"Top Model" winner CariDee on "Pretty Wicked," being the face of Christian Siriano's fall line and her gays

CariDee English and Tyra Banks

Last night I popped over to the Oxygen offices to check out the first episode of the lady-centric net's first reality competition show, Pretty Wicked, and pop a few questions to the show's host, Top Model winner CariDee English.

Now, granted, there's nothing explicitly gay about Wicked, which plops a ten-pack of shallow beauties into a loft (the same loft that housed the spandexed hopefuls of Who Wants to Be a Superhero, if I'm not mistaken) and tells them that they're going to have to win a beauty contest that has nothing to do with their looks. But as a fan of guilty pleasures like True Beauty and America's Most Smartest Model, I wanted to check it out ... and as a rabid backer of CariDee in Cycle 7, I wanted to see what my girl was up to.

First off, it's probably no surprise that CariDee is a big friend of the gays. When I mentioned where I worked, she gasped, "Oh! The loves of my life!" and told me that pretty much all of her friends and many of her colleagues are gay guys. In fact, just this week she shot the campaign for Project Runway winner Christian Siriano's fall line, with Siriano's photographer boyfriend Brad Walsh behind the lens. "He's such a good friend of mine ... he's my baby! He's amazing, so driven."

When I asked CariDee why gay reality fans should tune into Pretty Wicked, she said the show is for anyone who has "a love and passion for a girl who makes your jaw drop. And we have ten girls on this show who will make your jaw drop over ... and over ... and over. You just can't believe that these girls think that the way they're living life is actually okay, and the change that they go through is so profound."

English at the Richie Rich runway show with Semi Precious Weapons' Justin Tranter

Since the last time we saw English on the other side of the judges' table (on Top Model), I asked her if she kept in touch with recent GLAAD Media Award recipient Tyra Banks, and she immediately replied: "Absolutely. She's my girl for life."

Both English and head judge Mia Tyler stressed that the focus of the show is on rehabilitating the girls' attitudes, and from what I saw of the first episode I have to say the hook is a pretty good one (there's nothing like seeing a bunch of girls get dolled up for a date only to find that their suitors are blind). If you want to check it out for yourself, the show premieres tonight at 11/10C, and here's a preview clip: