Every season on Project Runway, we all eagerly await the group challenge, that reliable supplier of above-average drama. Read the full post.
Aug 27
2010
06:30 AM ET
'Project Runway' recap: Gretchen gets a grilling
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I want to marry Tim Gunn and have lots of well tailored, mild mannered babies that rise up against the delusional at the crucial moment and say “we won’t take it anymore”. Love me some Tim.
Love this.
Right on!
Speaking of which, I can’t recall ever reading anything about Tim Gunn’s personal life. He’s never spotted by the paparazzi having dinner someplace, or out with a date. Is he in a relationship? Does he ever wear jeans or shorts? Maybe I don’t really want to know. I love his PR persona and maybe I shouldn’t mess it up with seeing the “every-day-life” Tim.
As far as I have heard him discuss, he is a workaholic who doesn’t date anymore.
Regarding the jeans-I think he did wear a pair to the challenge where they went to the farm. Don’t know about the shorts
He wore sandals (with a suit, I think) once during the LA season.
I think what I love about Tim the most is when accidentally says a double entendre. He’s so sweetly naive about why people are laughing and as he ponders it, you can see the light bulb go off.
Wasn’t he spotted at Red Lobster with Andrae?
I was doing so much ‘yelping’ last night my boyfriend came in to check on me from his office to make sure I hadn’t had a serious accident! My loudest yelp was when Heidi said, Ivy, You’re Safe. Wha? Week after week, her designs absolutely blow! and now obviously, she’s a total jerk to boot. Michael C.’s look wasn’t as bad as Gretchen and Ivy’s contributions. I liked it almost as much as Christopher’s trousers and that little jacket Andy made. Anyway, I’ve never seen a judging session be more awful in all the years of Project Runway – except for that crazy girl who used to get super-belligerent. That was less painful because I loved it when she would take it to the point where Michael Kors would get kind of scared.
As soon as Gretchen first started talking on the runway (without giving anyone on her team the chance to comment!) I said “Oh, she’s gonna talk too much”…and she did. She couldn’t shut up long enough to realize that the judges were amazed by how large the hole she kept digging for her team was!
Oh, she just dug and dug and dug din’t she? I’ve heard that these runway discussions can go on for hours so we can only imagine how deep that hole was by the end. Why on earth did they let her steamroll them like that? How annoying it must have been for the judges to not have a complete look from each person for them to judge.
And it was the MOST boring collection! Michael C’s blouse was really pretty, but he’s completely incompetent? I felt so bad for him to have to go through that after his win (which I thought he totelly deserved). Tim Gunn is my hero!!
I thought Michael C’s red dress should have won the party challenge. It was absolutely stunning and fit the model well, unlike Ivy’s monstrosity that week.
Really don’t get the Michel C hate.
I loved that red dress, too. He musthave some talent.
Yes, Michael C. should have won the Party store challenge instead of back-stabbing Andy -who wouldn’t even have finished on time if Peach and April didn’t volunteer to help him.
You didn’t see Michael C. ratting him out for that (but Gretchen wanted to!)
Though Gretchen may be a good individual designer, she displayed to everyone she cannot collaborate and that she is a “mean girl” and doesn’t appreciate or respect anyone’s else point of view. Despite her previous wins, I wished she would have been sent home. I am glad Tim Gunn stepped in and injected some humanity back into the show. I think Michael C did not deserve to be a walking target for his group. Ivy may know how to construct a garment, but no one wants to wear those clothes. At least, Michael C has ideas that can translate to the streets.
Go, Cassanova and Peach! Good job, guys.
missy…i just love your recaps! assistant witch in training, ivy…hahahaha!
OK, the underdogs won tho I didn’t find their collection too great or wearable. But the Team Luxe critique was unbearable courtesy of Gretchen. She never shut up! Her team mates never broke in to curtail her assessment. She kept on talking and contradicting herself and talking and talking- finally I hit mute. I had some respect for her designing skills but she did herself in. Tim pointing it out was marvelous and kudos to him as SOMEONE stood up against the awful behavior displayed. It will be interest ing to see how the cast reacts next week and the future to the Wrechen…I mean Gretchen.
stop lying, you did not hit mute. You watched and listened to every single moment of train wreck awesomeness that occurred.
I listened for her first 1/3 of review of the collection, when she would NOT shut up I hit mute. I think it was in place of wanting to hit her. Not lying..missed her saying that the collection was crap? or crappy?
omg, it seemed like she would never shut up! I kept thinking, ok now she will stop, now she will stop, but it never happened!
