Thank goodness Ken is gone. I can’t help being appalled by the show’s handling of the tantrum though. I mean, in the end, Ken was rewarded with a room of his own. In a contest like this, where sleep deprivation is a major issue toward the end, wouldn’t that be a spectacular advantage?
I was really happy to see that judges finally clued in to the need to judge the clothes without destroying the experience for the guests. They were very careful to balance their comments with compliments on the other aspects of the person or the makeover. In the past some of the ladies who got bad dresses really took the criticism personally.
That’s what I thought too – reward the bully with a room fo his own?! And how he kept saying it was his home away from home – um, it’s being paid for by the show and you should be happy to have a free place to live while trying to win this thing. Thank goodness he is gone.
Alexandra really bugs me. She snuck by but (and I say this as someone who has trouble socializing – so I work in accounting) doesn’t have the personality to work with clients. Telling this young woman that she will fail at interviews without the right outfit – Debby Downer!
How the hell does Ken expect to get a job or clients after behaving like this, and on TV no less? I’m sure there are some (probably lots of) temperamental assholes in fashion. But here’s the thing: they’re already famous and successful. Lots of people are willing to put up with shit from jerks if those jerks have power and money. But from a nobody like Ken? Not so much. I wonder how his “spiritual guide” feels about his antics.
Kate really should have been in the bottom. The lace or whatever that was on the top of the shirt made it look like her superfan was slowly morphing into a lizard person, and that green was really ugly.
Helen’s client did tell the judges that she wanted a red-carpet dress. I can’t remember if it was during the runway critique or during the “close-up” judging, but she did say she got what she wanted.
I am surprised they just passed Kate’s through as “safe.” As TLo said, “unfinished Robin Hood.”
And I think Ken went home because although Alexander’s was unfinished (lacking a lining), it at least had a shape that was somewhat flattering to his client. Ken had something hanging down the bottom hem (was it an unfinished hem, or tool-long lining), it was just tight enough to make the zipper wonky down her back, and the leather swirls were in all the wrong places.
No, it wouldn’t. Ken was a boiling kettle, always about to blow.
I rewatched the call Ken had with his mother or his spiritual adviser. As some point, the woman says, “Have you gone into the bathroom and come out as someone else?” and Ken says that it has happened a couple times. I’m not suggesting he has multiple personalities, but I wonder if he has some sort of dissociative disorder or PTSD or something that could explain not only his rapid moods shifts but also the fact that his friends seem to know about it.
I thought the same thing. Hey future designers! When you’re on the show and you don’t want to share a room, just act like a bullying primadonna with anger issues and you’ll get your own private room!
Yes it would have. Maybe something else would have happened later, but if Alexander had been anything less than cunty from the very beginning of the interaction, there would have been no incident. Alexander was, IMO, goading Ken into an outburst, and he succeeded.
That’s what creeped me out: he knows he’s like this and said something to the effect that he is working on it, but he clearly hasn’t developed any coping mechanisms. Walk away, deep breathing, something!
And I agree with the comment about ironing his denim cutoffs - really?!
I honestly think the episode he had in the workroom was scarier than this. He was bitchy in this ep, but he was really off his nut then. And he got away with it.
Well, the “ordinary woman” challenge was as predictable as ever.
In just about every one of these, in the whole history of Project Runway, the winning designer has been paired with a thin client. From the very beginning, as soon as the pairings were announced, i said to my wife, “Braden and Helen are going to be in the top,” because both of them had women with slim figures. Helen’s client was genuine model-skinny, especially on top.
I thought Justin should have won because he made a great dress, with a neat idea, that fit the requirements of his client, and did it all with a model who wasn’t rail-thin.
Alexander is lucky that Ken threw a hissy fit this week, because i think that’s what tipped the scales. Ken’s dress was pretty bad, though, and many of his designs have been weak. It was time for him to go, even without the meltdowns.
[3 knocks on door]
Ken is ironing his cutoffs, blocking the door.
[Door opens]
Alex: Oh!
