura, Too Young to Marry?, Save Our Business, UFC Countdown, Joe Rogan Questions Everything, Divorce Hotel and many others. A. Smith & Co.’s library of programming includes hit shows such as Paradise Hotel, I Survived a Japanese Game Show, The Swan, Trading Spaces, Pros vs. Joes and Skating with Celebrities. A. Smith & Co. has developed and produced the No. 1 show in America 25 times and a Top 10 show more than 200 times, producing programs with budgets totaling approximately one billion dollars for more than 42 broadcast and cable networks.