Tim Gunn’s Outburst on Project Runway

OK, outburst is a rather strong word, but in consideration of Tim Gunn’s usual non-confrontational approach to the contestants’ behavior, that’s the way it came across.  What Tim actually did was chastise the losing team for their behavior during judging.  It was a well deserved chastisement that my mother would have called it a “good tongue lashing.”

There’s always extra drama when the contestants are put into pairs or teams, but the drama is usually in the design room, this time it was during judging.  And oh what drama it was.

The Task

The designers were put into teams of six.  The challenge was to create a six piece collection for the Fall. Common sense and logic says that each team member would create one of the six pieces.  However, most of us know that common sense is not that common.

The two teams: Teams Luxe (the self acclaimed dream team); and Team Military/Lace (the so-called misfits).  Gretchen took leadership of the team upon herself; giving direction and input to the team both individually and collectively.  I have no idea why the team rolled over and let Gretchen have her way.  Team Mililary/Lace worked as a cohesive group – giving and taking constructive criticism from each other.

In his usual fashion, Tim gave each team his critique.  He was impressed with the direction of Team Military/Lace.  He told Team Luxe that their collection was “ho hum.”  Know-it-all Gretchen defended their drab collection and encouraged her team to carry on in the same drab direction.  Team Luxe was very confident that they had the most talented designers and would win the challenge.

The Verdict

Team Military Lace won the challenge by a landslide decision.  After a diva moment and a near melt down in the design room, Casanova was deemed the winning designer.

Team Luxe lost.  In actuality, the more talented designers did seem to end up on Team Luxe, but their talent did not help them in this challenge.  There were several reasons they lost:

1. They relied too heavily on Gretchen’s opinion and direction
2. They were overconfident
3. They were arrogant
4. Their collection did not reflect their personal styles
5. AND, they did not heed Tim advice

The 180

Team Luxe came out of the box defending their collection.  Gretchen went into an extremely long harangue about why their collection was misunderstood.  They were supposedly a united front.  After the reality of an individual elimination became crystal clear, Gretchen did a 180 degree turn with the speed of an Olympic sprinter.  It wasn’t long before the other’s followed and collectively threw Michael under the bus.  Did they not understand that Michael had immunity and could not be eliminated?

Of course someone had to be eliminated and that dishonor was awarded to A.J.  Did he deserve to go home?  I don’t know.  A.J. was probably eliminated because he only made one piece of the ho hum collection.

The Dressing Down (pun intended)

In the mother of all Project Runway dramas, Tim cut into A.J.’s “farewell time” to chastise Team Luxe.  He did not chastise them in private, he did it in front of the other team and on camera.

He called Gretchen out and told the team that he did not know why they let Gretchen manipulate and bully them into the making such bad decisions for their collection.  Tim also scolded Team Luxe about their behavior during judging.

Going Forward

It will be interesting to see if the other designers keep taking advice from Gretchen.  This is not the first time a designer has been eliminated after taking her advice.  I hope this experience helps Gretchen check her ego (I doubt it).  I also hope this is a permanent turning point for Casanova and Peach; they really stepped up their game.

What did you think?