I was pissed! They kicked off Sissybear! Grr!!

Ricky needs to get kicked off!

Last night's groups were hilarious and so typical of high school:

The smart/motivated/focused kids: Jillian and crew

The cool/hip/fun kids: Christian and crew

The misfits: Chris, Steven and Sweet P

The minorities: Ricky, Victorya and Elisa


I thought the challenge was only so-so. It is obvious that Ricky is only being kept because he makes for good, dramatic television. His work is so ugly and messy and as Nina would say- "Ricky, this is unacceptable"

I liked the looks of the winning group- I thought only two of the pieces worked well in the second group- I despised the entire Ricky group look- the Chris group had potential... though I did not like their boring colors.

kick...very interesting observation about the group dynamics. I didn't even realize it until you pointed it out. Ahhh...high school days. My group was nicknamed the Rainbow Coalition group because we had a mix of popular kids, jocks, and brainiacs (who were still pretty cool cuz they dressed well and were pretty), and we were of all different races. But yeah...you're right about the teams and their personalites/styles.

I did not think Sissybear's outfit was all that bad. Sure it looked old lady-ish, but otherwise I thought it was attractive.

Keeping it in the Bravo family....

Make it work, boys! It's a match made in reality TV heaven: "Top Chef" runner-up Dale Levitski is dating Jack Mackenroth of "Project Runway."

"We're just gonna roll with it and see what happens," Levitski told Bravo's out zonetv.com. "We have the same sense of humor. We giggle a lot, and you know, any time you end up going through the Bravo reality show ..."

"He's adorable," said Mackenroth of Levitski, who is from Chicago. "I like keeping it incestuous, keep it in the Bravo family."

I couldn't understand why "Sissybear" kept the jacket after Tim Gunn told him the outfit looked more modern without it. Of course, then "Sissybear" would have had to figure out another way to address the shoulder pads aspect of the challenge.

I was certain Ricky would be sent home this time - he's been in the bottom two at least twice now, and he doesn't seem to be taking the judges' comments to heart. How can you be scolded by Nina Garcia for poor construction and not get the message?

I liked Chris' attitude toward the competition - he seemed to be the least stressed-out of any of the designers. I'm sorry to see him go.

In retrospect, I also don't know how Chris could not have come up with something spectacular and gorgeous in a broad shoulder after all of his claims of working with drag queens. I mean- there has to have been a few broad shoulders that he has worked with.

I am sooooo bummed Chris was knocked off. After a few challenges where he consistently produced wonderful work that didn't get noticed, the judges only single him out for a mediocre, but still decent, job. Meanwhile, crying boy Ricky, who's been in the bottom three times out of four, stays on the show. I know the idea is that each challenge is an independent judgement, but shouldn't there be some consideration for past performance? Certainly Santino in season two got that.

I do think the judges had the right idea on the winner of this last challenge, although I would have given the win to Christian's "Team Star," if only because their collection was the only one I thought could have come off a modern runway without any reference to the dated trends. All the other collections looked a bit gimmicky - although the denim looks that won were fantastic.

I will say that when I saw Chris M's outfit, the first thing I thought of was "Diana Ross, Mahogany" - it was such a 70s throwback. Clearly Chris' team messed up by trying to represent the three trends independently, rather than incorporating all three into each look, and I think they would have been better off using the same camel fabric for Steven's outfit that they used for Chris' and Sweet P's, but Ricky's group did not appear any more cohesive to me, and was simply uglier.

Oh well, the competition goes on, and I think Jillian and Kit are definite contenders for the finals, which I would not have thought initially. I love what Victorya has created, but, Man!, I would not want to have to work with/for her.

OMG...poor Jack!! HIV is the devil...I tell ya!!! UGH!!! That was just a real shame and also a good reality check for those billboard ads out there of hot guys who are HIV+ who seem to have no care in the world. Well, Jack is a hot guy with a great body who deals with the very real side effects from HIV. Poor fella. It would be great if he reapplied for next season and got another chance. The man has talent. I've never lost anyone close to me from AIDS nor have I ever been close with anyone that is HIV+ (not that I know of) which I'm so thankful for, but I really felt bad for him.

