The-F-Word.org

Vern Yip shows his true colors

19th January 2008

Vern Yip shows his true colors

posted in Arts and Music, Fat Bias, Pop Culture |

I love me some Vern Yip, but neither the husband nor I have been able to get into his new HGTV show Deserving Design. The half-hour show’s premise is as its title suggests: Vern rewards an inspirational or “deserving” family with makeovers of two rooms in their house. Such deserving homeowners have included Katrina victims, nonprofit benefit organizers, an Iraqi war veteran, expecting public school teachers, a firefighter, and community activists.
Vern Yip
Because money appears to be no object for Deserving Design, the show lacks some of the realism of the home shows we usually watch. But for me, the imposition of moral judgment on people - even people who are undeniably doing great things - is what rubs me the wrong way. In classifying some people as deserving, you’re also simultaneously making an implicit and individual value-based distinction that defines some people as more “deserving” than others.

Take tonight’s show, for example. Vern surprises a woman who has lost nearly 200 pounds in 15 months “through hard work, old-fashioned dieting and the help of her supportive husband, Albert.”

Vern rewards homeowner Flavia Cabrera with a brand new kitchen, because the kitchen “is the most important room in the house” for anyone who’s lost weight, Vern tells viewers. And as a surprise, Vern turns the couple’s master bedroom into a romantic retreat, the insinuation of which is not lost on viewers.

While speaking with the homeowners in their kitchen about what they’d like changed, Vern notices Flavia’s scale in front of the refrigerator. I can’t even begin to describe how incredibly disordered this is, yet Vern enthusiastically informs Flavia at the reveal that he’s kept her scale in its place of honor.

And after surprising the couple with their new romantic retreat, Vern points out a full-length mirror he’s placed on the wall, telling Flavia that he put it there because now that she’s lost weight, she’s “proud enough to have them up.”

“You are truly a deserving person,” says Vern to Flavia at the closing. “You lost 180 pounds and now you are just as beautiful on the outside as you are on the inside.”

Oh, my… Where do I begin? Maybe I should start with the inherent wrongness of elevating weight loss next to godliness? And it isn’t even as if we’re rewarding this woman for taking measures to improve her health. We have no idea if this woman was unhealthy at her highest weight, just as we don’t know if she is now healthier at a lower weight. And to give this woman’s weight loss some further perspective: Flavia lost 180 pounds in 15 months. I lost 175 pounds in a year - and I was suffering from anorexia and a brief bout with bulimia.

I think Tari said it best in a comment on a similar issue raised by Project Runway. Writes Tari:

By constantly and ubiquitously glorifying weight loss, we reinforce the message that only by losing weight can a person be worthy of fame or attention or reward. This tells us that only thin people matter, only thin people are sexy and fashionable, only thin people have a place in our society.

I should probably move on to the thinly guised bigotry revealed in Vern’s comments, in which he reveals his own discriminatory perceptions of fat people. I kind of liken Vern’s comments in the same vein as the ever-patronizing “But, you have such a pretty face!” line fat women hear so often. While fat people can be “beautiful on the inside,” according to Vern, they’re not physically attractive until they lose weight and only then are they entitled to even a modicum of pride in how they look.

I’ve said it before and it bears repeating and repeating and repeating: If we are to reward people, especially women, shouldn’t we reward them for something that really matters?

Scripps Networks, the parent company of HGTV, has a feedback form here if you’d like to send them a note with your thoughts on the show.

Click to Bookmark
This entry was posted on Saturday, January 19th, 2008 at 10:46 pm and is filed under Arts and Music, Fat Bias, Pop Culture. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Responses are currently closed, but you can trackback from your own site.

There are currently 25 responses to “Vern Yip shows his true colors”

Why not let us know what you think by adding your own comment!

