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Meet the CMT Ultimate Home 2 Winner

Congratulations to Corey Gorman from Boston, Mass., for winning the CMT Ultimate Home 2! Corey and his parents flew to Nashville to see his grand prize and check out the city. CMT.com toured the home with this very energetic and excited trio.

CMT.com: Tell us about entering the contest.

Corey: Actually, the contest is still hazy because I entered it so long ago. I have a good memory, but I did this so quickly. I want to say maybe five, six months ago. I can�t remember when, because they called me up and I vaguely recollect doing it. It�s something I would do, to enter a contest if you�re going to give away a million dollars or house or anything. Why wouldn�t you want to try?

CMT.com: Do you enter sweepstakes very often?

Corey: I do occasionally, yeah.

CMT.com: Tell us about when you found out you won.

Corey: I didn�t believe it. They called me up on Monday, I was in the middle of a presentation, and then I didn�t quite believe them because I didn�t have the time, but he was very convincing. I was like, �All right. I�ll take five minutes. I�ll try to figure out what you want.� And after five minutes, I come back and I was like, �I think I won a house!� And I didn�t believe it. It took me until Wednesday, a good two days later, to call up people at Country Music Television to verify that I won, because actually three weeks earlier somebody called up stating they were from the U.S. government, trying to give me a $25,000 grant and they wanted my bank account number, and I wasn�t about to give them any information.

CMT.com: So you thought it sounded like another scam?

Corey: Yeah. It sounds too good to be true and you gotta protect yourself, so I took three days, three days to try to protect myself. Then after three days, and after they confirmed all my doubts, I went out celebrating. And after that I told everybody.

CMT.com: How did your parents get in on the act?

Corey: I let them know, I think, after the second day, because they [CMT] were still talking to me, and usually a scam only lasts a little bit of time. So after the second day, I figured I might let them know, you know sharing the good news. It was like, Wednesday, and she said everything I wanted to hear, it�s totally going to happen and they actually waited for the confirmation for the flights. That was their little task, like, if somebody�s gonna pay for a flight, you know. (laughs) That�s pretty much their verification, and that was kind of mine, too, you know, because I had actually given them all the information. If they wanted to ruin my credit, they could, but they bought me a ticket and gave me a house!

CMT.com: What have you done since you�ve been in Nashville?

Corey: I flew in Friday. I hit Broadway straight off the bat. Saturday we hit Broadway again, saw the visual arts center with the Red Grooms expos�. That was really nice. Hit that walking bridge and (laughs) there was a �Taste of Nashville� event where they basically fed ya until you couldn�t walk anymore. And it was all good cooking. Lots of barbeque, uh and wine (laughs), lots of food, lots of wine. And then we actually managed to get a hot air balloon ride on Sunday. I managed to find a little research and we found a family, a great little family that let us do a hot air balloon ride, and they helped us out. We got to see a lot of Tennessee from the air. It was very, very peaceful. We had a slight, slight trouble on the landing, but you know, it�s a hot air balloon, you�re gonna go with how weather takes you. And then from there we went right on to a good tour of Nashville, to sort of get some of the history. You guys have a lot of history, definitely a lot of history. So we went on the tour and that tour�s really great. We saw the Parthenon, which is really nice because I�ve actually seen the one real in Athens, not too long ago, almost a year ago.

CMT.com: How do they compare?

Corey: This one obviously is gonna be a little bit more kept up. They�re renovating the one in Athens, but you get to walk around up close and see Athena and Nike, and that stuff really fascinates me. So that was really nice. Further down the trip, we went to the Country Music Hall of Fame. We saw a lot of the history, and I mean it�s amazing how everyone knows a country music singer. You might not be into country, but you�ll know that these people were famous and they just have good songs because they�re songs of the people. We ended the night taking the General Jackson tour on the boat. So that was really nice, and they had a great show after dinner. It was amazing.

CMT.com: Now that you're here, what are your thoughts about the Ultimate Home?