ON THE FLIP SIDE...CHRIS MARCH was invited back to the show because of Jack having to leave!!! Second chance Chris...don't screw it up!!!

Ricky in heels was just a little more than I wanted to see tonight.

I hope Christian goes soon. He thinks his shyt don't stink and I'd rather hear a cat's nail scratch on a blackboard than hear his whiny, nasal voice. His outfit though was bad. He did a really good job and deserved to win the challenge.

LOL @ Steven's panic attack "Sweet merciful crap"--and he's OUT!!! Its ashame too because early on I thought he'd be one of my faves since I like classic and sophisticated looks and thats what he said he liked to design. But, he put some real crap out on the runway.

I'm impressed by the empathy and care the designers heaped upon Jack. There's a lot of eye-rolling and cattiness on the show, but there is also a highly supportive/collaborative side, too, like when Kevin and Victoria (sp?) helped Steven finish his booooooring design.

The judges are harsh, harsh, harsh, and I feel like these challenges are no friggin' joke, and on top of Jack having to quit, or not working with the regular models, or doing menswear all of the sudden... Sheesh...

Didn't Jack say that his staph (MRSA) infection had nothing to do with his HIV and that it was something anyone could get?

Aqua...that infection could happen to anyone but the way I saw it (and maybe I was wrong) was that his HIV+ status complicated the infection more. Anyone can catch a cold but if you're HIV+, the common cold can be a bit more serious because of a complicated immune system.

I'm pretty sure he made it clear that his immune system has never been in jeopardy and his HIV status had nothing to do with the staph.

It was very sad to see Jack go. You have to sacrifice so much to get on to one of these shows and it sucks he had to leave. He was definitely a front-runner in my book.

I think Steve saw the wedding dress at the very beginning and gave up before he even started. I would like to feel sorry for him but I don't think he tried. I'm actually surprised the woman would give up her wedding dress, regardless of the size, to be cut up and destroyed.

That was a good one last night. Michael Kors was funny ("she looked like she went from a wedding to a funeral... it was very Shirley MacLaine playing a hooker with a heart of gold") and Tim had me rolling with his, "I've made some of my worst decisions at 3 in the morning," comment.

I'm thinking they should give Jack an automatic invite back next season. Didn't they do that in a previous season with someone? Seems like they did, but I'm unsure.

Ok I just read an interview that Jack did for TV Guide and he did say it had nothing to do with his HIV status. However, and I'm no M.D. but somewhere up in all of that...its hard to believe that HIV and/or all the different meds he's taking to fight the disease has nothing to do with it. I know that anyone can get a staph infection but until more longitudinal studies are done on the long term effects of all of these HIV cocktails, I'm going to be skeptical when I hear stuff like that. Its just like all these supplements and new mental health pills that are out in which there are no studies to see how it impacts the body in some ways presently, and what it does 20, 40 years later because these drugs haven't been out that long. That was always another reason why I never fell into the "so what if I get HIV because you can live with it through meds" attitude. I don't think I want to put a bunch of cocktails and pills in my body for a virus that hasn't been around that long enough to do longitudinal studies to see how my insides or what else is going to be torn up 40 years from now. Of course this is just my own hypothesizing. I hope I'm wrong but all the people I know taking these new age pills and things and I just wonder if and what the side effects will be down the line. The FDA is famous for approving stuff and then later saying "oops my bad...needs to come off the shelf"

Bottom line...sad to see the man go and I'm glad that his immune system has never been compromised.

I may be naive but are there sober gay men that actually think that way?

Oh my god maddog yes. There are a lot of gay men, particularly gay youth, who feel that because HIV isn't a death sentence anymore since you can live long with the aid of meds and cocktails that its not really a big deal if you get it. I know someone who volunteers at a gay and lesbian counseling center and constantly tells me she's having conversations with kids who have such a carefree attitude about HIV with their "if I get it its not really a big deal because I can just take pills and be fine". I mean what the hell? What those billboards of the hot, buffed guys living with HIV doesn't show is the vomiting and other negative side effects that often accompany those HIV fighting drugs.

