Project Runway's Most Dramatic Moments, S4/5

Poodles, before we look to the future of Season 6, one last, loving look back.

You might be looking at the title of this post and asking "S4/5? What's THAT all about?" Well, it's about the fact that unfortunately, Seasons 4 and 5, while they had their moments, were, in our opinion, deadly DULL. There was a ton of talent to be had, but the personalities were somewhat lacking. We tend to think this is because the participants had become all too aware of the cameras and most of them were too self-aware to really let it all hang out. As such, there were very few dramatic moments on par with previous seasons. In fact, there was only one per season.

1) MRSA-GATE

In the midst of a "real woman" challenge that left our comments section in flaming ruins for the week (nothing like utilizing a bunch of real women who've lost weight to push the emotional buttons of the viewers), Jack Mackenroth, that Chelsea Muscle Mary who had already endeared himself to the viewers, found himself in the midst of a health crisis.

To be more specific, he had a MRSA infection and this, coupled with the fact that he had a compromised immune system because he's HIV positive, caused a bit of a concern both on his part and on the part of the producers.

As Jack struggled with the decision as to whether he should stay or go, his fellow designers, to their credit, showed great concern and affection for him. There was one, however, that got a mighty strange edit out of it:

Victorya, who for some reason, looked almost pissed off about the whole thing (granted, she always looks like that). It turns out (although you never saw this on the episode), she was FURIOUS with the producers for not offering to shut down production until Jack could get medical attention and get back on his feet. That's certainly admirable, but highly impractical. It would have been nice to give Jack the chance, but at that point they had no idea how long it would take for him to recover, and each day that the production delayed would have cost the producers tens of thousands of dollars. It's harsh, but that's the reality of it.

In what was probably the most tearful scene in the history of the show, Jack said goodbye to his fellow designers. It wasn't the kind of delicious drama that results from egos clashing, but it was the only time the show actually made us cry.

In the end, Jack made the decision to put his health and well-being before his ambition and opted to leave the show and seek medical attention. As we recall, he was fully recovered within a week, but unfortunately, the show had moved on by that point and replaced him with the recently auf'd Chris March. We still think Jack should have tried out for the next season but he appears to have moved on since then.

2)KENLEY-GATE

There were so many reasons to dislike the cat-thrower from Season 5 and so many scenes that could have gone here, but nothing sums it up like the moment it all came to a head with the judges in the final pre-Bryant Park episode, "Nature Calls."

There is, in our humble opinion, a much funnier version of the following exchange here, but for the record, this is what was actually said:

"I wanted to stay away from pretty."

"The petals, they don't look very elegant either."

"I wasn't going for elegance, Heidi."


"You get very defensive, Kenley."

"It is a little bit annoying the attitude, no?"


"Like right now, what you're doing right now."

"What??"



This all came after an entire season of Kenley acting badly on the runway, from getting overly defensive with the judges to laughing openly at her fellow designers. At this point, both the judges and the remaining designers had had it with her. We guess it's to the judges' credit that they were able to ignore the obvious disrespect and wave her on through to the finals, but we strongly suspect there was at least a little input on the part of the producers, who did everything they could to push and edit this unpolished girl to the forefront to play the part of the villain. She wasn't really villainous; she was just immature and obnoxious.


[Screencaps: Projectrungay.blogspot.com]


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Project Runway's Most Dramatic Moments, S3

Our favorite season ever! Everyone cheated!

1) BOOK-GATE

For the INC challenge, the designers were paired off into teams, with Jeffrey and Allison hooked up with an increasingly arrogant Keith, who had emerged as an early judges' pet. The designers had opinions:

"Keith is very manipulating. Jeffrey and Alison are actually doing all his work. It's really not fair for his teammates. He wants to win and he'll do anything to win. He's ruthless."

Kayne must have been really bothered by Keith for some reason because ultimately (and off-camera), he went to the producers with the information that Keith had some fashion books stashed away in his room.

It's clearly stated in the contract that the designers sign pre-taping that they are not to have any reference materials of any kind. Also clearly stated is that they are to have absolutely no contact with the outside world. Once the accusation was made, Keith fled the taping for several hours, reportedly went to his boyfriend's apartment, and spent time on the internet and emailing friends. All of that also happened off-camera.

Jeffrey: "It was obvious to me how Keith was being successful. Keith was making very basic garments and is a very charming person. I think Keith is a fraud in some ways."