Corey: Well, my immediate impression is, �Oh my God, (laughs) what did I do?� After seeing the house and just all the detail and all the work, it�s amazing. You can�t imagine what to do. I mean I come from a small apartment in Boston. Let�s see, I think it�s 500 square feet if you can count it. And this one�s 5,000 square feet, so they had a very large space to fill, and there�s so many creative ideas. It�s so nice. Like right now, I�m in the spa, and it�s very relaxing. You just walk in and just the aroma � I don�t know what it is, but you�re just relaxed. So they definitely went the whole nine yards, and they�ve really made a house for me and my friends and my family and all my new friends who I haven�t met and my neighbors. Oh, I just can�t wait to celebrate it.

CMT.com: Everyone is asking this question, so tell us � are you thinking about keeping the house?

Corey: So far, I think taking the house is probably going to be favored, but I haven�t talked it over with everyone. I don�t know. I do have a career. I love my career. And my career is stepping up. I just went up basically another notch in my career, so I�d rather continue that progression. At this time, I might have possibly six weeks vacation a year. I might be able to take some weekends and extensions and come down here � I don�t know, it might add up to a couple of months a year. And come down here, there�s obviously family and friends that I can share it with, so I think we�ll make the best of it, and I think everyone�s gonna have a lot of fun.

CMT.com: Is there anything else you want to add?

Corey: I do need to try that hot tub sometime and the pool. I think everyone�s just going to get a kick out of this place. I mean, a lot of my friends are. They still don�t believe me, and actually if they told me, I wouldn�t believe them either!

We then searched for Corey's mom, Donna, and found her checking out the kitchen.

CMT.com: Can you give us your opinion of the house?

Donna: I think the house is just awesome. I mean, no words can describe it.

CMT.com: Now that you�ve seen the whole house, is there anything in particular that really stands out to you?

Donna: The kitchen. The spa. The pool. (laughs) The bedroom is unique, land, the grass, the trees, the bridge. (laughs) The game room�s a little wild, but he�s young. (laughs)

CMT.com: Is there anything that you don�t like about the house?

Donna: What�s not to like? The paint color would not be my choice, but like I said, he�s young. It�s perfect really, that it went to a young person who can really enjoy that. No, it wouldn�t be my choice for the lime green. It�s not one of my favorite colors, but the kitchen is so soothing.

CMT.com: Tell us how you found out that Corey won the contest.

Donna: We were sitting with company and he called and he said to his stepdad, �I think I won a house.� And we went, �Uh huh, sure, right.� And like Corey said, for three days we assumed this was just a hoax. We just didn�t know what the punch line was. And over the course of the three days, he said, �Mom, they don�t have my social security number. They don�t have my charge card number. They don�t have my bank account. What could the catch be?� And he had entered the contest, so as the three days went on and he started to get the paperwork and what not to wear and tax ramifications and all of that, it became real. It was just real and it is real, and here we are.

CMT.com: Can you give your overall impressions of the area and your trip to Nashville?

Donna: We had an awesome trip to Nashville. Our only experience, my husband and mine, was the Nashville airport, so we really knew nothing about Nashville. My mother, God rest her soul, loved country western music. Her whole family did and she would have just loved to be here and see this. So I kept her with me the whole trip, and we were able to really do a lot while we were here. The hot air balloon ride, and last night Corey and I took a carriage ride. And we just have been really, really busy. We really have not been able to sleep since this became real.

CMT.com: If he takes the house, are you going to come visit a lot?

Donna: Oh, absolutely!

CMT.com: Or are you moving in?

Donna: No, I�m not moving. I have my own house, and I love my house and we�re on a little different taste, but I would love to come and visit. That would really be great. He�s just got to figure out how to do it, if he can do it. So there�s a lot of decisions to be made in the next few weeks.

CMT.com: Is there anything else you would like to add?

Donna: The only thing I want to add is Corey is just a sweetheart of a kid. He always has been since he was an infant. He�s just a really, really good kid, and if you knew him, you would really be pleased that you had picked him for a winner. His friends and his friends� parents said it could not have gone to a better person and I reiterate that, because it�s true. He's just a super kid.

CMT.com: Is he your only child?

Donna: No, I have a daughter, too, and she�s leaving to get married on Friday. So we have one week. Imagine this! On Monday, he gets a house and on Friday. she and her fianc� are going away to be married. So it�s one heck of a week for our family! Super!

As we tour the home, Corey and his parents, Donna and Chuck Pond, pick out their favorite feature of each room.