Does anyone else thing she looks like Jim Carrey? When she talks, I think her mouth looks just like him.
Me too!! I thought the teammates or judges would interrupt….no, maybe it was good TV. I couldn’t stand it so I hit mute when she was speaking.
Not only did I not hit “mute”, but I went back and listened to it again! It made the dressing-down which was coming later all the more sweet!
My son calls her “Grinchen”.
I wasn’t crazy about all of Team M&L’s garments, but they were a million times better than Team Luxe’s. I was so happy to see the so-called misfits triumph over the deluded “front-runners.” It was awesome, though not quite as awesome as Tim’s take-down of Gretchen. That was pure amazingness.
I know I’m going to get a lot of flak for this, but everyone seems to be forgetting that Gretchen is the only contestant who has won 2 challenges in a row, and nearly 3. She’s very talented, and Heidi,the judges, and Tim know that. So what if she took it upon herself to lead the team? It was silly for Heidi to say that neither team would have a leader. You can’t give a group of 6 people an assignment without someone emerging as a coordinator of it all, if not an offical “leader.” Yes, she did exert her influence to extremes, and folded like a house of cards during the judges’ questioning. The way I interpreted the proceedings, she and the others dumped on Michael C. exactly BECAUSE he had immunity, so they could (hopefully) avoid having to select someone to go home. But,of course, the strategy fell apart quite early.
I know I’m a minority of one on this, but I really don’t think Gretchen is “evil” or malicious. She screwed up any number of ways last night, and certainly didn’t win any friends. But for some crazy reason that even I don’t understand, I like her. Sorry if I put a damper on the Gretchen Hate Fest.
I’m with you Garry.
I agree about her talent, and had no problem with her being the leader, but as a person her true colors really came out on the runway. If she just ‘screwed up’, or was the victim of editing, or had a temporary stroke causing verbal diarrhea, no way would Tim have felt compelled to go off like that. And they weren’t trying to subtly put blame on Michael – they were cruel to him with Ivy leading the charge. Any of them could have taken the AJ route.
I can’t understand how she won, with the little black dress and the Charlie’s Angels jumpsuit, but most people hate her becuse of her general obnoxiousness over the whole series, and her unsolicited criticism of other contestants. Tonight was just the icing on the cake.
Also, I really disliked AJ and found him really annoying, but I sort of felt bad when he left because he was the only one who didn’t throw Michael C under the bus. Personally, I think that either Gretchen or Ivy should have gone home, but I guess what’s done is done.
I vote Ivy.
Ivy for sure.
I vote Ivy to go back in the hospital -and never come out.
I’ve never been an AJ fan, but I agree that he showed a lot of class when he talked only about his own weaknesses.
I sat there in amazement during the judging last night. I could not believe they all just sat there listening to Gretchen drone on and on. I felt horrible for Michael C., but honestly, he needed to grow a pair and stick up for himself. I didn’t think the show could get any better, but then Mr. Gunn really stepped up and said what everyone at home was thinking. I heart Tim.
He did. You can see it in the extended judging on the PR website. For whatever reason, the show’s editors didn’t include it…probably because it was a polite-if-angry reasonable defense that didn’t make for such good drama.
Oops, sorry – in case that wasn’t clear, “he” refers to Michael C. in my comment.
Just read the recap. Excellent. I too wondered about Valerie’s initialed tops. Casanova’s outfit was hot. His personal wardrobe is a “hot mess” (sorry Nina). Peach reminds me so much of SweetPea, I hope she sticks around. Starting to like the blonde that made last weeks diaper. Her sound bytes were great.
April
I was thinking this episode that I am so glad they kept her. She is hysterical.
I’ve said from Day 1 that Peach reminds me of Sweet P.
Don’t see it. Sweet P was a lot cooler. I like Peach though. Maybe it is the produce-containing names???
I think it’s more mannerisms and overall appearance. I don’t know for sure what it is.
Peach is so fun. I loved how she joked around when she was the last one to be chosen. What a good sport.
I actually liked Peach’s outfit. The blue skirt with the chains was kind of cute, as was the blouse. And say what you want about Peach, but that woman can SEW. Some of the designers who appear on PR are weoefully inadequate sewers – seriously, why would you go on the show, knowing the kind of sewing that has to be done and in a short time frame?
Why do people like Michael C? I don’t see the talent.