And I don't even want to get into those gay guys who want "the gift" (I believe its called) regarding purposely having unprotected sex with HIV+ men with the hope of getting the virus themselves.

Anyone who wants to be infected with AIDs on purpose would have to be INSANE.

I guess youth IS truly wasted on the young. sigh.

I wasn't that impressed with Jack at first, but he grew on me as the season went on. It's a shame he had to leave, and I hope he will apply again next season. I thought his entire story, from his disclosure that he was living with HIV to his departure because of the infection, was handled with dignity and class. I'll miss him — not just for his hot body, but because he had dignity, class and style.

I was glad to see Chris March return but disappointed — though not terribly surprised, since he had so much less time than the other designers — to see him wind up near the bottom of the totem pole again. Seriously, he needs to get out of the costume mind-set and acquire some real sophistication — fast! That said, I enjoy his sense of humor and his refusal to take the whole thing too seriously.

Now that Christian has finally won a challenge, I imagine his "I'm the best, and everyone knows it" attitude will reach new heights. I thought he'd be taken down a peg or two when he narrowly escaped losing a few challenges ago, but I guess I was wrong. This week's design wasn't bad, but in some ways it looked remarkably like his retro-80s design from the Sarah Jessica Parker challenge.

All in all, a depressing week, what with Jack's departure for health reasons and Steve's being sent home. I liked Steve and his wisecracks — I loved his "Panic can be fun" remark this week — but i have to say that his designs didn't wow me.

I was so bummed out after watching this week's episode that I didn't watch the 10-11 p.m. repeat like I usually do.

Every time I heard Steve talk I just thought "serial killer." He was cute but cute in a serial killer kinda way.

I'd heard of this phenomenon before and thought it was a particulary nasty urban myth. How discouraging and infuriating to find out that people actually think that way.

Steve is from Chicago. Has anybody ever seen him 'out and about'?

When the staph infection came up, my first thought was, "OMG, it was probably from the botox injections!"

As far as the cocky and arrogant Christian, I think it fits him well. Unlike Santino before him, Christian actually really seems to believe and behave as tho' he is better than the rest. So far, he's walking the talk.

6iron, I'm with you. It is pretty clear that Jack has had some sort of work done. His nose looks about as real as Michael Jackson's.

Ok I'm glad I'm not the only one who thought Jack had some "work" done. Thats why when I first saw him I commented that there was just something about his face that made me squint my eyes and wonder...hmm...whats goin on there buddy?

I am wondering if the previous infections caused some structural damage to his face requiring the surgery. He mentioned a previous staph infection on his face- so maybe we should be supportive rather than critical...

Back to Project Runway- I wonder if Jack and former winners will be invited back ala last season to try to earn their spot back...

FINALLY A NEW EPISODE!!! December sucks for shows because November sweeps are over and its the usual "holiday break" from the shows. Damn that Zac Posen is fine!! Bring him back as a guest judge again! Break me off a piece of that!!! Cute design challenge too as far as the Hershey's challenge. I have the utmost respect for the creativity of these designers. How they turned candy wrappers and twizzlers into some of the dresses they did was AMAZING!!! As much as I hate Christian, the boy can design. His dress was one of my faves. His cocky attitude though makes me want to shove my size 13 up his ass!! His comments about the other designer's designs is so evil. There's always that bitch you want to hate but still have to give props to because they are good at their craft. Chris rebounded well! His dress was very nice. Of course, hottie Rami won the challenge. WTG Rami!!! Sad to see Elisa go. She was like the weird outsider girl in school that you always wanted to root for because she was such a believer in her vision and wasn't deterred by what others thought.

Jillian should have won, in my humble opinion. But, dudes, what a friggin' backstory for Elisa - hit by a car and had her head cracked open?!? Hoooo-leee... The editors/writers had us, for sure - thinking it would be between Elisa, Jillian and Sweat Pea, but then when Tim came a callin', you knew Victoria (I'm not even gonna try to spell it the way she does) would be in trouble too... Anyway, nice to have Elisa tell her story before being cast out.

