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AE: Least favorite?
EK: I was ecstatic about the cabana challenge. I think the idea of it was fantastic, but I think it was my least favorite just because Matt didn't really shine. When our team was pulled together, I was extremely excited to work with Elizabeth because I think she's brilliant to be in the business as long as she has been. She has so much collective information to add to a project.

And Matt — being my biggest competition as far as we think a lot alike and we're exposed to a lot of the same things here in Chicago — we're on the same type of playing field. I was disappointed in the end about how we didn't necessarily not get along, but it wasn't the collaborative love-fest that I thought it was going to be. I was a little underwhelmed. I mean, I loved our cabana and I still think we should have won …

GA: Your cabana, I thought, was really good. A lot of other people thought so, too.

EK: Yeah, a lot of stuff I read online. People think it should have won.

GA: Even the other cast members were like, "Oh, they have it in the bag."

AE: Who made for better clients — Alexis Arquette, the kids or the students?
GA: The thing with Alexis was we didn't know who she was until the very end, so in terms of designing it, that client was out of the picture. So now we're left with the children and the graduate students.

EK: I was probably most happy with the kids. I think that was the easiest, for me, to work with.

GA: We only had 20 minutes to meet them, too, so you have to meet them fast.

EK: The great thing about kids is that there's no walls that are built. … If they don't like something, they're gonna tell you, and if they love it, they're gonna tell you. They don't have a hundred reasons. I meet with clients and they don't like the color orange because their grandma had an orange velvet couch back in the '70s and they remember sleeping on it when their parents would … There's always a story with grown-ups, where with kids, they're like, "I like orange because I like orange." There's nothing more to it. It's just refreshing sometimes to have that kind of attitude.

AE: So how much do you hate the last-minute twists?
GA: Yeeeah …

EK: I think we all just expected it. You knew it was coming.

GA: Kind of like: Now what?

EK: It's like taking off a Band-Aid. You know what the ultimate sting is going to be, but you just don't know when it's going to happen. Near the middle, we just started joking about it. There's nothing you can possibly do about it. You know it's coming.

AE: Erik, last week your art was referred to as being John Wayne Gacy art. Any comment?
EK: [Laughs.] I will tell you, I was with a couple of friends to watch the show, and one of my friends came up to me and they were like, "Oh my God! I want that! I want you to do that for me. It was fantastic!" Literally, for me, I had 10 minutes left, two canvases and two colors of paint. What will I do with them? It was just a fast kind of thing. I think art is very subjective. If you can provoke an emotion with it, then I accomplished what I set out to do. It was just kind of weird literal baloney.

AE: There were four openly gay men at the start of the show, and interior design is often associated with gay men. Do you think that's just a stereotype or do gay men have an advantage when it comes to these sorts of creative jobs?
GA: I think it's a stereotype.

EK: Yeah, I think so, because I know a lot of gay men who don't have taste. [Laughs.]

GA: That goes right out the window. Plus, we know how to use power tools. [Laughs.]

AE: How did the straight guys deal with being outnumbered by gay men in the loft and in the competition?
GA: I think they rolled with it. Didn't we give Matt a name?

EK: I gave Matt the nickname Ellen, and he called me Rosie — which I will never forgive him for. No — Matt was great; Ryan was great. Matt's been in this business a long time, so he's been around gay men in the profession, so I don't think it was anything that was a surprise to him. Ryan, being an artist, I can't even imagine the kinds of things he's encountered in New York. They were supportive. We were just like anybody else, really.

AE: You're both fan favorites, and you seem to be at the top of the pack so far — you've each come in first place at least once. Do you guys see each other as your main competition? Is there any sort of rivalry, friendly or otherwise?
EK: It's kind of weird, because even when we were competing, Goil and I never had issues.

GA: I think we have such different styles.

EK: I respect Goil so much as an architect. Originally, that's what I wanted to go to school for, but math just kicked my ass, so …

GA: I still can't add. Really.

EK: I think that was the crazy thing about all of the cast. I don't know that we necessarily felt competitive until it came right down to it. With Andrea's rooms, I know we all jumped in and helped her near the end when time was running out. I was helped by other people. We would all sweep for each other. We were just so appreciative to be around people who were interesting and you could learn something from.

AE: What do you think of Jonathan's catch phrase, "See you later, decorator"? Does it live up to "Pack your knives and go" or "auf Wiedersehen"?
GA: Um … [Both laugh.] Stop with the tough questions!

EK: Yeah … you know, I can see where it was going. It is kind of discriminating to call a designer a decorator and all that kind of stuff. I think it's kind of cheesy for a show that appears to be a little more high-end. That's the last impression you get, so …

GA: Yeah. It should be more positive, perhaps.

EK: Well, or just … I know what they were trying to go for, but I think the boat kind of sailed on that one.

GA: What do you think it should be?

EK: I don't know. That's the thing. I don't know that I could come up with anything better, but the show just overall has more of a high-end kind of feel, and that's just like, "Nyah-nyah-nyah-nyah." Where does that come from?

GA: [Laughs.] You should coin that, I think. That should be it.

Top Design airs Wednesday nights at 10 p.m. EST on Bravo.

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