"Project Runway" Fan Favorite Mondo Guerra On His All-Star Return

Watch out! Mondo Guerra is back for the new All-Star season of Project Runway!

“What the heck am I doing here?” is what fashion designer Mondo Guerra said to himself when he wound up back on the Project Runway set for the upcoming All-Star season, which kicks off on Lifetime on January 5th. He's returning to the reality competition along with previous contestants like Season 1’s Austin Scarlett, Season 8’s Michael Costello and Season 4’s Rami Kashou, Guerra admitted that it was a bit of culture shock returning for the tenth season of the show. He took the runner-up spot on the eighth season - in one of the more controversial upsets in the reality show’s history. Is the openly gay Guerra, who revealed his HIV-positive status during that same season, ready to make sure he captures the top spot this time around?

While he was working recently with a group of SFSU students at DIFFA’s Dining By Design event in San Francisco, Guerra took a quick break to talk about returning to the show and just how much drama we’re going to see, as well as his latest Pozitiv-a-tee T-shirt design that he made especially for the most recent World AIDS Day.

AfterElton.com: Was it a tough decision for you to go back to Project Runway for the All-Star Season?
Mondo Guerra: Honestly I went back with the same goals as I did last time. I just wanted to go back to really expand as an individual and expand as a designer. I will tell you that when I got there I kicked myself in the ass and I was like “what the heck are you doing here?” You know, it’s nine months later and I’m right back where I started! But it’s even worse because all these other designers that have the experience that I’ve had and they’re all very talented, and if they’re successful they’ve had things going on. There is a little bit more attitude, a little bit more ego I must say.

AE: Was the experience different since you’ve been through it before, or did that actually make it harder?
MG: It made it so much harder. And I think the challenges were definitely designed to really push us to, oh my God, to extremes where you just want to cry. You’ll see it. It’s going to be a really great season.

AE: In every season there’s usually a villainous character. Are we going to see some villainy going on in the season?
MG: Oh, honestly, I think there’s going to be the sweetheart of the bunch, the comic relief, the villain. It’s all in there and I will say that last year I came off the show kind of being like a sweetheart. Okay, like the hero. [laughs] This year it’s a totally different twist, so I would encourage your readers to bear with me just because I was in a really hard space when I went back to the show. You know the day before I went out [to shoot], I kind of broke up with my best friend at the club here.

Viewers are still buzzing about the Season 8 upset
when Gretchen Jones beat out Guerra.

AE: Oh, boy.
MG: And I was just having personal problems in my relationship. When you get there you’re just kind of emotionally stuck. All you do is work, work, work, work and you’re never able to digest what’s going on back home because you don’t have contact with them. So it was difficult because I was in a difficult headspace going into it.

AE: Would you do it again? Like let’s say there’s a third chance for you to go back. Would you...?
MG: Oh my God. You know what? No, I would never do Project Runway as a contestant again. I would love to go back as a guest judge or presenting the challenge, anything like that. But as a contestant? No way! Count me out! Usually I’m all about count me in, but this time I’m like count me out. I mean it’s a wonderful experience. But this last time it really pushed me to my limits. And it was difficult. It was really difficult. And I’m not afraid of a challenge but this was beyond like what I could even imagine. I know people are really excited about it. After last year through the whole upset with the decision of the judges on season eight [Guerra lost to designer Gretchen Jones and Tim Gunn and Heidi Klum have publicly said Guerra should have won]... it’s weird [that] season nine has come and gone, but I think people are still talking about season eight. They still contact me and they’re like, ‘What happened?’

AE: And tell me about the Dining By Design event in San Francisco.
MG: Well I’m not an interior designer, and you know that. I’m a fashion designer so this is kind of out of my box, but I really love the challenge of it. And students from San Francisco State University are working with me. There are ten of them. They’re all really excited, and so I’m like their drill sergeant. I feel like I’m in the workroom and you’re one of the producers pulling me away for a few minutes! I want to get back to my table!

AE: Tell me quickly how this all got started. Did somebody come to you? Was this your idea?
MG: DIFFA (Design Industries Foundation Fighting AIDS) is the organization which raises money for community centers and HIV awareness in San Francisco. DIFFA approached us, Living Positive By Design, and I think it was a really good fit for us and something that we’ve never done before. With Living Positive By Design, our mission is just encouraging people living with the disease to continue to have a positive outlook on life and so DIFF is a good fit for us. I want to call Dining By Design a competition because [there were] 30 different tables and you know you always want to be the best, but it’s not a competition. Really it’s not.