Project Runway: Tim Gunn Loses His Temper

by Steve Krakauer | 3:06 pm, August 27th, 2010

The most memorable part of Project Runway‘s fifth episode came in the minutes after the eliminated contestant was announced. Tim Gunn, in an uncharacteristic display of trash-talking, came out swinging at Gretchen and her subservient teammates.

But before we get to the end, here’s how the first 90-minutes broke down.

The 12 designers were split into two teams of six, and tasked with coming up with dueling six-piece collectiosn for fall 2010. One team had all previous runway challenge winners, the others were the underdogs. Poor Peach was picked last.

The designers had to collectively choose one concept and one textile from a list provided by Tim. The all-stars went with ‘menswear for women’ using ‘camel’ and the underdogs chose a military lace combination. Apparently military lace was a previously untapped resource for clothing.

There was the usual bickering, but Gretchen really took the lead. Her non-stop advice-giving irritated her teammates, but they let her continue. Even the next day, when she had woken up at four in the morning to write a task list in red lipstick, everyone on her team acted like this was somehow acceptable behavior. When it came time for judging, she thought her team (Team Luxe!) had the more cohesive look, while the other wasn’t a “true collection.”

Of course, they lost, and almost all of them cried. The other major crier, Casanova, was declared the victor, in a stunning upset over Peach. On the runway, everyone bashed Michael Costello, who had immunity, while A.J. was eliminated (I’ll throw Valerie into my growingly-incorrect final four). After more than half the episode of talking, Tim Gunn slammed the lid on Gretchen, in surprising fashion. That quote, and others, below:

Quote of the Week: “It’s like when you have diarrhea and vomiting at the same time. You’re screwed.” – Valerie

Quote of the Week (that made me laugh): “Nobody understood my diaper.” – April (reflecting on last week)

Quote of the Week (by Tim Gunn): “I don’t know why you allow Gretchen to manipulate, control and bully you. I don’t understand it.”

Insult of the Week: “Do you want to hire Hitler? Seriously?” – More from April, describing Gretchen

Fashion Term I Had to Look Up: Cowl Context: Ivy to Michael Costello: “I don’t have the time to explain how something as simple as a cowl needs to be constructed.”

Even I Knew This was a Bad Sign: When Team Luxe recruited their models to do last minute sewing.

Project Runway Project Runway Recap Tim Gunn