No sooner do we lose half of Team Gay than we get a new, secret member in the person of cop-by-day, designer-by-night Mikey V. So Team Gay is back up to full force for the scariest challenge of them all, the 24-hour kitchen makeover.

Last season Team Gay member Sparkle Josh, facing the dreaded kitchen challenge

Keep in mind that no previous Design Star team has ever finished its kitchen challenge. However, no Design Star team has ever attempted its kitchen challenge with two Team Gay members, either. Did it make the difference?

Yes, if you mean, "Did they finish?" As to the rest, therein lies the story.

We began with this, a basic 70s kitchen/dining area with dark paneling, outdated appliances, and tired surfaces.

The kitchen, before

Tragically, Tracee won the draw and was made team leader, to the clearly expressed dismay of, well, everyone else. I may possibly have screamed at the television. She made up a nicely graphed plan of action, negotiated a great deal on new countertops, and then went shopping for what turned out to be pretty much the entire 24-hour period they had for the makeover.

Sparkle remembering kitchen challenge hell; "I'd rather makeover an outhouse," he said.

As one of last season's members of Team Gay, Sparkle Josh, commented, shopping is a very important part of design, certainly his favorite part. I sympathize with this, truly I do, but seeing her trying to decide what color pot holders to buy while Mikey V was kicking the old counters out with his feet didn't exactly endear her to me.

Mikey V nails it

Everyone has things they like, and things they know. I know a lot about Xena: Warrior Princess, shoes, dogs, politics, and alt/indie music. Country music, not so much. So when I'm told that Sara Evans is a superstar, I believe it, without actually having heard of her before.

Sara Evans, this week's design inspiration

This matters because Sara Evans is the inspiration for this week's Design Star challenge: to design the Sara Evans Suite at the Opreyland Hotel in Nashville, using her preferred design style of shabby chic.

The designers obviously keep up better than I do and were excited and impressed with the challenge. They all went off to meet with Sara Evans at her home, and to the hotel to see the suites.

The living room of the suite, before

This isn't quite my idea of the perfect blank canvas for the faded florals and overstuffed sofas of shabby chic design, but hey ... that's why it's a challenge.

The designers formed two teams, each with an identical suite. Team captains were Jennifer, who chose Matt (first pick, of course) and Stephanie, and Trish, who chose Mikey V and got stuck wtih Tracee as last pick.

Matt gave us a glimpse of what he'd be like as a host -- and the answer is, not bad at all:

Finally, Clive came in and blew his "time's up" air horn, which didn't faze Mikey V at all but sent Tracee around the bend:

Take a moment to let the fact that I'm about to say something nice about Tracee sink in. That wall behind them? She did it, and I liked it.

Find out who went home and who might be joining Team Gay, after the break!