I’m not a pop culture fiend, but have found myself immersed (albeit delinquently) in Project Runway. As an ardent patron of the public library system, I recently found dvd’s of the first four seasons of that show. I know I’m light years behind those in the know. I don’t care. I’m having a great time catching up.

In addition to witnessing creative and beautiful solutions to the fashion design challenges the contestants are faced with during each episode, there is the real life aspect to the show that is equally intriguing. Over the course of the program, the personalities who have become the most endearing to me are Tim Gunn and Michael Kors. For those of you who don’t watch, Tim serves as a mentor to the designers giving them feedback during the design process. Michael Kors, a top American designer (as Heidi Klum always refers to him) is one of the judges.

In the episode I watched last night, it was getting near the end of the series of design competitions with only seven designers still in the running for the prized Bryant Park runway opportunity. The winner, a gentleman who had almost been eliminated a few times, started crying when his name was announced. Heidi Klum asked, “Why the tears?” He replied that the competition was such a roller coaster of emotions. He was elated to win, but that only made the suffering of the approval/disapproval judgments that much more intense.

To which Michael Kors remarked, “That doesn’t go away.”

Here was one of America’s top talents in the industry admitting that it is still damn hard, even at the top. I thought that his admission was a gift of truth to the contestants. You can want this so badly and have your moment in the spotlight with all the glamor, but the truth is, it’s a cutthroat industry. As Heidi says during every episode, “One day you’re in, and the next day you’re out.” That’s the reality of the whims of fashion. How generous of Michael Kors to honestly share that even at the top, it’s emotionally brutal.

My entrepreneurial world is smaller, less harsh and unequivocal, but the roller coaster ride exists. I concur with Michael Kors, it doesn’t go away. Anyone pretending that they’ve got it all sewn up is not someone you should listen to.