Tim Gunn: 'Project Runway Junior' Is the 'Antidote' to Hated Season 14
Whether "Project Runway" "Project Runway All Stars" in 2016.) We didn't mind Season 14 as much as Tim, who "hated" it. Heidi Klum had strong words about the season, too, although she said they had a great winner in Ashley Nell Tipton.
But Tim is raving about the show that comes on after the reunion, which is "Project Runway Junior." The Season 14 finale was jam-packed with ads for the younger version of PR, and it sounds like Tim didn't just love it because the teens are adorable. He was "disarmed" by their genuine talent, and it was a great palate cleanser for him after the negativity of PR14.
"I loved every second of it," Tim told Variety. "I was not a fan of Season 14. We started filming 'Junior' after we wrapped the bulk of the episodes for Season 14. After spending just a half a day with the 'Junior' designers, it was like a Season 14 antidote. It was like the sun came out and the clouds parted. I loved every second of this season. I was sick when it ended."
He wasn't excited about the idea of doing the show to begin with, so he was very pleasantly surprised.
I was really apprehensive of being a part of it. I thought I've worked 29 years with college students and 14 seasons on 'Runway' on adults. I only have a minimal amount of experience with teens and it's with the Cooper-Hewitt National Design Museum's education program. I thought Generation Z: a bunch of whiney crybabies who aren't going to want to work hard and this could just be a big hot mess. ... [Instead] I was just totally disarmed by the talent, by the level of execution and the outstanding levels of characters that these young people possess. I came out of it thinking that the future couldn't look brighter. I was a real cynic about this Generation Z."
Tim got so emotionally invested that he said he "broke down at one point in the middle of the season when I had to tell the designer who was out that he or she had to go pack up his or her work station. It was bad. I looked at these teens' faces as I was sputtering and it wasn't pretty. I thought I'd better control myself."
Hopefully viewers love the season as much as Tim did. Will you be watching when the season starts tonight at 9 p.m.?
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