February 17, 2006 -- CALL it the miracle on Seventh Avenue. How else can you explain bad-boy Santino Rice's ascendance to the finals on "Project Runway"?
The abrasive Rice, 30, of Los Angeles, survived another challenge by the skin of his teeth Wednesday night to become one of the final three contestants on Bravo's garment-district smackdown.
The other two were fan favorites Chloe Dao, 33, of Houston, and Daniel Vosovic, 24, formerly from Michigan and now residing in New York.
The three (out of an original field of 16) will face off March 1 and March 8 in "Project Runway's" two-part, two-hour finale, at the end of which a winner will be named by host Heidi Klum.
But the question remains: How did Santino get this far without being eliminated?
In Episode 7, he concocted a ridiculous feathered outfit for figure-skater Sasha Cohen that seemed, to the untrained eye (mine), to be a lot more ungainly than the tasteful navy blue, sequined number that got mild-mannered Emmett McCarthy voted off the show.
In Episode 10, when the contestants' assignment was to design outfits for each other, Santino dressed fellow contestant Kara Janx in an infamous, ill-fitting jumpsuit that was so poorly constructed it was literally coming apart at the seams.
And yet, he still survived to Episode 11 — this week's episode — in which he created a gown that, once again, seemed like a certain last-place finisher.
It was not, though, and Santino advanced to the finals.
One way to explain his survival, besides declaring it a flat-out act of Providence, is to wonder if the show's producers intervened behind the scenes to keep him in the game.
They have that right, of course, as any attentive fan of reality TV shows is aware from reading the fine print that is included in the end credits.
On "Project Runway," Santino established himself early on as the closest thing the show had to an Omarosa (or a Wendy Pepper or a Richard Hatch — take your pick). And since every reality show needs one of those, the producers of "Runway" might have felt they had to retain Santino.
This is all conjecture, anyway, just like predicting who will win. For the record, my money's on Daniel, who has already won five out of 11 challenges and seems poised to win one more.
If Santino was advanced to Fashion Week "by the skin of his teeth", then why was he the first one advanced and Chloe was left in that bottom two with Kara?
Personally, I'm looking forward to seeing his work away from the challenges. His designs are wonderful, but something in that workroom seemed to make him go loony with add ons. The photos of his line are infinitely cleaner.
Thank you Laura. It's as if I wrote the article myself. Everyone I know and hear from firmly believe that Santino is there because of his bad behavior. With a handful of exceptions here and on the the BR board. So, whether or not the producers have intervened, the REALITY is pretty much all of their viewers believe they have. And as we all know, perception IS reality. It's really hurting the credibility of the show. I hate that.
Jacklyn - Hmmm...that's true! I thought Santino might have had this challenge - his dress was way more exciting than the others.
As the weeks went on, I wound up liking Santino more than not. I understand some similarities with Wendy, but she was just plain evil, whereas Santino is just abrasive and goal oriented. Even though he was arrogant and rude sometimes, he tried to lighten the tension with his Timpressions and even complimented Daniel's dress AFTER Daniel point-blank said Santino shouldn't have been there.
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Would someone care to share the whole article. I can only see the first paragraph without signing up. Obviously, I'm not a big signer upper.....:)
February 17, 2006 -- CALL it the miracle on Seventh Avenue.
How else can you explain bad-boy Santino Rice's ascendance to the finals on "Project Runway"?
The abrasive Rice, 30, of Los Angeles, survived another challenge by the skin of his teeth Wednesday night to become one of the final three contestants on Bravo's garment-district smackdown.
The other two were fan favorites Chloe Dao, 33, of Houston, and Daniel Vosovic, 24, formerly from Michigan and now residing in New York.
The three (out of an original field of 16) will face off March 1 and March 8 in "Project Runway's" two-part, two-hour finale, at the end of which a winner will be named by host Heidi Klum.
But the question remains: How did Santino get this far without being eliminated?
In Episode 7, he concocted a ridiculous feathered outfit for figure-skater Sasha Cohen that seemed, to the untrained eye (mine), to be a lot more ungainly than the tasteful navy blue, sequined number that got mild-mannered Emmett McCarthy voted off the show.
In Episode 10, when the contestants' assignment was to design outfits for each other, Santino dressed fellow contestant Kara Janx in an infamous, ill-fitting jumpsuit that was so poorly constructed it was literally coming apart at the seams.
And yet, he still survived to Episode 11 — this week's episode — in which he created a gown that, once again, seemed like a certain last-place finisher.
It was not, though, and Santino advanced to the finals.
One way to explain his survival, besides declaring it a flat-out act of Providence, is to wonder if the show's producers intervened behind the scenes to keep him in the game.
They have that right, of course, as any attentive fan of reality TV shows is aware from reading the fine print that is included in the end credits.
On "Project Runway," Santino established himself early on as the closest thing the show had to an Omarosa (or a Wendy Pepper or a Richard Hatch — take your pick). And since every reality show needs one of those, the producers of "Runway" might have felt they had to retain Santino.
This is all conjecture, anyway, just like predicting who will win. For the record, my money's on Daniel, who has already won five out of 11 challenges and seems poised to win one more.
adam.buckman@nypost.com
why won't anyone do an article on zulema? she was so cool and forceful lol
scary, i love her!
If Santino was advanced to Fashion Week "by the skin of his teeth", then why was he the first one advanced and Chloe was left in that bottom two with Kara?
Personally, I'm looking forward to seeing his work away from the challenges. His designs are wonderful, but something in that workroom seemed to make him go loony with add ons. The photos of his line are infinitely cleaner.
Thank you Laura. It's as if I wrote the article myself. Everyone I know and hear from firmly believe that Santino is there because of his bad behavior. With a handful of exceptions here and on the the BR board. So, whether or not the producers have intervened, the REALITY is pretty much all of their viewers believe they have. And as we all know, perception IS reality. It's really hurting the credibility of the show. I hate that.
Jacklyn - Hmmm...that's true! I thought Santino might have had this challenge - his dress was way more exciting than the others.
As the weeks went on, I wound up liking Santino more than not. I understand some similarities with Wendy, but she was just plain evil, whereas Santino is just abrasive and goal oriented. Even though he was arrogant and rude sometimes, he tried to lighten the tension with his Timpressions and even complimented Daniel's dress AFTER Daniel point-blank said Santino shouldn't have been there.
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