LOL great episode. I think Christian is hilarious--there is surely some equally catty and good-natured backtalk from the other contestants that they edited out to make him look meaner. He's bound to mess up at some point so I guess you all will be happy to see him suffer a little.

Don't know why they didn't mention that Elisa had gotten run over by a car earlier. It explains a lot...

I was finally really happy with an episode of this season - I think they have been a little weak, not in the characters of the designers or the dreamy Tim Gunn, but the challenges were sort of "eh." Sure, I was thrilled to see SJP on the set, and liked the fact the first challenge was so wide open, but I've been underwhelmed with what they've been given so far.

I was glad they weren't required to use edible products, but am surprised Jillian was the only one who used any (what, no gumdrop earrings?). I think the quality of what went down the runway last night was far better than most of the episodes. I totally agree that Christian is a nasty, bitchy, annoying queen who both represents everything wrong with gay culture and is one of the best designers of this bunch. I am not a huge fan of his point-of-view, design-wise, but I think he's executed everything beautifully and his looks have been fantastic. Last night's was absolutely amazing, totally wearable and yet clearly made of Hershey's products (it reminded me a lot of Michael Knights coffee filter dress from the initial challenge last season).

I was so happy to see that Chris was in the top 3, not the bottom, although I thought some of the criticism of his look was a bit much. I thought it was great how he used the big Hershey's banners. If he was really going for a Warholesque look, though, he probably should have kept more of the original "Hershey's" lettering whole.

I really thought Sweet Pea would be the one to go - I wonder if she saved herself by indicating this was her second dress. Since both her dress and Elisa's were plain and boring, she might have gotten and edge for having thrown it together at the last minute, which seems less problematic than Elisa spending all her time on the turd dress (kind of a nice symmetry, however, with her "poohing fabric" dress from challenge #1).

Great episode. I loved Jillian's dress with the Twizzlers, and think that she should have one. The lovely Rami's was also hot, but I think that Jillian's should have taken top prize.

I loved Christian's dress out of Reese's cups wrappers. Beautiful dress. And he is extra bitchy.

Good episode. And I didn't know that the cute judge was Zac Posen (thanks Mdterp). He's really cute, and I love his hair.

I almost expected there to be a major problem with Christian's dress - like than ants ate it or something... Have a hunch that this will somehow come back to bite his in his tiny (does he even have one) ass... He was so strident about having a vision/idea and quickly executing it, you have to wonder if that doesn't somehow get him into trouble in a few episodes...

I remember when barebacking activist Tony Valenzuela expressed this back in 1999 as he was pushing for people to have unprotected sex, and some people were calling him crazy, but it does, sadly, appear to have become a legitimized and normalized concept.

In many circles, the comments made here about "the gift" or about wanting to contract HIV would be viewed as "Conservative" or even "poz phobic." I know, I know... and when Rolling Stone did a feature piece on "bug chasers" a few years back, the magazine got into major trouble. But even then, Andrew Sullivan and others have admitted that the phenomenon does exist and it IS a problem.

But as far as any sort of discussion went, I recall that there was noooooo grey area on this issue a few years back. Folks who said, "Huh, why would someone want that kinda gift?" were criticized mightily. When folks tried to talk common sense or stats on blogs, they were called Right Wingers or lying faggots.

The Rolling Stone article was summarily dismissed as HIV-phobic and homophobic, and while Newsweek did some interesting follow up, what I saw happening as a result of the controversy was that any sort of non- "sex positive" stance would lead to attacks and castigation from GLAAD or others and also lead to being accused of supporting the anti-gay agenda of the political and religious right.

I feel frustrated often because I believe we still run the risking of coming across as privileged and aloof when we scratch our heads at the thought of wanting to contract AIDS or HIV.

Let's discuss this in a different posting since this IS about Project Runway.

I have my opinions on it too, but let's move that to the real life section.

ANYWAY ...

I loved Rami and his dress. That was really hot!

