A Revealing Interview with "Project Runway"'s Jack Mackenroth

Most competitive reality contestants don't give up their quest for reality show stardom until they've been voted out at tribal council, checked in last at the pit stop, or received the fewest votes from the viewing audience. Not too many end up departing voluntarily due to the sudden onset of a dangerous illness. But as fans of Bravo's Project Runway already know, that was exactly the scenario which confronted 38-year-old fashion designer and out gay man Jack Mackenroth during last week's episode of the hit show.

We recently had the chance to catch up with Jack who reassures he's 100% healthy now, discusses his fellow contestants, guest judge Sarah Jessica Parker, as well as Tim Gunn. Plus he spills the beans about his cameo in the upcoming Sex and the City movie that includes a very hot same-sex kiss.

AfterElton.com: How are you feeling?
Jack Mackenroth: I feel great. I made a full recovery. I was already out of the hospital in some of the taped shots in the episode.

AE: How long were you in the hospital?
JM: Five days. I'm as good as new.

AE: When you went out to talk with Tim, did he suggest what you should do or just ask how you were feeling and what you wanted to do?
JM: No, it was pretty much orchestrated by me. I knew in my head what needed to be done. And not just for me, but for the other designers. I think they [Bravo] would have said at some point "You need to leave." My heart was saying "stay, stay, stay, staph" but staph is very contagious.

AE: There was no way you could get treatment and still compete?
JM: The problem is — and they didn't show on this on the show because of time constraints — but I had been to the hospital once. There are very few antibiotics that treat this staph infection and I'm allergic to two. The one that works for me is an IV treatment that is very strong and is administered over a two hour time period. I would've had to have been gone four hours a day and it wasn't appropriate for me to stay.

AE: How long we're you hospitalized for?
JM: Five days. I alerted my family, but none of the contestants could come visit me since they were still sequestered. It was a very weird situation.

Jack as a boy and with his mother.

AE: It seemed as if you were doing very well in the competitions. How far do you think you might have gone had this not happened?
JM: I don't want to be arrogant and say I would've gone to the final three. This was a very talented pool of designers and I think out of the fifteen that started, ten could make it the top three. And I think I would've been one of those ten.

AE: What are you doing now? Are you sticking with fashion?
JM: During the hiatus I made a whole line of menswear. I don't really know where I'm going to take that. It takes a ton of money to turn designs into production. I'm kind of just enjoying what comes along with being a D-List celebrity. If I made it to the finals, then I would've been on the B-List. [laughs] I guess I'm on the G-List because of all the gays. [laughs] I've been asked to attend a lot of charity events but at the end of day I need to make a living so I've got to get some source of income soon.