Ambrose Price’s Life is a Well Decorated Adventure

Ambrose Price is unabashedly gay and wants the world to know it. And he's definitely not hiding his light under a basket. The star of LOGO's new reality series, The Decorating Adventures of Ambrose Price, got his start on HGTV Canada when he was a contestant on Designer Superstar Challenge, their version of Design Star. That would be the show out designer David Bromstad won in its first season here in the U.S and that launched Color Splash, Bromstad’s very successful design show. Ambrose didn't win his version of DS, but he did catch the attention of network executives and soon had his own show.

The concept of Decorating Adventures is that each week, Ambrose, a self-taught interior designer with no formal training, tackles a new facet of the design world in his attempt to become Canada's answer to Martha Stewart.

He's assisted on his journey by an assortment of experts and professionals who teach him the ropes. Sometimes he's more successful than others, but his charming personality and bright outlook somehow always carry him through, whether he's event planning for a Greek baptism or decorating his first wedding cake.

AfterElton.com: Congratulations on the show! How excited were you?
Ambrose Price: Oh, I was very excited! I was excited to have it launch in Canada, but I must say, I was even more excited when it launched in the U.S. It's a great accomplishment, I think. I'm just glad to be able to entertain Americans! [laughs]

AE: How did it even come about? I know you were on Designer Superstar Challenge. Did it come out of that?
AP: Yeah. I applied for this reality TV show and I was selected among thousands of auditions to be a part of the show. I made the top ten, I did the show, and I came in fifth place, but the executives at the network, as they were going through the footage to cut together the reality show, said that I was a great personality and they wanted to develop a show around me.

It wasn't long after I shot [Designer Superstar Challenge] that they actually put a show into development, and I didn't even know anything about it. It wasn't until I was approached by CBC here in Canada to do something for them that [HGTV CA] got wind of it and sort of let the cat out of the bag. They sent the contract right away. It all happened very fast, but it was all very exciting.

AE: What's the experience been like for you so far?
AP: Oh my God, it's been wonderful. It's a great experience. I met so many, many interesting, fun people. I've learned so much. I've learned stuff I don't think I would have ever learned without the show. I've been exposed to so much. The show is only a half an hour long, but we would have to shoot fifty hours of footage to get that twenty-two minutes of show. I learn a lot in the half hour the show is on, but there's another forty-five and a half hours where I'm learning too. It's just too much to cram it all in to the show.

AE: You were an established interior designer in Newfoundland before you went on Designer Superstar Challenge. How did you get into design? Did you have any formal training?
AP: No, I had no formal training. It's an interesting story. I'm from Fortune, which is a very small community on the south coast. It's a fishing community, so many people when they finish school, they'll either start fishing or they'll move away to Alberta to work in the oil fields. They don't really continue their education.

But I don't like getting my hands dirty [laughs], so I said, "Well, I'm going to go to university." So I moved to St. John's where I attended University and I studied math. I moved in with my older brother, who is actually also gay. He’s a very busy businessman and he had no time to be decorating his home or whatnot, so when I moved in, I decided I was going to do some light decorating. Light decorating turned into new cabinets in the kitchen, and painting all three floors, and ... anyway, needless to say, it turned out just lovely.

I knew I'd always had a flair for it because I'd decorated all my life with my mother, but my brother's friend came to the house and was like, "Oh my God! What happened here?" My brother told him I'd moved in and done some decorating. Then my brother's friends said, "I should introduce you to a designer here in St. John's. You'd get along, and I really think you have some talent." He'd seen the talent in me just from the little bit of work I'd done for my brother.

He did the introduction, and they hired me part-time as an assistant. I was still in university while working at his design firm. I quickly pushed my way to the top. I took every opportunity I could get to show them I had a flair for this, that I could actually design. Before I knew it, I was a fulltime designer there. Then I started my own company, which was short-lived because the TV show happened and I had to move to Toronto, but yeah, I became very successful in such a short time in Newfoundland. It was great. It was a lot of fun.