Santino Rice

Santino Rice
Rice in July 2006
Born
Santino Quinto Rice

1974 or 1975 (age 51–52)
EducationFashion Institute of Design and Merchandising
OccupationsTelevision personality, fashion designer

Santino Quinto Rice (born 1974 or 1975) is an American fashion designer and television personality. He is best known for his appearances on the reality television programs Project Runway, RuPaul's Drag Race and On the Road with Austin and Santino.

Early life and education

Santino Quinto Rice was born and grew up at Fifth Street in St. Charles, Missouri, the city where his ancestors lived in early 1800s. His mother is of African-American and Italian background; his father, of Jewish and Native American background. Rice attended a preschool program at Lindenwood College (now Lindenwood University) and then graduated from the Academy of the Sacred Heart (St. Charles).[1]

When he attended St. Charles High School (Missouri), he played basketball, worked for a student newspaper, and gained interest in fashion design.[1] Furthermore, he was the only male in a first-level clothing course and attended second- and third-level courses. As a high school student, he also drove a 1966 Ford Mustang, bought for $1,500 and restored by his father.[2]

With a scholarship offered to him, Rice concurrently attended the Fashion Institute of Design and Merchandising (FIDM; Los Angeles) in 1990s.[1][3][a] To further afford tuition for the design school, the restored Mustang was sold for almost tenfold the purchase price later then.[2] After school, he performed voice-overs, appeared as an extra in certain films, and was an assistant costume designer. Also, after arrival in Los Angeles, he worked for other designers. He left St. Charles in 2002 and had not returned by 2006.[1]

Project Runway season 2 (2005–06)

Synopsis

Rice at age thirty-one first competed in the second season of the American competition reality television series Project Runway.[1] When the season premiered, he was considered "one of the most talented of the bunch" by Jill Radsken of Boston Herald[4] and an "early frontrunner [sic]" of the season.[5]

Before becoming a finalist, Rice had been one of lowest-scored contestants in seven out of eleven total challenges.[6] In the fourth episode, he was considered for elimination due to his performance in the team lingerie challenge and "his tirade against the judges". A competitor Marla Duran "was disappointed with Rice's catty comments about" Duran's all-female team, which included just Diana Eng and Guadalupe Vidal, for the challenge.[7] Nonetheless, he won two of the season's overall pre-finale challenges, two of which were of its first five. Besides winning the season's first challenge, he further won the season's fifth challenge: designing a party dress for socialite Nicky Hilton.[1]

For the Fashion Week finale, after earning a finalist spot, Rice developed his "muted" collection that included an abundance of "rose and lace" and "a brown leather corset with capelike [sic] sleeves." The collection contrasted his prior works critically panned throughout the season as "too loud".[8] To complete his collection, he was instructed two days before the Fashion Week event to design a thirteenth piece.[9][b]

On the finale, Rice's lack of "brassiness" in his "sleek" Fashion Week collection, compared to his prior works, was noted.[10] The judges praised Rice's creativity but found his finale collection "too safe (and ill-fitting)", wrote Boston Herald.[11] He was eliminated before two other finalists—first runner-up Daniel Vosovic and crowned winner Chloe Dao—making Rice the second runner-up.[12]

Reception as a villain

As the season progressed, Rice further earned his "villain" reputation for his onscreen "egomaniacal [sic]" personality.[5] Katherine Nguyen of The Orange County Register described him as "talented" and "arrogant".[13] Karla Peterson of The San Diego Union-Tribune noted his "refusal to follow instructions" and imitations of Runway mentor Tim Gunn that had other contestants laughing "until they drool[ed] all over their stretch tweed." Peterson further described Rice as "a towering bundle of ego, skill and hubris".[14]

Rice himself asserted to O'Fallon Journal that he was "confident" rather than "arrogant". On the contrary, he admitted appearing "overconfident and arrogant" throughout most of the season but further asserted that he was more than what he had seemed onscreen.[1] Jeff Daniel of St. Louis Post-Dispatch described Rice as "soft-spoken and modest" amid a January 2006 phone interview with him, contrary to Rice's onscreen persona.[2]

The Seattle Post-Intelligencer noted his "mean-spirited" confessionals, "tantrums" toward the judges, and works "rang[ing] from inspiring to epically disastrous". The publication described him as boldly the series's "first true super-villain", surpassing the preceding season's Wendy Pepper, and as "the funnier contestant" as opposed to "his blander, more talented competition" of the season.[15] Rice told the publication:

I'm not a villain. I'm not a bad guy. I'm a passionate guy who likes to create beautiful things. And I'm on a mission. It's not bad to be driven.[15]

Gunn himself said in 2006:

Santino is extraordinarily talented as a designer. He is equally challenging as a person because he is so needy and he needs to fill the room with his voice and his presence and dominate. I was afraid it was going to enable a lot of unnecessary behaviour.[16]

Clifford Pugh of Toronto Star in October 2006 criticized the series Project Runway for emphasizing more "on brash personalities", like Rice and Wendy Pepper, and less on talent.[17]

