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Everything About the Viral ‘$95k HDB Reno’ Saga & Its Real-life Plot Twists

2018-02-24 , 3:34 pm

Last Updated on 2018-02-27 , 10:48 am

(Editor’s note: A previous version of this article said that the “Designer in the House: Max and Michelle” episode was filmed before Max Lee, the homeowner, joined D5 Studio Image. This is inaccurate and the article has been amended accordingly.)

In case you’re not aware, Channel 5 is in deep shit.

Like shit hits the fan level type of shit.

One of the revenues for a broadcasting company is through advertising for clients. But what if you lose the trust of your viewers?

You can say bye-bye to your clients liao.

And this HDB renovation saga might just be the one to do that for Channel 5.

Homeowners paid $95k despite delay in delivery and overshot of budget by $25k

On 8 February 2018, Mediacorp Channel 5 Facebook page uploaded a video about a couple getting a $95k renovation done on their HDB flat.

The video went viral with 1.9k shares and over 226k views.

But for the wrong reasons.

The renovation cost exceeded the projected budget of $70k and the renovation took 16 weeks instead of 10 weeks.

Image: Mediacorp Channel 5 Facebook Page

Yet the homeowners were still pretty happy with the renovation.

But that’s not the end. Oh, no, there’s more.

An eagle-eyed netizen inspected the video and came to a startling conclusion.

Max, the homeowner of the $95k flat is an employee of the ID firm, D5 Studio Image.

It got so big that the folks at EDMW went ahead and CSI him.

And more photos of Max and D5 Studios surfaced after the investigation.

This is a picture of Max with his happy clients.

Max wearing a t-shirt with D5 Studio Image logo.

A Facebook post showing Max and Michelle together with D5 Studio Image at Thailand.

MediaCorp Channel 5 has responded to the netizens about the status of Max

Given how serious this issue is, Mediacorp has since responded to the saga.

And here’s what they said: Max was not employed with the company when Mediacorp met with D5.

He joined the company later.

Despite being informed about Max’s employment with the company, they selected Max’s house and went ahead with the production because they felt that the Japanese minimalist design is an upcoming trend among young homeowners today.

Mediacorp emphasised that Max had engaged D5 Studio Image for the renovation works before he joined the company.

They decided to proceed with the video as the renovation job was contracted before his employment.

Mediacorp admitted that they should have informed viewers about the development to prevent any misunderstanding, but insisted that they tried to produce the video objectively and fairly.

Including overbudget and delay in delivery of work done.

Netizens refuses to let things go

If there’s one thing you need to know about netizens, it’s that they don’t let go easily.

Immediately after Mediacorp released their statement on the issue, further investigation was carried out.

And this is what they found

A review praising a “Max Lee of D5 Image Studio”, with their renovation completed in Aug 2017.

And netizens asked another relevant question

If he was well-versed in Interior Design, why would he hire any other ID to renovate his home?

D5 Studio Image has released an official statement

What do you think of the entire saga so far?

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This article was first published on goodyfeed.com