Brooklyn, N.Y., native Keith Michael, 34, was asked to leave because he had pattern-making books in his room - a violation of the contest's rules - and at one point had gone AWOL from the production. The freelance designer tells Bravo senior vice president of production and programming Andy Cohen, who writes a blog on bravotv.com, "I am not the kind of person who can't admit when he's wrong. I feel like there was a lack of integrity on behalf of the production. I thought it was one-sided." He doesn't deny he had the books - only that he used them to cheat. "These pattern books were not the kind that you would be able to use for practical purposes on the show," he says. "One of the books was the most detailed pattern book you would ever see about menswear that had nothing to do with anything on the show. I brought it because I was working on my menswear line at the time. And the other was a dictionary of production terms."

"All I did was I went to my boyfriend's apartment, found his spare key, found an e-mail from the executive producer and asked him to contact me. I don't know what to say – that's the deal."

"I think this whole thing is farfetched and crazy," he continues. "I have gotten so much fan e-mail from this whole thing. People want me to be the bad boy, but I am not that guy. I thought I would win because of talent, but now I don't know who's to blame but I am not owning up to this."