I think people are reacting as much to the way he’s been treated as to his clothes. Even if he’s not as talented as some of the other designers, he didn’t deserve to get the Mean Girl treatment from Gretchen and her toady, Ivy.
His red dress during the “party store” challenge was just amazing. He re-did his dress for the “hat” challenge and won. He does have skills. Plus, he started out as this season’s Anthony.
I guess I see where your coming from. But, Anthony had a much stronger backbone…
He is not a good seamstress, but he has a good eye. His clothes are flattering, but the real reason I like him, I admit, is his personality. I love his interviews.
I think this is the most important thing. His clothes look good on the models. If you can’t flatter a model, who else is going to be able to wear your clothes. Plus he is funny and nice.
He has taste. he has integrity. he totally could have bitch slapped Gretchen on teh runway for taking over everything, but they had decided not to pick someone, he stuck to it. too bad all but AJ fell under pressure.
I wonder too, if he would have defended himself if he hadn’t had immunity.
Just watched the Extended Judging Video clip over at Lifetime, and Michael did defend himself. However, the back-stabbing continued (think you missed a spot between the shoulder blades, Andy), and Wretched’s winged monkey Ivy does her best bobblehead impersonation while Wretched blatters on what she thinks about Michael’s skill.
That is an awesome visual. I’m picturing Gretchen in the Wicked Witch’s getup, sending out her army of flying monkeys. Ivy’s in the little vest, hat, and short outfit (made of camel and a grandpa sweater maybe, instead of the vest), jumping up and down, clapping her hands at everything Gretchen says for her to do. Is it wrong of me to picture Tim as the good witch, in the pink dress, crown, and wand coming down to put the smackdown on Gretchen at the end of the night?
That is hilarious. You made the rest of my day with that assessment.
The problem with that comment is that all of the other designers were completely correct in their assessment of Michael C skill. He’s cannonfodder. And a irritating cryer. Ugh.
Actually, Michael C. has been consistently strong.
Much better than Ivy, for example.
She had the worst outfit this week, and should have been aufed. She was in the bottom two on the first challenge. Her Party Store dress was so ill-fitted, there was room for another model in it. And her hat challenge outfit, inspired by her hospital stay, was vanilla and boring.
He really set himself up though by letting them push him around during the creative process. He also should have seen it coming by their attitudes and because everyone basically snubbed him instead of being polite and congratulating him on his win. He seems like a nice guy.
For me he’s somewhere in the middle. Not the worst but the best. But in this challenge at least, his top was one of the only two pieces in the entire collection that weren’t crap. Therefore, he didn’t deserve the pile that got dropped on him.
Loved the cage match at the end. The skinny wench didn’t stand a chance. Her/their collection looked like my mother’s wardrobe circa late 1960s and early 70s. As each model came out, I was seeing Carol Brady, Maude Findlay and Shirley Partridge.
It was SO 1970s, what were they THINKING? Even Tim said it was ho-hum. They were stupid to let Gretchen dictate to them.
Sophie, that’s hilarious. It’s totally Shirley Partridge and co., except even less stylish!
My exact words were, “Looks like one of my elementary school teachers from the ’70′s, only badly executed.”
I don’t know how they got “menswear” out of that collection. There was nothing even remotely close to menswear in that collection. Just because one of your pieces is called a “grandpa sweater” doesn’t make it menswear. That whole collection was just so SAD.
Yes, sad. I was surprised not to hear Heidi use that word at all this week, in reference to the ho-hum “collection”.
I think Gretchen and her team were trying to emulate Irina’s aesthetic from a couple seasons back. Luxurious separates like you would wear at a resort like Aspen. Sadly, they fell way short of the mark.
What you said.
Missy you left out one of my favorite parts of last night’s episode…while the judges were discussing Team Luxless Michael says the following about Gretchen, “Were you just bossing everyone around today? Was that your job??” Then the brilliant editors at PR cut to Gretchen backstage nodding her head. I didn’t think anything could top that little dig, and then the beautiful Tim Gunn stepped it up and knocked it out of the park.
Honestly, I’ve found the majority of what Gretchen creates to be very dowdy. She keeps saying how her designs are so clean…I think they’re clean to the point of sterile and banal. If nothing else, I hope we see her confidence shaken because she’s been snarking and undermining everyone else from day one (with Ivy nipping at her heels)…what goes around comes around and I think Tim’s wake-up call was just the beginning.