Honestly, this was one of the most tense and gripping hours of the show. There was a real feel of doom hanging over everything as the producers and the designers tried to come to terms with what had happened.

We've heard that the designers ALL knew about Keith's books for some time and that none of them had the nerve to speak up about it. We're not saying that's true; we're just saying it's what we heard - and we heard it from more than one person.

In the end, Tim made a late night visit to the men's apartment to inform Keith he had to leave immediately. It was probably the most serious scene the show has ever had. Tim was clearly appalled and heartbroken about it and Keith was clearly embarrassed to the point of numbness.

"My image has been tarnished forever. I'm off the show and I'm going to be a laughing stock to my friends. I didn't expect this. I am disappointed. I would've made until the end, I'm pretty sure, if not, pretty far along. I had a lot of tricks up my sleeve still."

It's a shame, because he definitely had a lot of talent and he's tailor-made for reality television stardom: cute, talented and ruthless contestants tend to make it far and enchant the press. Unfortunately for him, PR felt it was important to maintain the show's integrity and he's been practically invisible since then.

2) MOM-GATE

Oy. If the Keith scenario was the most tense and serious the show's ever been, then this little event was the most uncomfortable and downright ugly the show's ever been.


In a surprise reveal, the designers' mothers all showed up to act as clients. The twist? They would be the clients of other designers. In a move that practically reeked of producer intervention, Jeffrey, who had already butted heads with Angela several times, was paired with Angela's mother.

The problem? Well, aside from Jeffrey and Angela already coming close to hating each other was the fact that Jeffrey ... how shall we put this? Jeffrey lacks certain social skill sets and Angela's mom was absolutely one of the whiniest pains in the ass ever featured on the show.

Jeffrey: "She gave me a lot of mixed messages. She wanted a long dress, she wanted something she could wear out, she also wanted something that was formal...I mean, it was a mess what this woman wanted."
"I'm going to make the dress I'm going to make, I hope you like it, if you don't like it, there's not a thing I can do about that, I only hope the judges will like it."

Tim Gunn: "Are you happy with this?"
Darlene: "I'm just concerned that the colors are matronly and I try to avoid that and I have never worn blue, never worn powder blue, so it's like a shock to me."
Tim Gunn: Did you tell him you were disappointed with the color?"
Angela's mom: "No, he doesn't know."

Alrighty then! Jeffrey?

"That crazy bitch is telling Tim she doesn't like the colors. It's very apropos. I don't get along with her daughter, why should I get along with her?"

Further compounding this was Angela's clear attempt to sabotage Jeffrey by getting her to complain about his garment to the judges. Let's face it: it was ugly all around and no one came out of this looking good.

In the end, Jeffrey created a hideously ugly dress that perfectly mirrored the ugliness of this episode. This one was NOT fun to watch. It's just not cool to drag your mother into your personality conflicts like that (especially when she clearly couldn't handle it emotionally) and it's just not cool to call someone's mother a bitch on national television.

CHEATER-GATE

Oh, Christ. Do we really have to talk about this? The comments section always explodes in anger whenever it comes up.

"When I look at Jeffrey's rack, I just don't believe he sewed that collection himself. How can it be that he doesn't have a single button left to sew? You just don't pull craftsmanship like that out of your ass."

"You crazy bitch. Who fucking cares what you think? I think Laura made that accusation because I made a beautiful, almost flawless collection and she's scared."

We've never really come down on either person's side on this one, partially because we became good friends with one of them and partially because we, like all of you, don't really know the truth.

We'll say this: If we'd known Laura then and if she'd asked our opinion, we would have told her to keep her mouth shut. There was no way for her to prove her accusation and she was only going to wind up looking bad if she voiced it. We've been told by designers from other seasons that someone from their season clearly did the same thing Jeffrey was accused of but they didn't say anything because they knew it wouldn't do anything but make themselves look bad.

Further, she mishandled it by going to Tim instead of to Jeffrey first. We'll give her some credit for voicing her concerns to Uli and Michael and we'll point out something that always gets forgotten in the re-telling of this scenario: Uli and Michael agreed with her.

Even further, if it was a completely baseless accusation, then the producers would have patted her on the head and told her to get back to work. Instead, they launched an "investigation." The bottom line is, he showed up with a flawlessly executed collection and no final touches to be done, something that no designer has ever done before on the show and something that's notable because during the competition, execution was always a problem for Jeffrey. He hauled out that fabric glue more than once and sent garments down the runway with serious technical issues more than once.

