"Design Star" 3 recaplet (Ep. 8): Team Gay wants your vote

When we finally have full equality under the law, I promise to be the best post-gay dyke ever to recap a reality competition television show. Until then, I'm all about the gay. Which is my way of encouraging you to do your civic duty and get out the vote for Matt Locke, the out gay designer who is one of two finalists in the third season of HGTV's Design Star.

Matt and Jenn

Fortunately, Matt is both talented and charismatic, so you won't have to sacrifice one principle in favor of another to vote for him. Which hasn't stopped a few of the Neanderthals on the Design Star message boards over at HGTV from mumbling that, since Season One was won by a gay man, David Bromstad (Color Splash), there have already been too many "Cinderfellas" on the network and we don't need another. By which logic -- well, I guess that's not logic -- we've used up our entire allottment with that one show. Which seems fair, and certainly reflects the number of gay men in the design field.

Season One Design Star David Bromstad: Nice guy, nice arms

Matt shares something else with David Bromstad, and with last season's winner, Kim Myles (Myles of Style), too: he's really nice. Being nice is apparently a pre-requisite for winning this show, perhaps because it's the viewers, not the judges, who select the ultimate winner.

Of course, Jennifer Bertrand, who is competing with Matt for the win this season, is also very nice. And so was the final challenge: to give a makeover to two families whose homes were destroyed in Hurricane Katrina. Joining Matt and Jenn in the final challenge were earlier contestants Trish Beaudet and Mike Verdugo, our own sort-of-out-although-he-won't-talk-about-it Mikey V.

Trish and Mikey V come home

The challenge was daunting: a living room, dining room, and kitchen makeover. They had 36 hours, twenty grand plus appliances and flooring, and a team of carpenters to give them a hand. Which is good, because a few things went wrong.

First, the carpenters might have been great with a hammer and saw, but not so much with the paintbrush. They messed up the merlot dining room wall of Matt's challenge house but good.

Mikey V is not impressed

Jenn also had her share of woes, including buying a sectional that turned out to have hardware on it that forced her to use it in a configuration that didn't work for her room. It faced the television, which put everyone's back to the fireplace, and also made them have to inch through a narrow passage between one end of the sofa and the wall just to get to the seating area.

I'm not sure, but I suspect that's part of what forced Jenn to put the dining room console on the wall to the right of the table, which meant she had to move the table off-center of the existing light fixture -- which was also hung way too high.

Matt's team fortunately got the paint flattened out, and turned this:

Into this:

Earning him this:

Which brings us to their final hosting segments. Although of all the designers Jenn has the most on-screen charisma, she seems to suffer badly from nerves in the hosting spots. It's a shame, because I suspect it would take very little for her to relax and let her personality sparkle. Also, she is very cute. I'm just saying, even though I know you probably don't care.

Matt, on the other hand, started out stiff and nervous but has gotten more relaxed with every attempt. He was easy and cheerful in the final hosting spot. All the more reason to vote for him... which you can do here. Viewers can vote once per day online, and up to five times a day by text message.

The online voting is a little confusing, mostly because you're supposed to click a black button that's basically invisible. We at AfterElton.com are here to help:

Voting ends soon -- Wednesday morning, July 30, at 10 AM Eastern Time. So get out your cell phones and hit the Interwebz, guys! And tell your friends: Matt Locke for Design Star 2008!

The results of the voting will air on Sunday, Aug 3, at 9 PM ET/PT, on HGTV.