Josh Johnson

Josh “Sparkle" Johnson was one of the out gay contestants on the second season of Design Star. Despite being eliminated, he became a huge fan favorite, and has continued to work on projects with HGTV. AfterElton.com's Christie Keith chatted with him recently about the third season of Design Star, his future plans, and how he feels about anti-gay attitudes expressed by some HGTV viewers and even Design Star fans – and whether he thinks those attitudes hurt the current season's gay finalist, Matt Locke.

AE: It’s been a wonderful year for you. I can’t tell you how happy I am to see you still doing things with HGTV.
JS: Well, thank you, thank you. It’s been incredible and very unexpected, but very incredible opportunities have come my way, so I’m very thankful. It’s been great.

AE: How did it come about that you did the vlog for the current season? How did that happen?
JS: The network had contacted me when they were planning this third round of Design Star. Usually it’s the winner that does the video blogs – like last year David Bromstad did it and this year Kim did it, but they wanted my perspective as well. So they just asked me to do it. I was glad to do it. It was exciting, because we got to pre-screen all the episodes and really know what was happening, really even before the season began. So I’ve been sitting on a lot of secrets for a long time.

AE: I guess you have! Did that make it hard sometimes to do your commentary?
JS: It was hard. We actually just taped the finale yesterday, so I met all the contestants face to face finally and said, it was like I’ve known you all for so long!

AE: [Laughter]
JS: You know I’ve commented on them and I’ve watched them and talked with the network about things and all that kind of stuff, so that’s how this all came about, but its been a great experience.

AE: Well, I thought you did a really classy job. It was lot of fun watching them.
JS: Oh, thank you. Thank you for watching.

AE: So I just watched the screener of the first Summer Showdown with your guest judging slot. You were a little subdued; I was surprised by that.
JS: You think so? [Laughter]

AE: Little bit. [Laughter]
JS: Well, when I taped it, I probably wasn’t as subdued. 

AE: So you don't blind us. I can understand that. Well, I was very amused because, I don’t know if you know it, but there’s a little dueling scene where Cynthia and Vern both deny ever voting you off Design Star.
JS: Oh no, that’s great! That’s great.

AE: I don’t know how you got voted off because apparently–
JS: That’s funny. I know I’ve kind of heard a little bit about that.

AE: It was very funny.
JS: But who knows what really happened. It may be one of those things where I’ll have to ask God what happened.

AE: I know you’re too nice for this, but did you feel any urge to pay them back?
JS: You know what? I thought that because they asked me to be on Summer Showdown and they had some celebrities on there like Keenan Ivory Wayans and Beth Littleford that are really established actors and comedians and stuff like that, so I was excited about being there anyway.

But I’m not competitive in that way. I did Design Star because it was – I find it an entertainment outlet for me and took it to bring me to another level because I’ve always been in some kind of entertainment and design is just what I did to kind of get me to that level. It is still sustaining me there, but its just like that was my vehicle to achieve that.

AE: Right.
JS: And it wasn't like, there was Design Star and I never saw Vern and Martha again. I’ve spoken with them and they were at the Showdown, and all three of them were there yesterday at the taping. They are doing a job, and it's just not in me to think that I would say, “Oh, I’m gonna get them back in front of America,” because there can only be one winner and I feel like the way that I’m positioned now is ideal for me. [Laughter] Not that winning wouldn’t have been wonderful, because it would have been, but for me, for Josh Johnson right now, this positioning with the network and how I’m continuing to work with them and develop things with them, it is perfect. So it’s really worked out for me as what I would want to do and scheduling and timewise and where I am in my life. I think that it works out well.

AE: Will we be seeing more of you on HGTV?
JS: Well, I can’t officially say that, but I can say that I have been working for several months on different development deals with them.

AE: Great.
JS: And that’s about all I can say.

AE: [Laughter] Well, that sucks.
JS: Right, right, I know, but you know how they like to keep things under wraps.

AE: I know.
JS: I kind of learned from the onset of Design Star, you kind of have to be quiet until it really happens – which is fine. I’m willing to wait, and we have a great continuing relationship and they’ve used me on these video blogs and on the Design Star finale and now on Summer Showdown. So I feel like that they like me –

AE: Yes.
JS: – and that I have a very promising future and past with them. So we’re just kind of chugging along and coming up with different things. I’m traveling a lot with them and doing different meetings and creative development issues and all that kind of thing. So it’s really good. I’m really excited.