Interview with "Design Star"'s Matt Locke

AE: Do you think the judges deliberately cut the really dramatic ones a little slack, to keep the excitement of the show going?
ML: I didn’t feel that way while we were making the show. Looking at it all spilled out on TV, maybe a little more so. That’s really been kind of fun to be home and watch it, because when we were doing it I really felt like, “I’m here to win, I want to do my best work, I want to treat people with respect, and I want to see how far I can get." And that’s kind of all I concentrated on. And so when the others would get wrapped up in their own drama, I just thought, “Why are you shooting yourself in the foot? You can be dramatic at home."

This is a very short time in our lives. And so I even said it at the finale – I did get upset, I just cried in the shower.There were nights when I was just so overwhelmed and freaked out, and I would just quietly excuse myself, because that’s when they would take the cameras and the mikes off, and I would just take a nice, hot shower and I would have my own little breakdown. And then I thought, “This is good for me, no one else is going to benefit from this anyway."

It’s funny to see the reaction to the show, because my opinion is that all of us are multi-faceted people, just like everyone I know. So we all have good points and bad points. There are contestants whose bad points were definitely on display. And I think everybody’s aware that there’s no one who’s all bad. I think it’s just really a response to pressure. Because, let’s take Tracy, for example. I only know her from the show – that short time. But I think back home she is an accomplished designer, and she does have a happy life. I think that the timeframes and the stress of making the show don't exist in her job, and so I think we all just responded to it differently. I kind of knew going in that they were going to do that to us, or that the show would do that to us, and so I expected it. And then, as the show went on, I started to think, “You guys weren’t expecting this, were you?” And in fact she’s on tape somewhere saying, “I did not expect this to be so...” something like “I didn’t expect people to be so gamesman-like about it," or something. She thought it would just be us designing. And I thought, “Well, no, I never thought that," I thought that it would be an endurance test.

AE: It’s an interesting point, because one of the designers on Project Runway last season, who was eliminated about halfway through but who was a really good designer, gave an interview – not to me but to someone else – in which she said that she had actually not really believed when she’d watched the show previously, that what you saw was all you got. She assumed that there would be help, and off-screen, off camera time –
ML: I thought so too – I actually was dumb enough to think that, too. I knew it would be hard but I really did think we would have a little bit more cushion. Which contestant said that, by the way?

AE: Victorya.
ML: Mm hmm.

AE: And it explained it to me a little better why she got so sullen after the first couple of episodes. She seemed very pissy. And I actually thought she was really talented, and I loved most of her designs.
ML: You’re right – she did get real moody.

AE: She did, and she later gave an interview and she said she really was not prepared for what it was actually like – she honestly had thought that what you see on the camera is not what was really happening. And I'm paraphrasing, but it was something like, “If you think we got one minute more time on penny more budget – one needle, one thread extra – no!” Right? What you see is what you get, and if you can’t make it work – well it’s like when you guys are the first ones in three seasons to finish the kitchen challenge.
ML: Yeah, right.

AE: [Laughter] I'll tell him
.ML: I like these kind of crushes and stuff – they’re kind of fun. I’ve had really really cool responses, and it gets more and more so all the time. Today at the gym I got recognized in four different places. Just at the gym, and it’s fun to be, like, half-naked in the sauna –

AE: Which reminds me, our readers keep asking why I’m not putting pictures of you without your shirt in my recaps. And I don't have a DVR, so I'm always relying on what HGTV puts in their online clips, and they for some reason don't show you with your shirt off. [Laughter]
ML: I totally love that. Why don’t I actually just take some?

AE: Well do it – especially if, you know, you’ve just been at the gym, hey go for it, because that’s what the boys have been asking for, and I live to serve.
ML: I will work on that – believe me. Thank you, Christie.

AE: Ok Matt. Take care.