  1. 1 On January 19th, 2008, lilacsigilNo Gravatar said:

    …I wonder how long that weight has stayed off, and what the poor woman will do if her weight, any of it, comes back? Does she have to revamp her house and remove her reward mirror?

    posted on January 19th, 2008 at 11:45 pm

  2. 2 On January 20th, 2008, mustelidNo Gravatar said:

    Damn. The show’s title was bad enough. But rewarding someone for developing an eating disorder? Encouraging them to continue?! Sheesh, what happens if Flavia starts regaining? Does everything get put back the way it was, or does the show do a new design ‘Now With 80% More Fat-Shaming!’

    posted on January 20th, 2008 at 9:48 am

  3. 3 On January 20th, 2008, kriselda jarnsaxaNo Gravatar said:

    I’m really sorry to hear about Vern’s attitude because I’ve enjoyed him as a host on the Design Star competition. I did want to point out one thing regarding the comment about Project Runway: While it’s true that they did make a big fuss about the women who had lost weight, there have also been challenges where larger women have been used as models.

    They’ve done two episodes - one this season (prom dresses) and one last (make a dress for a competitor’s mother or sister) where some of the contestants were larger women. While the designers did have problems with making larger clothes as they had little to no experience in making clothes other than for their models to wear, designers on the show have had the same problems when they had to make men’s clothing. So, the problem wasn’t that they had to make *large* clothes - it was that they had to make *unfamiliar* clothes. (Granted, that is an issue in and of itself, but I’ll save that for a later rant *g*)

    When it came to judging, especially on the show with the designers’ relatives, the judges wanted to see the women in outfits that were well-proportioned, well-fitted and made the women feel beautiful. They particularly didn’t want anything “boring.”

    I was really pleased with both of the episodes, because, to me, anyway, I never felt like the judges were going to let the designers get away with shoddy or poorly designed outfits just because the clients were fat. They expected those designers to make their clients happy, regardless of their size, and, except for the “unfamiliar”ity angle, size was never really brought up as an issue.

    So, while the dieting episode wasn’t great, I do think they deserve credit for having the designers have to do work for larger women and expecting them to take the job as seriously as they do any other. It was pretty cool, overall, IMO.

    posted on January 20th, 2008 at 1:08 pm

  4. 4 On January 20th, 2008, celsouNo Gravatar said:

    I find that so humiliating, getting a pat on the the head from the thin folks. “That’ll do pig, that’ll do”.

    posted on January 20th, 2008 at 4:18 pm

  5. 5 On January 20th, 2008, OrodemniadesNo Gravatar said:

    Yeah, I’ve not been able to get into his show, either. Don’t know what it is…maybe I just don’t think his clients are deserving enough? I dunno…

    And I hate it when people are congratulated for losing weight, it’s not like they’ve won a MacArthur Grant or something.

    posted on January 20th, 2008 at 5:24 pm

  6. 6 On January 20th, 2008, JackieNo Gravatar said:

    I know what you mean Ordermnaides. If it was a comedic Anime, it’d be something like:

    “You lost 200 pounds here’s your new home! *glowing angelic lights, and angels singing “ahhhh”

    “Wait, did you just gain a pound? *the lights and singing stop* *the house is magically returned to the way it was*, sorry buh-bye!”

    Person who won the contest: O_o *Anime character freaking out with flailing arms* “WHAT THE HECK WAS THAT?!”

    posted on January 20th, 2008 at 5:47 pm

  7. 7 On January 20th, 2008, Fat GirlNo Gravatar said:

    Ugh, is all I can say.

    I mean, I get it, first off- losing weight is hard, and even harder to do healthfully. I feel like people ought to get some kind of recognition for that, but at the same time, it’s not so hard that we need to elevate it to this godly thing. Millions of people do it, so it’s obviously not anywhere close to impossible. It’s not easy, no, but it’s also not like climbing fucking mount everest.