"After a very thorough investigation and inquiry, I am absolutely confident in Jeffrey's assertion that he did this work himself."

In the end, the "investigation" was utterly pointless. A review of Jeffrey's receipts was not going to prove anything either way. Why would he turn in a receipt for something he wasn't supposed to do? The investigation did reveal an issue, however. He didn't have a receipt for a pleated pair of shorts and was over budget by over 200 dollars. To rectify that, he got rid of the ugly-ass wigs he was planning to put on all the models. Problem...solved?

Still, we don't know the answer to this one any more than any of you do, so it all comes down to your impression of the people involved and what you're willing to believe about them


[Screencaps: Projectrungay.blogpost.com]


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Project Runway's Most Dramatic Moments, S2, Part 2

It's ZulemaFest '09, bitches! Little Lamb is beside himself!

3)CRY-AND-CUT-GATE

Long story short: It's the Banana Republic challenge and the designers are broken off into teams. The wildly different Zulema and Kara Janx struggle to make a garment that represents both their styles...

...and come up with a real shitbox of a dress.

One thing about this teamup: for all the ensuing drama, both designers were actually surprisingly self-aware about themselves and where the problems were coming from:

Kara: "I think with this challenge was more about corporation. Maybe us paired was just a bad pairing."

Zulema: "I'm actually a calm person under pressure. Kara was actually so hysterical I had to take over."

Highly accurate, because Kara was right; their styles just didn't blend. And Zulema was right...

...because Kara was completely overwhelmed by the pressure and came undone.

We've often said that almost every single designer, despite whatever complaints you heard about "It was the editing!" was well-represented on the show. But we've met Kara Janx and we know how well her career is going now, so we have to say, the Kara Janx you saw on your screens is not the real Kara Janx. The real Kara Janx is laser-focused and when you get to know her, hysterically funny and bitingly sarcastic like you have no idea.

Chalk it up to exhaustion and pressure, we guess. Whatever the cause, the outcome was that she completely fell apart and it was up to Zulema to put on her bitchpants and take the fuck over, uttering the line that has become legendary among PR fans:

"I don't care if you cry and cut, but you gotta cry and cut, you gotta cut at that rate. Don't stop and cry. "

Pure fucking poetry. Truly, there is a life lesson in there for all of us. We would like that stitched on a pillow or perhaps framed for hanging as a motivational poster. It's a hell of a lot catchier than that "grant me the serenity" dross they always make 12-steppers recite like a mantra.

We suspect the producers were trying to give her the bitch edit but at least in this instance, it wasn't deserved. By the end of the episode they'd produced a perfectly lovely (although not winning) design and managed to avoid the dreaded auf'ing.

Kara herself later admitted that she had absolutely no hard feelings toward Zulema, mostly because SHE WAS ABSOLUTELY RIGHT.

Which provides the perfect segue into...

4) MOTHERFUCKING WALK-OFF-GATE

Once again, Zulema utters a line that causes a series of priceless reactions from her cohorts:

"I, today, am going to choose to change models, so I would like to have the models come out. I would like to have a walk off..."


"...between the following three models: Danyelle, Tarah and Shannon."

Dun-dun-DUN!!!!!

DRAMA!

(loving every minute of this)

("Is the camera on me? The camera's on me, right?")

"It's a motherfucking walk-off." (Which is probably also among the top lines ever uttered on the show)

Rewatching the episode Lorenzo, as is typical for him, screamed at the television. This time, though, it was a scream of joy: "I fucking love Zulema!!!!"

Lorenzo just loves take-no-shit people.

Once again, though, with the benefit of hindsight and 3 ensuing seasons, we look back on this and laugh at all the drama.

Don't get us wrong. We felt for Nick. He adored his model and Zulema had already demonstrated a tendency to treat her models like dogshit, so we can't blame him for his reaction. No, it was the reaction of all the other designers plus the clear effort on the part of the producers to paint this as some horrible backstabbing move that all seems so silly now in retrospect. Once the cherry was popped on that little taboo, designers in the seasons that followed traded up models left and right without anyone batting an eye about it.

Once again, Zulema was in the right (or at least, not in the wrong) and once again, she summed it up perfectly:

"I changed models because my model cannot walk, I can't be concerned with Nick. Do a good job, win next week, and take her back!"

TOO DAMN RIGHT.

[Screencaps: Projectrungay.blogspot.com]


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