Reception as a finalist

Before Rice became a finalist, the series's very first winner Jay McCarroll found Rice and other three remaining contestants "kind of boring". Nonetheless, McCarroll enjoyed Rice's "arrogant and funny" personality and his somewhat "weird" works as the only works of the season with "a clear point of view."[18] When Rice became one, Lorilee Craker of The Grand Rapids Press perceived Rice's finalist spot as if the producers intentionally carried Rice into the finale not for "his design ability" but rather "his penchant for drama".[19] However, Runway mentor Tim Gunn said, "Producers weigh in only when the judges are at a stalemate, when we see two people, both of whom can or should be out and [the judges] can't come to a collaborative decision." Furthermore, as Gunn asserted, Rice had "been listening more" since the "inspiration" challenge in the eighth episode.[20][c]

In the first part of the finale, the penultimate episode, Rice displayed his "slightly softer side than before" and revealed his time of living with his best friend's family after losing his job.[21]

Neal Zoren of the Delaware County Daily Times noted Rice's "obvious wit, fashion sense, and creativity" but described his works as "never classic enough".[22] Boston Globe concurred with the results and deemed Rice's collection not much of a "showstopper", despite "a couple of gorgeous dresses". The publication further described his overall work as "conception over construction" and "made for the mannequin, not the actual woman" but noted his artistry and creativity.[23]

Retrospective

Before the fourth season premiered in November 2007, host Heidi Klum and mentor Tim Gunn named Rice "their all-time favorite contestant."[24]

Post-Project Runway career

Rice in 2010 in makeup for L.A. Zombie

Throughout 2006 after Project Runway, Rice was one of invited guests and presenters of the 17th GLAAD Media Awards besides Project Runway mentor Tim Gunn and contestants of the second season Andrae Gonzalo and Nick Verreos.[25] He also designed a red carpet dress for SuChin Pak to wear at the 2006 MTV Movie Awards.[26] He then also was briefly among the judging panel alongside Tim Gunn in Los Angeles on casting auditions for the third season of Project Runway.[27] He also was one of judges of the Miss Universe 2006 pageant.[28]

Personal life

Amid the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, more than fifteen reported tweets making vaccines akin to injecting disinfectants, i.e. finding no difference between both types, were posted on Rice's official Twitter account. Rice pinned the tweets on hackers since he lost his iPhone. Furthermore, the tweets "were exaggerated versions of his drafts, likely meant to have fun at his expense," reported Mikelle Street of the Out magazine.[29] Rice further said,

I've tweeted about vaccines and health-related things in the past. [...] The tweets I'm reading that were posted were obviously trying to piss people off. I don't think people should drink bleach or whatever else was insinuated. I understand that it relates to something Trump said but I also see that someone was having fun making people mad today.[29]

Rice deleted those tweets when he regained his Twitter account by late April 2020.[29]

