Reality TV: May 2008 Archives

Project Runway winner Christian Siriano wants to set the record straight about comments he made that appeared in this week's Time Out New York. The 22-year-old appears alongside other gay notables for the magazine's Pride issue, but was interviewed independently for the piece. When asked about drag performers, Siriano unfortunately used derogatory slang and made an off-handed comparison that he now regrets.

Time Out: Drag has always been part of our experience and always will be. What is its everlasting appeal? Why won’t it ever die?

Christian Siriano: If you think of heterosexuals, they have white-trash women and trailer parks, and we have drag queens and trannies. I don’t know if I’m the one who can explain it. It’s, like, drag queens are just there. These answers are hard!

"I wish that my words were not taken in that way," Siriano told GLAAD today. "When I was speaking, some comments that I made were not used in the article. I completely support the fabulousness and amazing fashion inspiration that most transgender people provide."

On Project Runway, the designer practically invoked the word "tranny" at every turn, an offensive slur he is now actively working to remove from his vocabulary as he becomes more involved working with the LGBT community.

"I know plenty of trans people," he says. "Some of my best friends had the struggle finding themselves. As did I considering that I am a very flamboyant gay man. I mean no disrespect to the transgender population and I never will. Some of my close friends happen to be transgender and I think they are some of the most inspiring people in my life."

The May 19 issue of Newsweek features a story about the large number of Mormon participants on alternative television these days. "In fact, so many have colonized reality TV's landscape, it's as if they've been assigned there by Brigham Young himself," writes columnist Sally Atkinson.

The mag surmises that Mormon contestants are getting the attention of casting directors because they are self-confident and born contenders; being from large families, as many Mormons are, helps them navigate complicated group dynamics that mirror sibling rivalry.

Being Mormon also gives contestants a built-in fan base. With Monday nights reserved for Family Home Evening, Marie Osmond found herself at an advantage as Dancing with the Stars voting fell on Mondays. In fact, all three Mormon contestants made it into the top four last season. And it will be no surprise if David Archuleta (right) takes the American Idol crown home to Utah.

Of course, the reality of reality TV is that there is literally more of it, so TV viewers now have a chance to see many more faces. Thanks to the unscripted format -- the networks and trade publications unanimously dubbed the genre alternative during upfronts this week -- those who are Mormon, people of color, gay, bi, transgender, etc. all have the opportunity for their fifteen minutes. And sometimes these groups intersect.

"Survivor winner Todd Herzog (left) didn't exactly receive the approval of the Mormon community," writes Atkinson. "When he was on the show late last year, a Salt Lake Tribune headline read, 'SURVIVOR' TROTS OUT ITS LATEST 'GAY MORMON,' which sparked a debate on the paper's Web site over whether someone could even be gay and still be a good Mormon."

Newsflash: They can. And gay Mormon doesn't need to be in "quotes" like it's something make believe. It's a reality.

As we head into the season finals of the ABC juggernaut Dancing with the Stars, speculation is already under way regarding which celebrities will take the Paso Doble plunge next season. Out judge and choreographer Bruno Tonioli (left) thinks it's time for an openly gay personality to hit the dance floor. "It would be great, it would be welcomed," he tells AfterElton.com, while stopping short of giving up his wish list of would-be contenders. When the name of a certain stage veteran who stars on TV's Torchwood is tossed out as a possibility, Bruno gets excited, "John Barrowman is too good! He’ll win. John Barrowman is a good friend. He’s amazing, but he’s too good because he’s done 27,000 musicals."

The judge also welcomes the idea of same-sex couples on DWTS, but believes that at this point, such a coupling would overshadow the competition. "That would be fantastic, but I think that they should do – they should do a special. It would be great to do a special, because it would probably be unfair with the others. They’d probably be fantastic. They’d probably get so much attention, but it would be great to do like a special, boy/boy and girl/girl. Can you imagine?"

From a small provincial town in Italy where he was teased for being too "pretty" to an in-demand dancer and choreographer in the UK, Australia and South Africa, Bruno really opens up in what has to be one of his most revealing and personal interviews he's done stateside, where he is the only out judge on a network competition show.

To read Michael Jensen's interview with Bruno, check out AfterElton.com. The story about how he ended up in that little sling of a bathing suit for the Elton John video I'm Still Standing (below) is priceless.