Reality on Bravo

We’ve watched her on the Real Housewives of Orange County, now we can take her with us on our iPods! For a limited time, Jo Del La Rosa’s first single “Falling” is available on her MySpace site for free! Sign up for her newsletter, “Just Jo,” and it will be emailed to you. Next week, you can buy the song from iTunes.

Jo Del La Rosa, Falling, The Real Housewives of Orange County

If you’re anything like me, you just can’t get enough of Project Runway, even if Bravo shows the same episodes over and over and over again. Season three, my personal favorites were Uli and Jeffrey, but another one of the top contenders was Mychael Knight (although, at that point he still spelled his name Michael).

Out of everyone on PR, Mychael is def the one making a name for himself–literally, I guess since he found that a y would do his name more justice than an i…but I digress…

In any case, Mychael is doing a line for Starbucks, and late this month will be a part of Rip the Runway, a BET fashion show set to air March 14th at 10 PM (set your TiVo so you can see Top Design at the same time!). Chris Brown and Ciara will be hosting and other design lines will include Kimora Lee Simmons’ Baby Phat, Nelly’s Apple Bottom, Amaya Swimwear, and Nike’s Brand Jordan. Mark your calenders!

Project Runway, Mychael Knight, Rip the Runway, Chris Brown, Ciara

Unlike the fame found with some reality show contestants, Project Runway winners don’t really seem to translate well as celebrities into the world. Jeffrey Sebelia, the season three winner who was inspired to try out for the show after talking to his friend Santino, from season two, is one such PR star who is now broke.

The show gives winners $100,000 to help them get a career started, but once Jeffrey paid off his debts and accounted for the time he lost during the taping of the show, he didn’t have much left. He still gets mobbed by fans on the streets sometimes, but the real business is trickling in very slowly, and his own business is hurting from the time off he spent to be on Project Runway.

His biggest claim to fame after the show was probably the suit he made for Seal, but other than that he hasn’t been having much success. His line is still edgy, but his prices are too high to the young crowd that is his main market, with t-shirts starting at $100 and dresses at $500.

Right now, although he’s embarrassed to admit it, Jeffrey is working as the costume designer for the upcoming Bratz movie, you know, as he says “those slutty dolls.” I don’t think he’s going to disappear from the industry altogether, but I do hope that business picks up for him soon, since he’s got great talent.

Project Runway, Jeffrey Sebelia

“I’m not your bitch, bitch.”

On Season 1 of Top Chef, Tiffani Faison was the villian, although she asserts that there were some definite edits done to her interviews, saying in a recent interview:

“The amount of compliments I dished out to the other cast members in my interviews ended up on the floor. There were some people that I really liked and respected.”

Whether you liked her or not, Tiffani never had any formal training, yet her food was good enough to secure her a place as runner up of Top Chef Season 1.

You can check out her food for yourself, because she’s now the head chef of Riche, a fairly new Todd English restaurant in New Orleans.

A meal there if going to cost you upwards of $30 a pop, but they have an open grill and an oyster bar, as well as traditional French cusine. You can call (504) 533-6117 for directions and to make reservations if you’re in New Orleans anytime soon.

Tiffani will also be heading up a lesbian cooking cruise through the Greek Islands in May of this year, so I hear, but the details were a little shakey on that one. I’ll let you know more as I hear it!

Top Chef, Tiffani Faison, Riche, Todd English

Stephen starts off the first of my “Where are they now?” post series…because we all want to know what’s happening with our favorite stars of the past!

If you’re a Top Chef fan like me, then you’ll remember Stephen as the young know-it-all wino from Season 1. He made it to the top 5, but was canned after judges saw that he paid more attention to the front of the house than to the food.

These days, Stephen still loves wine, and he’s bringing it to Downtown LA. After failing to get a permit for his idea in Costa Mesa, he decided to target the LA area for a hipper crowd.

His wine boutique, Tastevin, will feature wines in my price range (ie, around $25), and will be set up like a museum. Customers will be able to press a button and hear an audio description of the wine, Steve-style, I’m sure (ie, long winded). Customers will also be able to taste up to three samples before buying. He hopes to keep 50 eclectic wines on hand at any given time.

Mmmm….it makes me want to move to Los Angeles. Stephen may have been annoying as hell on Top Chef, but he definitely knows his wines and is sure to make some interesting decisions regarding what they’ll carry.

Read more about wine at 451’s wine blog.

Top Chef