Hot tub:
Corey: I like the little touch with the gong. The gong is kind of nice. You can do a little cattle call, tell everyone to come in. It�s nice and secluded. You can come in here with someone nice. You can have time to yourself.

Spa:
Corey: The waterfall and the rock wall. I mean, it�s something I�ve actually thought of, but it�s the time and energy of actually doing it. It�s really nice. I just like the designs that it makes and the sound. And the water, the water dripping. (laughs)

Kitchen:
Corey: My favorite thing is the feel, just the theme. I mean the kitchen itself looks great. It�s got this good sort of home feel to it. A little European, sort of Southwestern style. You get that and I love travel. In my travels, it sort of goes with a little of my personality, like, me being a little bit different, you know.

Donna: My favorite thing in the room, he really said it, is the feel of the whole room. It�s not just one thing. It�s what they did to create what you feel when you�re standing here. I like the doors. I think the doors are just exceptional. The doors, the shutters, the beams, the faux painting, the roof.

Chuck: It�s really the feel. It�s not any one particular thing. It�s just the combination of everything and how it just feels.

Great room:
Corey: Probably the guitars. There�s three guitars. They look to all be their style of guitars. And there�s lipstick on two of them. (laughs)

Donna: My favorite thing in here ... hmmm � the space.

Chuck: I�ll just go with the TVs. (laughs)

Master bedroom:
Corey: These swing sets because nobody has a swing set in their room. (laughs)

Donna: The paneling. It�s really hard. You can�t just pick one thing. I like the comforter and the bed. The bed looks very inviting.

Chuck: I like the paneling, the cabin feel. The lake feel.

Library:
Corey: The fact that I have a library is very impressive. (laughs) Let�s see, we have a lot of old ancient stuff. I love history. I�m sure I�ll put lots of books in here.

Donna: The height. I mean, I don�t know how tall this is, but it is magnificent.

Chuck: The comfort feeling, just the comfort.

Game room:
Corey: Margarita machine.

Donna: Karaoke machine.

Chuck: The Mrs. Pac-Man machine.

Home office:
Corey: It�s got to be the interrogation room, actually. I do get the sense of like, if somebody ruined something in a house, like you can just grill �em, you�d be like, �What�d you do?! (laughs) Did you bring a basketball into the house?�

Donna: I don�t know, that�s a tough one.

Chuck: The interrogation room.

Kid's bedroom:
Corey: The stadium lights.

Donna: The bed. I like the bed.

Chuck: The floor, making it look like a baseball diamond.

Congratulations, Corey!

In the sophomore season of CMT�s dream house series Ultimate Home 2, fun and suspense decorate the ultimate home as celebrities� inner circle of intimate friends and family divulge little known facts about the stars� passions, hobbies and obsessions. A three-member design team including designer Kim Nunn, carpenter Joe Parker and accessorizer Nicole Hart then creates a perfectly personalized room d�cor or landscape inspired by interviews with the �accessories� to the fun. Each design is kept under wraps until completion when it is unveiled in a total celebrity surprise. Expect the unexpected.

CMT will showcase the unique personalities of country stars Sara Evans, Mark Wills, Phil Vassar, Kellie Coffey, actress Gena Lee Nolin (Baywatch), NASCAR driver Jimmie Johnson and NFL superstar and Tennessee Titan Eddie George, among others. Through 10 weekly episodes the CMT Ultimate Home 2design team will transform a 3,500 square foot house near Nashville into a custom-designed home revealing each star�s unique flair. And one lucky CMT viewer will actually become the new owner of this priceless home.

�Whatever the d�cor, it has to be cozy and it has to be comfortable,� says country artist Evans. �I tend to go for big bulky furniture � and of course everything has to be kid friendly,� according to the mother of two. Evans was delighted as the CMT Ultimate Home 2 kid friendly playroom she inspired by her childhood love of softball, was turned into a softball diamond complete with dugout.

Through each weekly episode, CMT will give viewers entree into the intimate circle of celebrity lives and discover a dimension of their personalities not universally known to the public. The discovery begins as friends, family and insiders, as well as the celebrities themselves, are interviewed to find out what hobbies and passions excite and also comfort each star. Then the top-notch design team melds its design ideas into a personalized room that becomes a shrine to the newly discovered side of the celebrity personality.