Season three of "Project Runway" premiered on Bravo last night, but a tragic accident marred the finale of the Heidi Klum show. Designers compete for $100,000, a car and other prizes, while their model wins a spread in Elle magazine. Hungarian model Jia Santos (whose real name is Eliza Jakubek), 18, became one of the three finalists. But near the end of taping, she was struck by a bus while riding her bike to the show’s location in the city.
"She was dragged underneath the bus," her agent, Avenue Models’ Javier Hernandez, told us yesterday. "She fractured her skull and her eye socket and was in critical condition for three days. Now she has been in intensive care for a month."Her first words upon waking up, Hernandez tells us, were: "Am I still on ‘Project Runway’?"Santos still appears in the show, and her accident is explained during the finale. Hernandez said she was modeling to support her parents in their Hungarian village.
"Everyone from the show has been really supportive and offered their help to get her parents a visa to visit her in the hospital and work on a benefit for her," he said.
Ben Widdicombe
This is so sad, I hope she gets well soon and makes it to fashion week.