    I guess I’m sick of it.. but I know that’s what’s going to happen to me, WHEN I lose all the weight I need to get rid of so I can stop hurting all the time. And I just hope that when it does start happening I’ll have the courage to say to people “I’m glad you think I did a great job, but lets concentrate on something else..”

    posted on January 20th, 2008 at 6:11 pm

  8. 8 On January 21st, 2008, TariNo Gravatar said:

    This totally turns my stomach. I mean, setting aside a general beef with the idea of “deserving” (I’m totally there with you), everything you’ve outlined makes me just sick. The idea that a scale by the fridge is okay, that a woman only deserves her full-length mirror after losing weight, and the “romantic” bedroom makeover?! Beyond ridiculous.

    I’m not particularly familiar with Vern Yip, but I have to wonder if there’s anything about him that’s attractive, inside or out.

    posted on January 21st, 2008 at 1:24 am

  9. 9 On January 21st, 2008, AngeliqueNo Gravatar said:

    A scale in front of the refrigerator? As you point out, this is a Red Flag if ever there were one! And how terrible that he’s making such a big deal out of the kitchen and the bedroom (”Now you can stay skinny and have great sex… which only thin people deserve, ya know.”)

    posted on January 21st, 2008 at 10:22 am

  10. 10 On January 21st, 2008, CharlotteNo Gravatar said:

    I love me some Vern Yip too…I remember watching him back in the day (ok, not that far back) on Trading Spaces. This makes me sad to see his bias come through.
    I hate it when weight loss is elevated and rewarded like that. It makes me feel like no matter what I do, no matter how many degrees I get, it doesn’t matter because I’m fat. It’s like they’re saying nothing is as important as losing weight.
    Oh, and the scale in front of the refrigerator? I don’t know much about disordered eating, but that is definitely a sign that this woman did not lose weight in a “healthy” way.

    posted on January 21st, 2008 at 4:56 pm

  11. 11 On January 22nd, 2008, EllenNo Gravatar said:

    Life-long emotional overeater, with the closet full of every size from 6 to 16. Have lost it four times now - all via slow, healthy methods - and just finished the fourth time (a year to lose 70 lbs - slowly, eating healthy and exercising - no dieting). Hope this is the last time, because I feel fantastic. Last year, I couldn’t walk up the two flights of stairs in my house without huffing and puffing. Now an 8-mile hike up a local “mountain” at a fast clip is an easy stroll. Given that I’ve earned my “Ph.D” in this subject, I feel I have a right to say that you use whatever tricks you can. I don’t have a scale in front of my refrigerator, but if I thought that would have helped, I would have. I think Brian Wansink is right about mindless eating, and I know that little cues like that would have caused me to stop and think before I opened the refrigerator door when I was not hungry, but seeking an emotional fix. As they say - if hunger is not the problem, food is not the solution. Please don’t criticize people who do want to lose weight, and who come up with tricks to help themselves do so.

    posted on January 22nd, 2008 at 10:08 am

  12. 12 On January 22nd, 2008, MoeNo Gravatar said:

    This makes me incredibly sad. I don’t understand why people like this think that is a compliment.

    posted on January 22nd, 2008 at 12:34 pm

  13. 13 On January 22nd, 2008, RachelNo Gravatar said:
    Ellen - Thanks for sharing your experiences. No one here is criticizing anyone for losing weight at all. I respect Cabrera’s decision that weight loss is in her best interest. I make no judgments on the health decisions others make.

    What I do take issue with is that weight loss is esteemed above all else and Cabrera is heralded as “deserving” because she has lost weight. The message here is clear: Only people who lose weight are “deserving” of public recognition and gifts.

    If we are to reward people, especially women, why not reward them for something other than their conformity to a pre-fabricated mold of what a woman ought look like. I kind of liken it to rewarding women who get breast implants. Where are the makeovers for the female scientists and mathematicians? Where are the gifts for the single moms who have lifted their families from welfare through hard work and determination? Where is the recognition for women who help fight for civil/gay/women’s rights? Do you see what I’m getting at here?

