Will One of These Gay Men Follow in David Bromstad’s "Design Star" Footsteps?

Jason Champion, Nathan Galui  

The HGTV reality show Design Star is really just one big job audition in front of millions of viewers. Each week contestants must complete interior design challenges such as making over an entire kitchen in 26 hours with only a $20,000 budget, and each week one designer is told by host Clive Pearse that their show has been canceled.

The pressure is high, but the stakes are higher: the winner is guaranteed their own show on HGTV.

Openly gay designer David Bromstad won the first season, and between his gorgeous looks, sweet personality, and massive talent, his show Color Splash has gone on to become one of the cable channel's most popular series.

Unfortunately, while the next two seasons featured at least one or two gay designers among the hopefuls, none have managed to repeat David's success. Is that about to change as we go deeper into the fourth season? Jason Champion and Nathan Galui certainly hope so.

AfterElton.com: Congratulations on making it on the show! Was the audition process tough?
Jason Champion: Thank you! I auditioned back at the end of December. I filmed myself setting up for my New Year's Party instead of doing the typical "Hi, I'm this person, I do this..." I actually filmed myself as if I was doing an episode for HGTV. I sent that in on January 2nd, got a phone call in the middle of January saying, "Hey, you're in the running. We'll call you in two weeks."

Then two weeks later, they said we'll call you in another two weeks, and it went back and forth like that. Then they flew me to LA for a screen test, and the next phone call I got was, "You're 100% on the show and you need to be here on this time and date." So it was pretty smooth, I'd say.
Nathan Galui: It was really smooth for me, too.

AE: Nathan, at twenty-five, you're the youngest designer on the show this year. Do you think that's an asset or does the others' experience give them an advantage in some ways?
NH: It was an asset. I was more raw. I think I was out there a little more. I don't have a company. A lot of them have their own businesses. I went out there to have fun, I took risks, and they paid off in a lot of cases. I think it was definitely a big asset, and allowed me to have a clear mindset in how I wanted to approach the competition.

AE: David Bromstad was the first winner of Design Star and went on to have one of the most successful shows on the network, but no gay man has won since. Is that a lot of pressure on you as gay men, or does that not factor into your game play?
JC: There is a 50/50 part of that. There is a part of me that wants to represent our community, and do it strong and well. And then there's 50% of it that's just a part of my life. It doesn't dictate my life. It's given me advantages that may not have been there in the past, because of my flair and style, but it's 50/50, pressure and my life.
NH: In competition, I didn't even think of that factor. Now that the show's over, I'm amassing, well, it's a small following, but it's a gay following. The pressure is on more with the fans afterwards, and all my gay friends. They're definitely on me to represent! [laughs] But being out there, being gay wasn't a factor, but definitely looking at it in hindsight, it is a part that I played, so yeah. I went out there and I represented, I was myself, and I had a good time.