Ken continues to iron.
Alex: Are you gonna move that honey? I got a big ass suitcase, bigger than you.
Bradon: Meep meep
Ken continues to iron.
Ken Voice Over: I understand we have to combine rooms but barging in is not acceptable.
Bradon(?): 321. Let’s go. It’s on my shoulders.
Ken: I’m almost done.
[Bradon leaves]
[Alex leans against door, waiting]
Alex Voice Over: We’re all burnt out and exhausted and it’s 11 o’clock at night and Ken basically is being a total dick.
Ken steps back from ironing board. Alex enters and pushes ironing board away from entrance and then knocks iron off board.
Ken: [unintelligible] not gonna come in here with that [bleep].
Alex: I can throw drama too, honey.
I dunno. I mean, if someone knows that new roommates are due to arrive any minute and then hears someone knocking at the door, I guess continuing to block the doorway when they do open the door should be considered “the very beginning of the interaction”, no?
I already deleted it, but I thought that A knocked the iron out of the way because the cord was across his path? Would he have been able to roll his suitcase in without moving it?
Regardless, the sick way that Ken just stood there pursing his lips and saying nothing made me stabby, and I was in my comfy armchair after a good night’s sleep. That’s what he does - the silent, immoveable, “I’m too precious even to acknowledge this” passive-aggression. Buh-bye!!
Prior to the iron and door-blocking, the scene of Alexander and Bradon packing indicated that they were already grumpy about having to pack everything up to move. So Alexander was already in a pissy mood, and he held it in as long as he could. Ken was being deliberately provocative: there were plenty of places to iron that didn’t block the door when he knew they were coming in.
But I agree, giving Ken his own room – sheeesh. My suspicion: he does indeed have some serious psychological problems that the show runners know about but don’t want publicized, and they were afraid he’d do something violent next time.
I was surprised they didn’t just resume the previous arrangement, Braden and Alexander (and am I the only one who thinks WTF every time we see that kewpie doll is named Alexander Pope? apparently) and Ken and Joshua, who can apparently deal with Ken because he just turns off his hearing aids. If you’re paying for two rooms anyway, at least divide them fairly.
And yeah, Joshua was robbed. He definitely should have won.
And Dom was lucky there were dresses that were not only ugly but unfinished. I’m a fan, but that was not a good choice of fabric. Or design.
Excellent point about the size of the clients. I was pleased to see none of them were over a size 18; usually they have one very big woman and her designer gets sent home. I agree that Helen’s skinny woman helped her win, but at least the loser wasn’t based on the size of the model, which is even worse.
Strangely, Ken was being quite nice about working with a “normal” woman and while he complained that he had never done it before, he seemed to have a good attitude about it.
This was way better than previous “real woman” challenges.
It’s what she asked for. And why not? It’s highly unlikely that anything that walks down the runway on the show could actually be worn under real-life conditions unless it was re-made, so it’s a good time to have some fun.
Helen got incredibly lucky with her superfan. Not only was she model-tall and model-thin, but with that hairstyle and the plain-jane looks, a radical improvement was inevitable with a makeover. AND she turned out to be willing to really go for a big change. None of that takes away from the fact that Helen turned out a spectacular dress.
Bradon’s was excellent too, and I would have been satisfied with a win for him. I don’t think the problem with the stripes on the skirt was that they were too shiny. It’s that the fabric they were made from was too heavy and stiff. A lighter and more flexible shiny fabric would have worked better.
How does Helen keep getting in the top?! Her textile was OK but hardly reflective of her inspiration. I would have expected something much edgier and dynamic from her, based on the artist. I can’t imagine without people encouraging her that she will be able to keep it together long enough to produce a collection.
I think Helen was in the top by default. They needed a third, and I thought Alexandra’s was pretty bad. She was saved from the bottom by three really bad designs.
Both Kate and Alexander deserved to go home – Alexander because his print was bad and the dress was even worse; Kate because she basically ignored the print part of the challenge and making a bad dress.