"Design Star 3": More Design – Still Gay

It's true that the third season of HGTV's Design Star doesn't have seven out gay male contestants like last season's Project Runway did. But the always-queer-friendly network that gave us David Bromstad is continuing its tradition of gay contestants and fielding a "Team Gay" of two: Michael Stribling, 23, and Matt Locke, 38.

Michael Stribling (left) & Matt Locke

AfterElton.com recently caught up with Michael and Matt to talk about the new season which debuted Sunday night on HGTV.

The season's first design challenge isn't announced until the last few moments of the show, most of which is spent on snippets of the contestants' auditions and glimpses of their design portfolios. The "reveal" in this case is which of the contestants makes it into the final nine – including one surprise designer chosen by the audience online.

It's obvious from the moment we meet him that one of the gay contestants, Matt, is going to make the cut; the judges don't just like this guy, they seem a little awed by him. Narrator Clive Pearse even segues to the next scene by saying, "While the judges were gushing over Matt Locke…"

Matt's success won't surprise anyone who's seen his work or his website. An accomplished designer with a history degree from Princeton University and a background in architecture and construction, he dazzled the judges with an elaborate presentation board that he designed and built himself, and then transported to the studio in his own truck. Our Matt is a real renaissance guy, and he knows his way around the power tools.

"I decided for my presentation board that since I live in LA, I could maybe try to make something big and then just drive it over in my truck, and I had to clear that first," he told me. He decided to treat it like a mini-Design Star challenge, restrictive budget and time frame included. "I wanted to show the judges that I am serious about this, and that I can not only design things, but I can execute them. I wanted them to know right out of the gate, I’m really here for this.”

He laughed. "But I also didn’t know if we would see our other competitors. I was hoping we would, and that they would look at it and go, 'Oh no.'"

Lest anyone think Matt's not a nice guy after all, he added, "I didn’t want to step on anybody, but I wanted them to just look at the board and go, 'Oooh, I better bring it, too.'"

If Matt sets the bar sky-high, it's the other out designer, Michael, who gets the sympathy vote. The show's youngest contestant, his native enthusiasm gets completely overwhelmed by a catastrophic attack of nerves in front of the judges. After leaving the audition room almost in tears, he confides to Clive backstage that he knows he's not going to make the show.

"That’s never happened before," Michael told me. "I was so freaked out. My heart was beating because everything was like ferosh, it was like amazing, and I literally froze up."