Project RunwayAfter all these weeks of having only two days to complete a project, you'd think seven months would be enough time for 12 outfits. Apparently not. But before we get to that, let me say how nice it was to see this other side of Santino, eating dinner at his friend's house with a little girl crawling on his lap, and even confessing about his insecurities. Looooved seeing all those '80s Sears portraits of the finalists and their families. And the product placement worked: I officially covet that Saturn roadster Tim rented.
So far Santino's dress actually looks the most wearable, ironically. That pleated rainbowy dress is gorgeous. Chloe's ginormous poofy-sleeved jacket thing was more over-the-top and weird. Tim
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Question: So now that Santino has made it to the final three of Project Runway (no Uncle Nick!), what are your thoughts on the matter after you said that he shouldn't make it? Do you think the producers kept him because he made for good television, or did he deserve it? Personally, I would like to have seen Chloe, Daniel and Nick in the top three, but what can you do?
Answer: There's still a good argument that Santino stayed in the running because he was among the most interesting contestants, if not the most adept. The only reason Santino didn't get bounced during the makeover episode, when the outfit he made was falling apart on the runway, was because Nick (an early favorite of mine as well) produced such a hideous suit for Daniel to wear (no pockets, terrible fabric and color). I've always thought the judges, and no doubt the producers, have believed all along that if given the chance, Santino could turn out a collection for Fashion Week that would have more of a "point of view" (a
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Project RunwayYou'd think that these final four contestants has survived because they work well in this high-pressure situation. But really, when it came down to this final evening gown, which they were permitted to make with regular old fabric, not grass or old clothing or spandex, they all kinda choked, didn't they? The disappointment made Nina Garcia look snootier than ever, like she'd seen someone wearing clothes from Gap in her presence. I don't think Iman minded so much, since she was so blatantly there to promote her book, The Beauty of Color (at least she made more sense here than on Top Model last season).
So as much as I think Santino deserved the auf Wiedersehen last week for that hideous falling-apart jum
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Question: I am maybe one of the biggest fans of Project Runway, because it's so different than other reality shows. However, I'm beginning to believe that maybe it's not so different. On the Jan. 19 show, General Zod — sorry... Santino — somehow wasn't voted off, yet poor Emmett was. Zod has been on the chopping block numerous of times and Emmett was only on the chopping block one other time. I think this show is rigged. You're someone with knowledge of reality shows. Don't you think this show is rigged just to keep the "villain" on?
Answer: This question came up in an earlier round, when Santino was first in danger of being "out" (and, typically, blew up at the judges), but Daniel Franco was sent packing instead. At that time, it did look like the producers might be favoring Santino because he's colorful and adds conflict to the show (this season's Wendy Pepper?), but I felt that Daniel was clearly unable to function within the rules of this game, especially where time constraints were
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The Biggest Loser: Special EditionI really didn't enjoy the first hour of this show. All the good stuff from the regular series is gone: There was hardly any advice from Bob and Jillian, and there were no tips about diet or exercise. We just got to meet the families and watch their competition. It's the new year, and with all of those inevitable weight-loss resolutions, this would be a particularly good time to emphasize more of the "how-to" aspect for viewers. That said, I was much more engaged in the second hour, when the families got to go home and put into practice the lessons they learned in two weeks at the ranch — that was actually very interesting. I really liked both teams. The Muhas had the whole touching story about their son in the
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