There's a Project Runway Book Now: Here's the Best of the Gossip

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Books about TV shows are questionable exercises these days, what with the internet making episode guides, message boards, and show gossip available to us 24/7. So when we heard there was an official Project Runway book coming out, we were skeptical that there wouldn't be enough new info there to interest obsessive fans like ourselves. Good news! It's a really fun read. Chock full of interviews with the producers, judges, designers, and even guest judges, we found out a lot of scoop that we'd never heard before. Our only complaint was that we wish they'd included photos of all the garments that were discussed in the interviews—after nine seasons and one All Stars run, there are quite a few disasters we can't remember clearly.

Anyway, to give you a taste of what the book includes, here are ten fun facts/salacious gossip tidbits we learned about Project Runway.

10. When Heidi Klum goes in for hair and makeup before each runway show, she gets to see the line-up of the models, and sometimes lets them know if she likes the designs they are wearing. At least one model has passed this info onto her designer before the judging.

9. Season Three winner Jeffrey Sebelia claims that Angela Keslar's mother only cried when he and the cameras were around. (We remember how nasty he was to her and we're not buying it).

8. Season Two's Daniel Vosovic explains that the designers lose valuable time when they are being interviewed for the talking head segments on the shows. So they learn to answer questions quickly, and if possible, dramatically, so that the interviewers will move on faster and let them go back to working on their garments.

7. Season Seven's Mila Hermanovski was originally an alternate and only learned she'd made the show 72 hours before she had to fly to New York for the taping.

6. During Season Eight's "design your own print" episode, Mondo Guerra DID tell the producers in a one-on-one interview that he was HIV positive, right before he came out about his status in front of the cast.

5. Season Six's Althea Harper shared that cast mate Irina Shabayeba's personality "actually came out softer on TV." In fact, one of "Meana Irina's" models quit the show because the designer was so rude to her.

4. Season Seven's Emilio Sosa was the costume designer for the recent production of Porgy and Bess on Broadway—and even earned a Tony nomination for his work.

3. To get cast on the show, Season Four winner Christian Siriano said, "I had to take a psych test, which I thought was really funny." (All the designers have to take them).

2. If it had been up to Heidi, the producers, and guest judge Jessica Simpson, Mondo Guerra would have won Season Eight, but Nina and Michael felt American women would better relate to the designs of Gretchen Jones, and their wills prevailed.

1. Michael Costello made short dresses during Season Eight so that Heidi would want to wear them.

· Project Runway: The Show That Changed Fashion [Amazon]
· All Project Runway Posts [Racked]