“Oh Lordy, I have to go!”
Cerri sports Jonathan's winning dress in Episode 8
Cerri gets her own post, so distraught am I by her elimination. I have grown seriously fond of this pale Irish model with the luminescent skin, kind heart, and wicked tongue (made all the better by her amazing accent). I think I first fell for Cerri (whose last name is McQuillan, according to the Lifetime website) when she seemed most cognizant of the amazing presence of Lauren Hutton as a judge early on in the season. Her words: “Sweet Mother of Jesus, it’s Lauren Hutton!” Or maybe it was when Cerri confessed that she was made uncomfortable by the challenge where she had to model with a child. Turns out Cerri doesn’t like kids so much and is willing to say so on national television. But my crush only deepened as Models of the Runway featured more of Cerri’s acid tongue and her highly amusing commentary. Click here for a selection of some of her best moments (I could not, for the life of me, get it inserted into the post like a YouTube video).
So needless to say, I was dumbstruck when Cerri, who had stood by Jonathan throughout the judges’ complete trashing of his dress last night (“I like me dress and that’s all that matters!”), was dumped by her pale partner in crime in favor of Brandise. And Cerri, for her part, seemed just as pissed off. Good for her. Despite my general love for Jonathan, I was miffed.
Because Cerri redeemed Models of the Runway and made me feel like there was a real reason to watch it. It wasn’t just the trashy addendum to PR that provided a lot of the good gossip (though it remains that), it was my chance to root for a competitor in her own right. And now I have no one to root for. As Cerri herself would say, “Simple as.”
Toss One Back for Anthony!
Brandise inches down the runway in Mila's disaster
I am barely able to discuss the fact that I largely approved of the judges’ decisions regarding the top three last night, so distracted I am by how misguided was their decision about who was eliminated! I have one word: MILA! One word for so many reasons, all of which the judges themselves seemed to acknowledge: The print wasn’t really one. The dress was unattractive and dated (I recall references to back porches in the 1970s). Her model could not walk. This is a problem. And yet Mila just seems impervious to having ever done anything wrong. And so critical of everyone else all the time. I don’t know if the camerapeople are doing their best to coax little jabs and barbs out of her, but she sure doesn’t hold back. In short, I do not like her and I do not like her clothes.
Which brings me to the two other contestants in the bottom three last night, both of whom, let’s face it, I adore. Each in his own way Anthony and Jonathan have captured my heart: Anthony for his unabashed flamboyance, his determined belief that a portly, ragingly effeminate, extremely funny black man has the right to be himself. As Anthony himself put it last night, “You Don’t Have to Win the crown to be the Queen.” Amen, Sister. And Jonathan I love for his intelligence and his humor and his sincerity. And last night, for his determination (without tears!) to stand up to a truly nasty Michael Kors. Both of them have, let’s be honest, done better work than they did last night. But neither of them deserved to go home in the face of the train wreck that was Mila’s rainbow column.
Tim and Anthony face off as the latter sports one of his signature Talbot's cardigans
In the end I (like most viewers?) want to like both the designer and her/his clothes. I want to be happy that a particular person has won the competition both because I believe that person is talented but also because I have grown fond of him or her. And unless Maya or Jonathan seriously steps it up, this may be a challenge for me, because I’m having difficulty summoning up much love for any of the remaining contestants, even as I recognize their talents (even Seth Aaron, at least last night — though I maintain that those pants were hideous and overworked).
So let us think fondly of Anthony and of how he amused us. I leave you with one final Anthony gem from last night. Commenting on Jonathan’s fabric and design, he noted how pale both were, how pale Jonathan himself was, and how much he wanted to throw some color all over the lot. As Anthony put it, “They are just pale as hell.” And in Anthony’s Southern drawl “pale” and “hell” actually rhymed.
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