Down and Out in Denver

Gretchen Jones

Above is one of the terms entered on a search engine that got a reader to us here yesterday at DOD.  I saw the search term before I watched Episode 3 of this season of Project Runway.  In other words, I didn’t yet understand why someone would use that final word to describe Ms. Jones, the two-time challenge winner.  Now I’ve seen Episode 3.  I get it.  While I would probably not use that particular epithet, I can understand why someone else would.  Gretchen Jones is odious.  Not only has she let her two challenges go directly to her head, but she cannot stop talking about herself and others.  She takes herself way too seriously and, as the other designers made quite clear last night, inserts herself into conversations and design consultations where she is simply unwanted.  This is not just a matter of talking big to psych out the competition (though she also does that); many of her most egregious boasts come in the one-on-one-with-the-camera interviews.  She’s starting to remind me a little bit of last season’s Egomilio Sosa.  In short, she needs to get a grip.  She may be good but she will soon become Enemy #1 if she doesn’t watch herself.

So while I would have preferred to see the win go to Valerie (the Susan Lucci of Project Runway, as she amusingly put it) because I liked her dress the best, I was pleased that Andy nabbed the top honors away from Gretchen.  His dress was innovative and stylish, if a little ill-fitting on the upper half. Was Sarah’s dress the worst? Probably so.  Am I going to miss her wry and down to earth demeanor?  Absolutely.  Casanova has been so consistently tasteless that I feel like giving Sarah another shot might have resulted in something interesting in a future episode, whereas Casanova is always going to deliver more of the same. Stay tuned, kids.  This season is gonna get ugly…

Update 8/27: And indeed it did.  See a more recent post on Gretchen’s shenanigans.

See our Season Finale Wrap-up Here.