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Mikey Verdugo Absent from “Design Star” Reunion
August 8, 2008 | Leave a Comment
HGTV reality-competition show Design Star ended this past Sunday when producers crowned a winner and staged a reunion with all of the season’s contestants, save one. Mikey Verdugo was not in attendance and although his absence was acknowledged, no explanation was given. Mr. Verdugo, 34, is the crazy-sexy designer whose experience in erotic video (one gay bondage flick shot 12 years ago) caught up with him during his run on the show. Soon after he was eliminated and news broke of his turn in ROPE RITUALS for Tom “Ropes” McGurk, Mr. Verdugo was suspended from his job as a police officer for the city of Hollywood, Florida (CLICK HERE). Design Star runner-up Matt Locke gave an interview to AfterElton.com this week (CLICK HERE) and talked a bit about what happened. “I sent him emails‚ÄîI just said, ‘I support you 100 percent, I hope you’re ok.’ I even said, ‘I watched the video, and you’re hot… And I like your hair.’ ” Mr. Verdugo returned a note of thanks, and Mr. Locke has left it there pending a resolution to the legal conundrum. About Mr. Verdugo’s absence from the reunion, “I had heard rumblings about it and it wasn’t anything that anybody explained to any of us, until that day” Mr. Locke said. “There’s one explanation that they gave: they said we could not to talk about it at all, or we could say that Mikey wasn’t honest on his background check.” Clearly producers chose not to say anything at all, which has inevitably prompted reams of speculation. That may very well have been their intention in the first place. [Image ¬© HGTV.]
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AWKWARD!!
Talk about an elephant in the room.
wow so aren’t you guys thrilled you outed him and now he’s fired..? yes he did porn..but it’s never nice to be rat…where’s the sense of helping or protecting someone in our community??
I don’t know what questions they would have asked on the application. Porn flicks aren’t illegal but they must have asked some question about doing anything in the past that would embarrass the network. He was a cop, so an extensive background check must have been done for that. However, they fired him, so they either didn’t do a thorough check or they’re looking for an excuse to get rid of him. With is looks and talent, he’ll make it. We’re all survivors.
The last I heard he had been suspended with pay pending an investigation, not fired. Has there been a new development?
Has he actually been fired, or just suspended? Let’s not jump to conclusions.
I haven’t commented too much about this, but let’s cut out the bullshit about outing him. How the hell can you out someone who got naked and had sex on camera with full knowledge that it was for a porno that was going to be released to the public?? Please explain this to me.
Also, JC has written about all kinds of reality tv stars this past year who have done gay porn in their past. Why are people so upset about this story? What was done any differently? Gay Porn Blog broke the story, and as they said, they didn’t out a random cop. They broke news about someone on a reality program in the public eye who made a porn film.
It sucks that he was suspended; it’s bullshit and he should be reinstated immediately. But as Jack said in his comment, porn is not illegal. Verdugo was of legal age when he made the movie. Why should the fact that he made a porno be whispered about and kept secret. Be proud of what you did and accept that we live in a hypocritical society that thinks an expression of sexuality is something to be ashamed about.
To me it it all laughable. When will people realize that these exposures of reality TV contestants past gay transgressions are all apart of the producers ploy to reap higher ratings? It happens EVERY damn season. WAKE UP! It is no coincidence. These shows know all about this stuff beforehand and they leak it to gain more viewers.
[...] UPDATE III: “Design Star” staged a reunion, but Mikey V. was conspicuously absent. [...]
fuck you