And poor Elisa. Her back story made this cold heart break a bit. I only wish her the best.

I was surprised Christian's peanut butter cup dress didn't win. I really liked it. That was a fun and interesting challenge, and the most interesting (design-wise) episode so far this season.

I'm shocked at tonight's elimination. I won't give it away but I thought the worst was the sparkly thing the judges liked. I feel bad for the person who left because I don't think it was his/her time but it is what it is.

Interesting episode, indeed. The editors had me tres confused as to who'd be on the chopping block... I think the folks at risk of being out were all deserving of being out and agree with you Maddog: someone was certainly SPARED tonight (the person who was kept around has shown a more consistent and stronger "point of view" however...)...

Is there a reason not to post what happened? If people visit the thread after it's done airing on the west coast, what do you expect...

Ricky sucks and is probably outta there next week. His dress looked horrible. Then again, they have kept him around this long inexplicably so who knows. My favorite part of the show will always be the one-sentence evaluations of the bottom two. Hilariously over the top, cutting remarks from Heidi Klum every time--whoever writes those things should get an award.

I'm surprised Ricky continues to hang in there. That dress was frumpy (sp?) and he's always in the bottom two or three. I like him though so the fact he's still remaining in the competition doesn't bug me.

I agreed with tonight's elimination. That thing was ugly as hell. Victoria (how does she spell her name anyway?) had a great dress. It certainly deserved to win. And I felt sorry for Christian getting his "model." Um, let's see... she wanted sparkles and beads and lace and bows and black and gold and silver and god knows what else. Come on! The funniest part to me was when she took credit for the design of the dress at one point and then in the next breath said she didn't like it at all. I do think Christian should've stood up for himself a bit more as far as the design; and blaming the model on the runway is never a good thing. But geez. I'm glad he wasn't eliminated because he's very interesting.

I'm f**king pissed!

I thought Ricky was about to go on his weepy, pathetic way, and he would have deserved it. His dress was an utter mess, and any girl who wore that to the prom would be laughed at. Now, I had an issue with all the dresses that were in the bottom 4, but what is up with the judges only recognizing VictorYa and Sweet Pea? There were three other "safe" dresses from which they should have picked another for the top three, and it should have been Chris. He made a simply stunning dress.

And if anyone got robbed, it was Sweet Pea. I thought from the very beginning her dress was the best - the Champagne color was a brilliant choice, the fit was fantastic, it flowed and was utterly appropriate for a prom. I really liked VictorYa's dress, and I thought it fit her client well - both physically and in terms of fitting her personality. She seemed like the type to want a 60s-throwback style.

As for Kevin, I have to admit I hated his dress. The first thing I thought when I saw it was "she cut down her mother's dress" - it definately had that homemade - and not in a good way - vibe. I am not surprised that He went home insted of Princess Puffy Sleeves (as the boys at Project Rungay - see Allen's link above - call Christian) because Christian has been designing a lot of good stuff and past performance definitely works in your favor by this time in the competition, but I was suprised it was the two of them in the bottom. I was also surprised they did not like Rami's dress, as he seems to be their golden boy, but I thought he plagerized himself very badly - look at last night's dress and the first week's dress he won with - different colors and lengths, but basically the same. But he was safe, so he could get away with sending a napkin down the runway.

Sweet Pea was robbed!
Although Victorya's dress was a PYT, I think the judges forgot what prom is like. All the girls want to dress up and look elegant, i.e. mature - but not as "mature-looking" as Kevin's girl. It looked way better on the dress form but looked horrible on the teen. And that hairstyle did not help at all. I think Victorya's dress is better suited for a junior prom. Sweet Pea's gown was perfect - and her own prom picture looked straight outta Fast Times! I loved it. And Rami's dress sure was grecian - all she lacked was an urn on her shoulder. And, he sure looked great in that towel. Christian is fun to have around and I don't think I've seen enough tears come out of Ricky yet. I want more! I wonder what next week's challenge is? Chris was constructing something big.

