Warning! Making The Cut spoilers ahead! Devoted Making The Cut viewers are still in shock that the season two frontrunner, Gary Graham, didn’t end up the show’s winner and $1 million richer after Andrea Pritter was crowned the winner. Last week we got on a Zoom to chat with a disappointed Graham to discuss what went wrong.
I’m sad you didn’t win!
Right out the gate! At the time, I was so happy to be in all of the episodes. There was always a part of me that thought I was on a TV show and part of the ensemble. I was so happy to make it in that respect.
What was going through your mind when you thought you were going home on the episode before the finale?
To be completely honest, there was a sense of relief. I’m done! I went all the way. I did everything I could. I was really disappointed in that episode and everything about it. It was so loaded for me. We were given the concept store in quarantine so I did a three dimensional mockup. I was working on it really hard and it kind of fell flat. I felt disappointment. I didn’t want to be the guy going home, but there was a strange sense of relief.
You seemed very stressed and emotional in the final two episodes. Were you tired?
I was definitely tired. We weren’t really eating. We were fed but you don’t have time to eat! The hard part is that I’ve been disappointed and living with that since we stopped filming. It’s been really difficult for me. I’ve been really neurotic and OCD. I’ve been redesigning everything in my head. I’m hoping there will be some closure once it airs. I don’t really know what happened to me. I just kind of lost it.
You still came out of the show a winner! Jennifer Hudson didn’t win American Idol!
Thank you. Back to episode 7, with all respect to everyone, there were a lot of big ideas that I was trying to do simultaneously. I was obsessed with having a dressing room and maybe I should have been more obsessed with having more clothes in the store. There were a lot of things that came to play in my defense. It was a lot. I still believe in what I did. From day one to day now, I still have the same goal and it’s very clear.
You got up on the table and danced when you found out you were staying in the competition. What was that about?
I felt like I had to do something and show gratefulness. I had to do something crazy and break the ice. I don’t mean the ice in the room but I mean the ice within me. Sometimes you just have to do something crazy where your heart is racing. I do have a performance art background a little bit. Sometimes you just can’t say it. You have to dance it.
Jeremy Scott really loves your work. He was such a champion in the final episodes. Did you have opportunities to talk with him more than we see?
No. There were a lot of restrictions with COVID. We kept a distance from each other. There wasn’t really any off-camera opportunity to talk. It really was all on camera. But I felt it. It’s a mixed feeling of really happy that he’s rooting for me and then on the other hand I think what did I do so bad? It’s like a crazy date gone wrong that you live through over and over. Hopefully I can move on.
Will you show at New York Fashion Week? What’s your plan for staying in the game?
My next step is to continue my relationship with Amazon and build my in-house production team. When I closed my company, it was me making ten things a month in order to meet my overhead. I’ve gone from that to tripling my sales. It’s me and my one super assistant. My goal is to scale with Amazon and build my team here. I also want to pursue my narrow driven shopping network. I want to start with Amazon Live. I think it’s a a great vehicle. I have ambitions of speaking directly to the customers.
Robin Roberts wore you on GMA last week!
That was amazing! She has that masterclass and she talks about a quote from her mom that your mess is your message. I’ve been living with that since I did the show and to see her wearing the dress and talking about Simone Biles, it was all of these things connecting and all of these things that I couldn’t have imagined.
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