Life after reality shows are a tricky thing, and not just for the obsessed fans that have to go back to watching scripted(!) television until a new season starts. Since almost all popular competition shows — be it Top Model, Project Runway, or Top Chef— go in cycles, the journey, inevitably, seems more exciting than the destination. Which is to say, once the winner is announced and the second placer goes home empty-handed save for their end soliloquy, nothing seems to change.

These people don't become famous in the ways you would imagine: first season Top Model winner Adrianne Curry is the most well-known of all Model winners, and that's only because she parlayed her success into other reality shows like Surreal Life, where she eventually met fame-whore and ex Brady Bunch star Christopher Knight, and the two of them spun their relationship off into yet another reality show for VH1…and the spiral continues downward.

As for Project Runway, the success of the winners, and their subsequent prize of $100,000, seems to do little to launch their professional careers. Chloe Dao, winner of season two, is working for the home shopping network QVC, while first season winner Jay McCarroll is selling tshirts online. Not exactly the glamorous lifestyle imagined after being crowned by Heidi and Tim.

But there is one exception to this reality show obscurity rule. And you can probably guess which hot tranny mess that is:

Mr. Siriano on the road practically every weekend, appearing at events that pay anywhere from $10,000 to $20,000. In the past few weeks, he's given a speech in L.A. at a get-out-the-vote party sponsored by retailer American Eagle, and dressed Estelle, a British hip-hop star. The revenue generated from such gigs has helped him to fund his business without having to take on investors or exhaust his $100,000 prize.

Even accounting for the fact the Siriano had to dip into the prize money for about $40,000 to put on his Bryant Park fashion show, Christian remains the most commercially successful reality show winner by far. Not only is he the only household name that's managed to remain so even after the competition (with the exception of perhaps Kelly Clarkson or Clay Aiken), the 5'4 funky-haired Christian has managed to turn his personality towards helping his business, not making it his entire legacy.

After designing Whoopi Goldberg's Emmy gown and having placement deals with Bluefly.com, LG phones, and Victoria Secret, Siriano remains cemented as the one reality show celebrity that will never, ever have to appear on a season of Bravo's version of I Love Money, god forbid there ever is one.