I wasn't wild about Victorya's dress at first, but it grew on me when I watched the late-night repeat (although I thought it would have looked better if it were slightly longer.) Sweet P's dress was excellent - by far her best work so far, and I would have picked it to win if I were a judge. I also really liked Kit's dress and was surprised it didn't do better.

I think Rami's dress would have fared better in a different color. The green wasn't ugly ugly, but it wasn't a knockout either. I did like the styling, but I could understand why the judges thought it made the model look too old.

I didn't think Ricky's dress was a disaster, but it wasn't very exciting either. Just safe and blah. Subtlety is all very well — and somewhat lacking in his previous work, I think — but I think he should have chosen colors and styles that had a little more drama.

I suspect what did Kevin in was not so much the dress' construction or color as the fact that he left it unfinished. Surely any designer who has made it this far in the competition would know in his/her bones that not hemming the dress was bound to invite criticism - especially from Nina.

I thought the worst dress by far last night was Christian's — the fabric color was nice, but the trimming and the length were major problems. I'm not surprised he wound up on the bottom two. I was sort of hoping he'd be sent home instead of Kevin, but no such luck!

Oh, well ... at least we won't have to listen to Kevin insisting on how straight he is anymore!

I was very disappointed in all of the dresses, except Chris and Sweet Pea.

I did not like Victorya's dress and it looked like something pre-teen or Junior Prom- not Senior Prom.

The Christian dress was a hot mess- but at least he gave something that his client asked for and requested. Ricky clearly deserved to go- it looked like a pasty potato sack on that poor girl's body.

I too, liked Kevin's dress on the form much more- the poor girl looked mid-30s in that dress.

Please, let's stop with all the guest models already (except I'd like me some more mens!!!!!)- it ruins the flow of the show somewhat....

Thank You! It looked like something from Barbarella 2.

Victorya's dress wasn't the prettiest, but it was still pretty interesting, and looked well made. Sweet P' probably should have won. Her dress was gorgeous.

I thought Rami's was not only a rip-off, but almost ugly. But I'm glad he had immunity and couldn't be thrown off. He's hot *and* talented. Christian is a hoot. Poor thing. That young woman he was working with was a mess, to put it mildly. And he still managed to make her look...presentable.

Kevin's dress was a disaster. Wrong color, wrong cut, wrong everything. Why don't the contestants ever listen when 1) Tim urges them to think about a particular aspect of their work and 2) fellow contestants point out an obvious flaw that could be taken care of? Sissybear asked Kevin about the hem, and he was defiant. Oh well.

Crypapi's sack dress was almost as bad as Kevin's. He is always skating on thin ice. Very thin ice. If he makes it a few more weeks, it'll amaze me, though stranger things have occurred.

Disappointed that Sweet Pea didn't win. Her dress was just lovely. Very sophisticated, but still youthful enough for her young model. I really didn't like Victorya's dress. In fact, I'm not impressed with most of what she's done. All of her designs seem sorta shapeless to me.

Rami's dress was a disappointment as well. Not only did he knock off his earlier design, but he did a poorer job with it this time around. I'm surprised Kevin was sent home over Ricky, as he has delivered some really nice designs and Ricky has been near the bottom every week.

The judges have been a bit strange to me this season. Some of the designs that they have praised have seriously underwhelmed me and some that they trashed were not really that bad, imo. Overall just kind of an off season so far.

I was so disappointed to see Kevin go since he was the remaining eye candy for me!!! Yeah, his dress this week sucked, but come on....Ricky has had the sucking category sewn up since the beginning of this season!
The judges even commented that 'he just keeps doing the same thing over and over and doesn't step up to the plate'.

As far as the 'Hershey's Chocalate Kiss' dress - and we all know what I'm talking about - I don't blame him for calling her out on the runway at all. What was he supposed to do? Stand there and let that 16 year old attitudinal brat take him down??? I was glad he bitch slapped her, and the judges would have done the same thing with a bratty teenager so they need to back off.

Regarding Swee-Pee....ugh...I just can't get over her other dresses. I thought this was her best work this week, but I don't see her going much farther.

Just my two cents.....