Notes

  1. ^ Rice was eighteen years old in April 1993 when he attended FIDM.[3]
  2. ^ For the Fashion Week finale, the finalists—Rice, Chloe Dao, and Daniel Vosovic—were assigned to construct twelve outfits for their own collections within five months after the second season's pre-finale taping on their own $8,000 budget. Later, they were assigned the final challenge of the season: with an assistance from an eliminated contestant of a finalist's choosing, build a thirteenth outfit to finish the collection within two days before the Fashion Week show on their own additional $250 budget.[9]
  3. ^ Tim Gunn thought that the elimination of fan favorite Nick Verreos, who finished fifth, was the right judgment. Indeed, Gunn factored in "all the puckering and the uneven seams" of Verreos's dress, which exemplified "amateurism", and Daniel Vosovic's immunity earned from the previous challenge for Verreos's elimination.[20]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g Carlson, Maggie (January 8, 2006). "A star by design". O'Fallon Journal. O'Fallon, Missouri. News section. NewsBank 123F864B00AD5ED0. Also published by St. Charles County Journal: NewsBank 123F864AEC1BCB38.
  2. ^ a b c Daniel, Jeff (January 19, 2006). "Project Runway star finds his TV image fashionably entertaining". St. Louis Post-Dispatch. p. F1. NewsBank 10F4149E522441B0.
  3. ^ a b Howard, Rebecca (April 18, 1993). "Here Comes the Bridesmade (But About That Dress...)". Los Angeles Daily News. p. W1. NewsBank 0EF61892C169376D.
  4. ^ Radsken, Jill (December 7, 2005). "Television Review: Runway success – This fashion reality show has drama all sewn up". Boston Herald. The Edge section, p. 37. NewsBank 1305FA1915630D48.
  5. ^ a b McFarland, Melanie (December 13, 2005). "Project Runway Is Appealing by Design". Seattle Post-Intelligencer. p. E1. NewsBank 10E7FC576D11FE90.
  6. ^ Lloyd, Robert (July 15, 2008). "Cut from an Excellent Cloth". Los Angeles Times. Entertainment > Television > Culture section. NewsBank 121F440797BCFEF0.
  7. ^ Lauer-Williams, Kathy (January 4, 2006). "Bethlehem designer survives week four of Project Runway". The Morning Call. Allentown, Pennsylvania. p. E5. NewsBank 10EF244FAC8F7880.
  8. ^ Long, Colleen (February 10, 2006). "Project Runway takes off at New York Fashion Week". Associated Press. NewsBank 110051C1DA780BF8.
  9. ^ a b "Modest designs on the future". Tampa Bay Times. March 10, 2006. Arts and Entertainment section. NewsBank 131DFC4E6FC5BC80.
  10. ^ Woodman, Tenley (March 9, 2006). "Dao sews up victory on Project Runway". Boston Herald. The Edge section, p. 47. NewsBank 1305F292069C8528.
  11. ^ Rubin, Sylvia (March 12, 2006). "Enough silk and lace to fill a warehouse". San Francisco Chronicle. p. D2. NewsBank 1104FCAA77DAC848.
  12. ^ Chung, Jen (March 9, 2006). "Does Anyone Sew Around Here?". Gothamist. NewsBank 186F380159B05EC8. Designers back to the runway, and Heidi tells Santino auf wiedersehn first—and he feels bad.
  13. ^ Nguyen, Katherine (December 21, 2005). "A dream to design". The Orange County Register. Santa Ana, California. Life section, cover page. NewsBank 10EC87BBD365AED8.
  14. ^ Peterson, Karla (January 31, 2006). "Runway's reality is cut from a different cloth". The San Diego Union-Tribune. p. E-10. NewsBank 10FAF50DDB560FE8.
  15. ^ a b "Santino Ranted – We Had to Watch". Seattle Post-Intelligencer. February 27, 2006. p. D1. NewsBank 110108E7957A1F88.
  16. ^ Gunn, Tim (November 16, 2007). "Project Runway has designs on Season 4". St. Louis Post-Dispatch (Interview). Interviewed by Gail Pennington. Missouri. p. E1. NewsBank 11CFD8234C09BDC8.
  17. ^ Pugh, Clifford (October 26, 2006). "Project Runway Good TV, not so fabulous fashion". Toronto Star (Ontario ed.). p. D3. ISSN 0319-0781. ProQuest 439070678. The show places more emphasis on brash personalities than nurturing new talent. (Remember Wendy Pepper and Santino Rice?)
  18. ^ White, Tanika (February 12, 2006). "Off the Runway and down to earth". The Baltimore Sun. p. 3E. NewsBank 10FD77091A2C0AF0.
  19. ^ Craker, Lorilee (February 15, 2006). "Reality TV makes him style star". The Grand Rapids Press. Grand Rapids, Michigan. p. A1. NewsBank 10FD2B00DE11AD78.
  20. ^ a b Gunn, Tim (February 22, 2006). "Project Runway's top Gunn – Bravo series' 'mentor' gets real about show". Houston Chronicle (Interview). Interviewed by Pamela Sitt. Star section, p. 6. NewsBank 10FF449337450858.
  21. ^ Craker, Lorilee (March 2, 2006). "Last wrinkle – Finalists thrown another chore in first half of show's finale". The Grand Rapids Press. Grand Rapids, Michigan. Weekend section, p. 24. NewsBank 1102170286551BE8.
  22. ^ Zoren, Neal (March 13, 2006). "Project Runway has the right design for networks". Delaware County Daily Times. News section. NewsBank 11CA807F121AA4C0.
  23. ^ "Dao Wins Runway". Boston Globe. March 9, 2006. p. C16. ISSN 0743-1791. ProQuest 404997298.
  24. ^ Gunn, Tim; Klum, Heidi (November 11, 2007). "Designers Worn to a Frazzle". New York Daily News (newspaper). Interviewed by Cristina Kinon. New York Vue section, p. 5. NewsBank 11CE34CD48C3BA88.
  25. ^ "Charlize Theron, Melissa Etheridge, Transamerica, The 'L' Word honored at GLAAD Awards". Balita USA. Glendale, California. April 23, 2006. Entertainment section. NewsBank 11E8E239BA42FA60.
  26. ^ "Project Runway struts its second season". Santa Monica Daily Press. Santa Monica, California. June 22, 2006. Community section, p. 3. NewsBank 11AC81F5A3217FF0.
  27. ^ Rubin, Sylvia (July 9, 2006). "Keeping It Real: S.F. Designer in Project Runway". San Francisco Chronicle. p. D1. NewsBank 112C2F6974C50880.
  28. ^ "Puerto Rico wins Miss Universe". Agence France-Presse. July 24, 2006. NewsBank 1131235DDD972648.
  29. ^ a b c Street, Mikelle (April 28, 2020) [2020-04-27]. "Update: Santino Rice Says Anti-Vaxxer Tweets Were a Hack". Out. Retrieved April 12, 2026.

Further reading

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