My Run-Ins With Project Runway Designers

Being an avid Project Runway fan, I've added quite a few Project Runway designers as friends on Facebook. Some of these include:
-Mondo Guerra and Michael Costello from season 8 & All Stars
-Valerie Mayen and Andy South (who now goes by a different name, now living as a female) from season 8
-AJ Thouvenot from season 8 (his page is now only a like page- he got too many friends. But I was friends with him when it was soley his own personal profile)
-Anthony Ryan from season 9
-Gunnar Deatherage from season 9 & 10- I've been friends with him since he was on last season, and got to see some of his designs over the last year. He actually did some of the challenges from last year on his own, following the same rules. He turned out some amazing work!
- Jesse Lenoir from season 7- who is now married! :)
-Just added Melissa from this season as well :)

I may be missing some people. I feel like I am.

I know what you're gonna say next: "But Kristen, they must be their fan pages run by someone else, right? Or their facebook account where they only have fans?" Nope! Except for AJ's recent move to a like page, all of them are their real, personal, pages. Which makes it even cooler :) I can go back and see pictures from before they were on the show, see old designs, stuff like that. It's super cool!

I really enjoy befriending them because it gives me a chance to see what they are like outside of the abnormal circumstances they're put in on the show. Sometimes, they seem exactly the same, and sometimes they are a bit different. It's also great to be able to follow them once they are off the show. For example, I found out Andy was now in the process of becoming a woman before most people found out, because of all the pictures and comments on his page. Only recently did articles begin to come out about it, but the transition has been going on for a while now. It's also fun seeing if people stay close after the show. Mondo did NOT like Michael at first, but now 2 years after the show, they're still close friends.

Another perk of being friends with them is that I can send them a message and get the chance to talk to them, which is a bit of a starstruck moment for me! So far, I've had personal contact with 2 of them.

The first time I talked to a Project Runway designer was while season 8 was on. I had friended Michael Costello and he had accepted. One day, my friend 'sent me a video' asking if that was me in it. It was really one of those viruses on facebook that spams ALL of your friends' walls. Usually, I don't fall for these, but it came from a friend that would be very likely to have an old video of us together and I was curious to see which one she was referring to. My facebook got hacked before I could change my password and it first sent the "video" message to a bunch of people and then spammed EVERYONE's wall, including Michael Costello. He thought I had posted it on his facebook on purpose, so he sent me a message about it.

So as you can see, he thought I had put it on there and was really wary of being portrayed in a negative way when asking me not to do that. I felt SO BAD about the spam, but it was cool getting to talk to him even though it was about the stupid spam :/ At least he was nice about it when he realized I didn't really want him to check out my new ringtone...

My next chat with a designer was actually extremely recently- Last Monday. It's what made me think "hmm I should write about this". If any of you watch much tv, you might have seen a recent Geico commercial. It begins with some bikers walking out of a bar. They see a guy made entirely out of money pulling up to a gas station on his motorcycle. The whole point of the commercial is that basically, you aren't made of money, so don't make it easy for people to take your money. Anyway, in the commerical, there's this guy that works at the gas station who looks EXACTLY like AJ Thouvenot from season 8. His hair, nose, everything looks the same. I googled it and couldn't find an answer whether it was him or not. So I went straight to the source. Here's how it went down: (I know it says I sent the first one on Wednesday. He didn't reply til Monday. Just btw.)

I was so relieved that he didn't think I was crazy and actually knew what I was talking about! When I first saw it, I replayed it over and over trying to figure out if it was him- sure it couldn't be- but after seeing it so many times the next few days, I was sure that no one could look THAT much like him and not be him. But I guess his doppelganger is an actor! I'm glad I asked him, because now I don't have to wonder AND I got to talk to AJ (one of my faves, if you couldn't tell). I should've asked him if he'd been asked to be on All Stars 2... but then again, if he HAD been asked, he probably couldn't say. And they may not have even asked anyone yet.

So, those are my 2 personal conversations with the designers. This also made me smile:

I wasn't sure if he was going to see it, because it didn't show up on his wall, but sure enough, I got an alert that he had liked it :D

Outside of Project Runway and Facebook, I hadn't really had any personal contact with celebrities, UNTIL a couple weeks ago :) I was at Mall of America, and ran into one of my ALL TIME FAVORITE contestants on American Idol. I happened to get a picture with him as well :) If I get some comments/feedback, or some guesses as to who he is, I miiiight possibly post the picture... which means you could see what I look like :P. Hints, you ask? They'll be vague >:D

-He didn't win.

-He was in a ball cap, v neck, and skinny jeans, drinking a red slushie.

-I think he's cute. My dad thought he looked goofy.

-He's a blondie now, but wasn't always.

Not gonna tell you age cause that could tell you around which season he was in (like if i say 30s, that indicates an earlier season, but if I said 17, you'd know it was in the last 2 years) So, that's all you're getting. I would find it pretty easy to figure it out if you'd just given me a certain one of those 4 hints. Anyway, happy guessing and Project Runway watching ;)