    And while it’s true that Flavia Cabrera could have a disordered relationship with food, I still find the need to place a scale in front of the refrigerator as a sign that she has yet to overcome these issues.

    posted on January 22nd, 2008 at 1:40 pm

  14. 14 On January 28th, 2008, FromtheGreatLakeNo Gravatar said:

    Instead of trying to find something that is wrong and “unfair” and complain about it, possibly we should be happy for what we each have and if we are so proud of ourselves it shouldn’t matter what others think. I believe that instead of looking at this story as a tragic case of discrimination we should feel happy for this woman who made herself healthier. It is truly something for them to decide to be healthy and to decide to do it in a manner that doesn’t require surgical methods. Can we maybe be happy instead of angry?

    posted on January 28th, 2008 at 12:06 pm

  15. 15 On January 31st, 2008, NinaNo Gravatar said:

    Rachel, let’s be fair here. If you’re going to interpret that episode as saying that ONLY “people who lose weight are “deserving” of public recognition and gifts” then you also have to interpret their past shows as implying that

    - ONLY war veterans are deserving of public recognition and gifts

    - ONLY firefighters are deserving…

    etc, etc.

    Just because something hurts doesn’t mean it’s unfair. I’m someone who desperately wants to be pregnant and has repeatedly failed to become so. I winced when I read about the “expecting schoolteachers” getting home makeovers. What, they’re pregnant, that means they’re already lucky, now they’re being rewarded MORE? For their dumb luck? Ouch.

    Nevertheless, I realize that this is MY crazy, my pain, my history that I’m putting onto this situation. Doesn’t make it fair or unfair because there is no “fair” where this sort of charity is concerned — no one actually has a right to a new kitchen, so the charity-giver is certainly entitled to please him/herself.

    posted on January 31st, 2008 at 11:25 am

  16. 16 On January 31st, 2008, RachelNo Gravatar said:
    Nina: I’m not talking about the sum of the shows - you have to look at each show relatively. In this particular episode, by classifying people who have lost weight as “deserving,” you are, by comparison, classifying people who have not lost weight as “undeserving.”

    In doing so, the show has imposed an implied value judgment on people who have failed to lose weight that speaks volumes. We are already seeing the effects of those who would classify fat people as “undeserving” of health care, because they assume their illness or injury is a “self-inflicted” one. We also see this force in play with people who assume fat people are “undeserving” of basic civil rights and respect, simply because their failure to lose weight is seen as a character flaw.

    I think we should take a cue from history, which teaches us the folly and danger of classifying some people as less “deserving” than others.

    Ultimately, you’re right - it’s the show’s dollar and their call. But the station also professes a commitment to diversity in its programs, so I think it is perfectly reasonable to call them out on this contradiction in its mission and its actions.

    posted on January 31st, 2008 at 11:44 am

  17. 17 On January 31st, 2008, NinaNo Gravatar said:

    I do get the desire to be cautious/sensitive when talking about a subject like weight loss that has been used to bludgeon people in a hundred different ways. But I just don’t think that what’s going on here is much of a diss.

    Why doesn’t the analogy with the other episodes work for you? My guess is that few of us think that judging pregnant women as deserving = calling infertile/childfree people (by comparison) undeserving, judging war veterans as deserving = imposing an implied value judgment on all those who have not served in the military, etc.

    So why read the weight-loss episode as a referendum on fatness, when the other episodes are not referendums on military service, procreation, etc?

    posted on January 31st, 2008 at 10:21 pm

  18. 18 On February 13th, 2008, priscillaNo Gravatar said:

    okay, i was nominated to be on this show, not for losing weight but for completely other reasons. don’t blame vern for who gets selected, he goes where they tell him to - it isn’t his decision. people don’t generally put themselves up to be on the show themselves, it is an outsider that feels someone they know deserves something special to be done for them. you guys are reading too much into the episodes of the show.

    the scale was already in front of the refrigerator and that apparently was something that assisted this woman in her quest to lose the weight so out of respect to what works for her is probably the reason why he left it there. unlike trading spaces on this show if you make a request to leave something alone or to do something specific they do honor that so this could have been her request, there is this thing called editing so we don’t exactly get to hear these requests and what not.

    just let it be. if you don’t like the show don’t freaking watch it.

