AE: On the show last night we got to meet your love interest, as you introduced him. How did you guys meet? Can you tell us a little about him?
JS: We had been dating or seeing each other for about two years. We met a friend's birthday party in West Hollywood. He's the president of this Latin advertising agency, so his work schedule was really ridiculous for a while. We could only see each other a couple times a month because he was traveling nonstop. However, he's kind of restructured the company, so he has more time now, so we've made it official. We're boyfriends now. He's so supportive and a lovely, amazing guy. I feel so blessed to have him in my life, especially right now. It's crazy. Me walking down the street, I'm so appreciative because I've had people come up and they're crying and they want pictures and autographs and stuff, and he's handling it beautifully. He's not all intimidated by that, and I think it takes a strong person to not be. I'm just really happy to have him in my life.
AE: What's next for you?
JS: I am currently working on a collection of women's wear that will be shown in Los Angeles on November 5th. It's back to what I do best, one of a kind, opulent, ornate, delicious Jerrel pieces. I design clothes to get people noticed. If you wear one of my pieces you're going to get complimented and I think that in turn makes you feel good about yourself. I'm doing this right now to remove the hunger pains so that I can be really wise about the investor that I take on. I don't want to have to jump on the first thing that comes my way. But let's face it, a brother's gotta keep the lights on. [laughs]
AE: Well, Jerell, congratulation on making the Final 4, and thanks so much for talking to us!
JS: Thank you so much. I really appreciate it.
Totally Robbed.
Jerrell sounds like a nice guy (cute boyfriend, BTW!) and he maintains a nice attitude for someone who was so thoroughly mugged by the Project Runway producers.
He won the final challenge. Kinley lost. But the producers didn't like that outcome. They always need the "villain" (this year it's Kinley) in the finale. So the producers changed the rules. They cheated. Period. And Jerrell got screwed. It was disgusting.
They didn't even pretend to stick to the rules they'd previously set up last season: if there's a question about who lost, and who's not going to the finale, the two with the lowest scores compete and one of them is eliminated. That would have been Kinley and Koto. Jerrell (the winner) and Leannne shouldn't have even been at risk.
There's no legitimate reason why Kinley, the loser in that last challenge, wasn't booted. But they changed the rules so she could stay. So it should have been Kinley vs. Koto for the final slot. But they changed the rules again.
Project Runway has several questions to answer:
1) Why was Kinley so important that she had several rules changed just to protect her?
2) Why did the show then go out of its way to change the rules specifically so that Jerrell was a major target for elimination?
I think the conlcusion was pre-ordained. The producers wanted Kinley, the villain, for drama, and they wanted an all female finale, to set up their move to the Lifetime network.That's not a contest or a competition. That's a scripted sham.
The producers blatantly cheated, and they screwed a nice guy like Jerrell out of his fair shot at a major prize and publicity. If the show was trying to draw in viewers with this move, then good luck to 'em, 'cause they just lost this long-time (since the beginning) fan.
If you've been a fan
If you've been a fan since the beginning, then you know they did this same thing with Wendy Pepper in the very first season. Week after week, she was turning out clothes that weren't even in the same league, but the producers kept her in through the final.
Same thing for Santino Rice. His clothes were often crappy and hated by the judges, but he kept sliding by.
If you watch the end credits, you'll see that it clearly states that the decisions of the judges include input from the producers. This means that the producers can override whatever scores the judges give for the sake of "Good TV." No matter how much Andy Cohen (the v.p. of entertainment for Bravo) denies this, this is clearly the case.
Let's stop calling this Reality TV and start calling it a game show--with most of the games being played on the viewer.
Pepper and Rice.
You're definitely right, in that it's been there from the beginning (but back when the show was new, the editing could persuade me that maybe Wendy Pepper was a wild card-- and, notably, the show didn't so blatantly change the rules right in our face to include Pepper; she did enter through the regular elimination process).
But this is the first time when the show has actually knocked the frontrunning winner of the final competition (and a frequent winner of many of the previous weeks' challenges) right out of the competition in order to push their preferred (frequently losing and loser of the final challenge) choice in. That's when I reach my breaking point with it, I guess.
I don't even think we should call it a "game show;" you don't see Jeopardy's Alex Trebek suddenly announce: "hey, on second thought, the Final Jeopardy round doesn't count. Sorry to our returning champion, the librarian, who'd earned $10,000 more than the other contestants to wager, and who answered the question correctly. We've simply decided that question didn't count and we're going to have a new round. For this new round, you now all have an equal amount of money to wager. And here's a new question about Trigonometry, for the win. Let's see how our first contestant, the mathematics professor, answers..." If the Bravo Reality producers ran Jeopardy, I imagine that's how it'd be played.$64,000 Question
Well, you're right in that the official "game shows" have much more stringent standards currently. These are because in the heyday of the game show (the '50s), some producers did exactly what you suggested and rigged the shows so they could get the outcome they wanted. The shows "21" and "$64,000 Question" were two of the most egregious in that regard.
It's a little easier to skirt the rules in these "talent-based" shows. The criteria is much more subjective and every challenge is sudden death. Moreover, the contestants all sign contracts that inform them that the producers decisions can override the judges scores.
But yeah, I agree. It stinks.
I've stopped watching PR this season and only read the recaps. And even those are less entertaining than they used to be.
Shark, consider yourself jumped.
Suede
Great interview guys! When
Great interview guys! When I first started watching this season, Wesley and Keith were my favorites and I was sad that they got eliminated so soon, but Jerrell really started to grow on me. His designs were amazing and he had such a cool and funny personality. I'm sure his final collection was the best.
About the finale, I really hope it's Leanne who wins. Her outfits are simply fabulous! Korto winning wouldn't be that bad either, as long as it isn't Kenley though! haha.
Btw, about Jerrell's boyfriend...was it the guy he introduced as Dan or Michael?
Team Kenley
I don't get why many are so upset that Kenley got into the finals. I mean, I'm all for Team Gay but I'm also for Team Fabulous Fierceness Fashion. And seriously, Jerell's wedding and bridesmaid dresses are butt ugly, so is Korto's.
Kenley may be a bitch but she also makes fab clothes, and that's what I like about her. Bitch can walk the talk. I know, she may have made some boo-boo's in the past but from the previous challenge, I'd rather wear Kenley's snake skin body hugging ensemble than Korto's pageantry mess.
I'm glad Korto went into the finals because base on the collection, hers is way better than Jerell's hog wild tranny mess.
Just my 2 cents.
xoxo