Local Design Star Dishes on Reality TV, his Colorado Roots and Phil Anschutz

The Celebrity Examiner stands corrected. The very kind Matt Locke, who is competing in this season’s reality show, HGTV’s Design Star, did indeed return my message and has graciously agreed to an interview. Apparently Locke was in New York for a “fun press event” for Design Star and couldn’t get back to me last week (ah, living the famed life already!).

While this Colorado Springs native (whose parents and sister still live in Colorado Springs) was careful not to give away any indication on whether he is the Design Star champion, this Air Academy High graduate did dish about life in the reality spotlight, his favorite high school hangouts and why he’d like to dine with Phil Anschutz.

CE: How did you become interested in Design Star?
Locke: I watched both seasons when I moved to LA and thought, “I’m a designer, I love TV, I should do that!”

CE: What is/was your strategy when competing on the show?
Locke: This show is about talent so I tried to focus on doing my best work. I also wanted to get along with the other designers because I knew we’d all be teammates on challenges at some point.

CE: What surprised you most about being on the show vs. watching the show in previous seasons?
Locke: It’s much, much harder than it looks. The cameras really are on us all day and there is no behind-the-scenes help with the challenges. Whatever we finish, or don’t finish, they show.

CE: There's buzz on the website that you're an early favorite to win - anything you can hint to us here?
Locke: I went all out on my design board and portfolio so I think that set a good tone with the judges; then Mikey and I rocked the first challenge with a cool bed solution.

CE: What are your favorite hang outs in Colorado Springs?
Locke: I grew up taking art classes at Bemis so I always loved downtown; the Fine Arts Center with its beautifully restrained art deco architecture and the Ritz when it opened 20 years ago before it was a nightspot. My friends and I would drive down there in high school and we thought we were impossibly cool.

CE: Do you come to Colorado often?
Locke: Not as often as I’d like. I worked in Denver for eight years in telecom and miss that city too. I love Colorado and hope to live there again someday part time.

CE: Have you been recognized in public yet?
Locke: Yesterday was the first time! I was checking into the gym and the guy who had scanned my ID for years suddenly said, “Hey, I know you from Design Star!” I shook his hand and told him he was the first person ever to recognize me.

CE: I Googled you and found out that you were on Jeopardy - how did you get involved with that?
Locke: When I moved to LA, I had a plan. One: become a full-time designer. Two: get on Jeopardy! Two was almost as hard as one! It took two tests, an audition and a year of waiting, but I made it on the show. That’s also what inspired me to go for Design Star because I absolutely choked [on Jeopardy] but still looked like I was having fun.

CE: Are you a trivia buff?
Locke: I love trivia, especially geography and world capitals. Ask me a country, I’ll tell you its capital and point to it on a map. I’m obsessed with maps and Google Earth!

CE: What did you think of Alex Trebeck?
Locke: He was a lot warmer in person than he appears on TV. I used to think he was a little snobby, but he’s really nice.

CE: What is your best talent outside of designing?
Locke: Fact-checking. I was a history major so I’m always verifying the source of everything. It’s incredibly annoying to my friends and family, but the Internet makes being a geek like that so much easier.

CE: If you could have lunch with one Colorado personality/celebrity/athlete/etc, who would it be and why?
Locke: Phil Anschutz. I love movies and he owns practically every movie theater in America. I’d love to hear all about that business from inside.

CE: What's next for Matt Locke?
Locke: I have crazy ambitions to design the world around us. There are so many amazing new technologies and processes for creating objects, interiors, and buildings that a designer can now do much, much more than ever before. The world is opening up to a new kind of designer and I want to be right there at the top.

Read More about Matt Locke at mattlocke.com
(reprinted from examiner.com/denver)

Colorado Springs Foodie on Food Network Design Star

The next winner of The Next Food Network Star Season 4 just might be Shane Lyons of Colorado Springs. If he wins, this 20-year-old actor and chef will have his own cooking show on the Food Network.

But before Lyons can be awarded the big prize, he needs to not only do a little more competitive cooking but also he needs to sharpen his game.

In the first episode, which aired on Sunday night, June 1, the contestants had to cook a meal in 30 minutes that would be judged by other Food Network celebrities. Lyons pork was undercooked and according to one of the Iron Chefs, the dish “had not reached a level to serve a human being.”
In the final elimination, Lyons was brought to tears as he pleaded his case to the judges so he could stay in the competition. His dramatic antics worked and Lyons survived the final cut.

Some of you may recognize Lyons as the former child actor star in the Nickelodeon show, ALL THAT.

Root for Lyons this summer on Sunday nights at 9:00 pm on the Food Network.

Photo from Food Network

Two Local Dudes Compete for Bachelorette’s Heart

As Bachelorette DeAnna Pappas, 26, tries her hand at finding true love for the second time on national television, Colorado will be tuning in to root for the two hometown bachelors vying for her heart.

Jesse Csincsak, 26, (left) is a professional snowboarder who lives and teaches snowboarding in Breckenridge. This Celebrity Examiner was able to dig up a story about Csincsak, who earlier in the year appeared on MTV’s reality show, MADE, and taught a 15-year-old girl to snowboard. In the article he called the MADE girl “super rad” and admitted he was looking to change his focus from snowboarding to television.

Ron Mayer, 26, (right) owns an upper-end men’s barber shop called Sole Patch in Kansas City. His Bachelorette bio page says his hometown is Greeley and his MySpace page says he’s a CU-Boulder alumnus. This Celebrity Examiner says he’s yummy and is hoping he collects enough roses for a hometown date!

The first episode of the Bachelorette airs on ABC on Monday night at 8 p.m.

Sexy Denver Policewoman Doubles as American Gladiator

First the good news - Denver policewoman, Abbe Dorn, is one of the new Gladiators on the so-so throw-back NBC show, American Gladiators. While this is probably exciting news for Dorn and Denver celebrity watchers, it hasn’t been such great news for the Denver Police Department.

This leads me to the bad news. Today, Fox News uncovered a scandalous photo of Dorn on hardbody.com. In the racy photo, Dorn is posing on all fours wearing a white lacey shirt, high heel shoes and apparently no bottoms. It seems like her career as a police officer might soon come to an end, as the Denver police would in no way want to associate themselves with a hot chick – I mean, why would they want to boost their stodgy image?!?

The 28-year-old blonde police officer lives in Centennial Park and is a body builder and former fitness model, according to her bio on the American Gladiator website. Yes, she is single. And yes, she can kick your ass.

Guess with fame brings shame. Go get 'em Tiger - er Abbe!

Photo credits: American Gladiator website; FoxNews (from hardbody.com)

Bachelor Blows Off Hometown Girl

DCN TiVo'd the Bachelor tonight - so more details coming soon. However, DCN has learned that our hometown gal, Chelsea Wanstrath, got the booby prize and was not chosen as Bachelor, Matt Grant's, wife-to-be.

Grant chose Lorenzo Lamas' naive daughter, Shayne Lamas. DCN is sure they'll live Hollywood ever after.

Picture: Shayne and Matt on proposal night. Gag me.

Source: ABC

Durango Darling Winning Over Brit Bach's Heart

Durango's bachelorette, Chelsea Wanstrath (pictured left), 25, is only one of two ladies left standing with roses last night on ABC's The Bachelor: London Calling. She and LA blondie and Lorenzo Lamas daughter, Shayne Lamas, will be making out with the British bachelor and doing a lot of "I'm falling in love with you" nonsense talk so they can "win" bragging rights to bachelor Matt Grant's heart and the rights to a huge diamond ring (ABC is hinting that there will be an engagement).

Wanstrath, who looks a lot like Scarlett Johansson (pictured right), is an underdog going into the final rose competition, as Grant has confessed that at times things are "awkward" between the two desperadoes and that he feels Wanstrath gives him mixed signals. However, DCN believes that Wanstrath is playing hard to get and Grant enjoys the chase.

That said, why wouldn't Grant pick Lamas? She's got money, looks and a famous father, a sure fast-track way of getting to Hollywood and becoming famous. Isn't that what he truly wants out of all of this?!?!

These tainted roses don't smell so sweet after all - but DCN will be rooting from our hometown girl any way!