    posted on February 13th, 2008 at 10:39 pm

  19. 19 On February 14th, 2008, RachelNo Gravatar said:
    Priscilla - I understand Vern doesn’t select whom will be on the show. My critique is with the show in general, and then with Vern specifically for the comments he made at the end of the show. And just because I don’t agree with the show doesn’t mean we shouldn’t discuss it. If we just ignore everything we didn’t like, we’d still be a country ruled by men and populated by slaves. You can’t hide your head in the sand forever.

    posted on February 14th, 2008 at 10:02 am

  20. 20 On March 10th, 2008, CorksterNo Gravatar said:

    Has anyone heard the word “script”! Hel-lo — I am an avid fan of HGTV so I never saw designs by Vern or knew who he was before Design Star. I guess I am just a positive thinking person (and actually happen to be overweight and am in the process of working out and eating healthy before I do anymore damage to my body with all the extra weight) who is open minded so I don’t think the whole world hates me for being fat. But, lets be realistic - put a photo of the thin, healthy me next to the current overweight one and I don’t even want to look at the fat one - not because of guilt - simply because obesity is NOT attractive. Maybe you have been that way your entire life and don’t know what the real you looks like - I look at obese children and I get upset with their parents for filling the grocery basket with junk - not fruits, vegetables and nutritious foods - shame on them for being to lazy to care for their kids! Leave Vern Yip alone - he is a good designer with good intentions.

    posted on March 10th, 2008 at 2:23 pm

  21. 21 On March 10th, 2008, RachelNo Gravatar said:
    I look at obese children and I get upset with their parents for filling the grocery basket with junk - not fruits, vegetables and nutritious foods - shame on them for being to lazy to care for their kids!

    So, the parents of thin kids who also buy these kinds of foods and thin kids themselves get a free pass?

    Corkster - Your personal aesthetic preferences are just that: personal. Please do not impose them upon the rest of humanity. Thank you.

    posted on March 10th, 2008 at 2:55 pm

  22. 22 On March 15th, 2008, Wilma WiremanNo Gravatar said:

    Vern, I know its not gonna hurt to ask, on your deserving design program I see you doing a lot for deserving people. well I believe my husband would fall into that catagory. My husband Marvin Wireman has been a pastor of our church for the past 40 years, he has never taken one cent for that, he says he believes everyone should work by the sweat of their browl. Well 1989 we lost our home due to water damage that caused our house to fall sideways. Our insurance would not pay anything, they said we was covered for flood damage or even surface water. So we got nothing. I had hurt my back at work and coulden’t work, I received a check from work of $850.00, we took that and paid it down on a single wide moble home. My husband built a porch on back and front of our trailer, after a few years he enclosed both in to make rooms of them. Only one thing neither one ever got finished inside. Marvin has been very ill, last september he underwent a quaddrupple heart bypass, and recently eye surgery, He retired in 2000 from a small factory where he worked for the past 37 years. we are living on Social Security, and we cannot afford to hire someone to finish the work on our two rooms. I don’t know if you all would consider us for your promgram or not but as I said it doesent hurt to ask. Thank you for just reading this.
    Wilma Wireman

    posted on March 15th, 2008 at 4:10 pm

  23. 23 On March 15th, 2008, RachelNo Gravatar said:
    Wilma: I am not Vern Yip.

    posted on March 15th, 2008 at 8:36 pm

  24. 24 On March 25th, 2008, cookieNo Gravatar said:

    I love Vern Yip. Why can’t people just not watch the show if it doesn’t make the grade with you. geez…
    thats what the channel changer is for. Personally, I like Vern Yip and his designs and I like to be able to watch him in many different venues.

    posted on March 25th, 2008 at 2:22 pm

  25. 25 On March 25th, 2008, RachelNo Gravatar said:
    Same to you Cookie. If you don’t like the views expressed here, that’s what the big red X is for at the corner of your browser. Personally, I like to be able to hold and express an opinion.

    posted on March 25th, 2008 at 3:56 pm


Socialized through Gregarious 42