Peter Duke, the designer, has recently left the show. There has been much debate online about the reason. PR from the show indicates that he wanted to focus more on his own real estate ventures; and realtor Ashlee mentioned in a recent episode that he was "stepping back" for a while.

IMHO, I think maybe he just got sick of the phoniness that permeates the show: the apparently fake "emergencies" and "surprises" and the manufactured "clashes" between various members of the team--all likely done for dramatic effect. Now that the show has moved to A&E, we can expect more of the same for sure. Too bad.