Another one bites the dust

MELBOURNE: A 41-year-old designer employed by Lisa Ho has become the latest contestant to leave reality television show Project Runway Australia. In an episode aired last night (July 29), New South Wales-based designer Shane Garland was asked to leave the show after failing to impress judges with his version of a sophisticated evening gown.

Stepping away from the usual structure of the program, contestants on last night's show were taken to the MCG where they were paired with the girlfriends of leading AFL players and asked to produce a "stunning" evening gown suitable for them to wear to the sport's annual awards ceremony The Brownlow Medal.

Armed with a budget of $250 they were given just two days to complete the task.

Former task winner Mark Antonio and Garland were named in the bottom two with judges - including regulars designer Jayson Brunsdon, buyer Sarah Gale, host Kristy Hinze and guest judge Peter Morrissey - slamming their designs as "overworked" and "dull" respectively.

"It was a dull design. It was boring. It gaped in every single place it could gape. It left us cold," Hinze told Garland. 

Queensland's Juli Grbac was named the episode winner, with judges telling her that her design "whispered elegance".Vying for a prize pool that includes a Fiat car, a spread in Madison magazine and $100,000 to put on a show at L'Oreal Melbourne Fashion Festival, the remaining contestants are Grbac, Leigh Buchanan, Brent Zaicek, Lui Hon, Petrova Hammond, Helen Manuell and Mark Antonio.