The ninth season of Project Runway starts tomorrow July 28th at 9pm/8 central on Lifetime. The show dropped some of its sass and homo jokes and is definitely more mom outfit friendly since it left Bravo, but I’m still going to watch this season. I’m sure the designers will again be flabbergasted by Heidi Klum’s tall, blonde Austrian-ness and I will fall in love with Tim Gunn again, but there’s sure to be some new things, too. Here is what and who we can expect this season:
--Michael Kors and Nina Garcia will be back again as judges. It’s nice to have some well-established judges on this show. I wouldn’t take it quite as seriously if Kelly Rowland was telling me she didn’t like a backless ball gown.
--Bert Keeter. He is probably one of the oldest contestants at age 57 and moved from New York to live in a 300-foot apartment in Los Angeles. I don’t think this show is particularly age-ist, but let’s see for sure. Will Bert go quickly or stick around?
--As usual, the prize is baller. The winner this season will win $100,000, a $50,000 business suite to start a business and a spread in Marie Claire magazine. I don’t know how they test “business savvy” on the show, but I guess watching someone make data tables would be a lot less interesting than watching them design a pair of pants.
--The 20 original contestants will be weed-whacked straight from the start. The first episode begins with a surprise challenge at 1 am in which designers only have the material from the pajamas they are wearing to make a fabulous outfit. At the end of the challenge, four contestants will be cut.
--Gunnar Deatherage. Apparently this 21-year-old (oh, god. What have I done with my life?) Kentuckian is getting a lot of attention because he wears sunglasses, tall boots and side-swept hair but also somehow lives in Kentucky. Question mark. He’s seriously adorable and has a big black dog, but can he actually design anything?
--Joshua Christensen. This designer seems really nice and normal, but weirdly lives with his brother in Las Vegas in a room where he doesn’t unpack his clothes. He is 29 but he says he doesn't unpack he is always being called into Los Angeles or something. Really, that short notice? Glamourous! This guy may be one to watch--he goes to church on Sundays.
-- Anya Ayoung-Chee. A beauty contesant and former Miss Trinidad and Tobago, Ayoung-Chee might not actually know how to sew that well. Or at all. The people around the show don’t really know... Word is that she learned to sew four months before the competition, but her sample clothes still looked really well made. Hm.
--Becky Ross. Becky is 38 and from Portland, Oregon and is kind of big, wears big glasses and has dyed blonde hair with blue streaks in it. Hopefully she sticks around because she is supposed to entertain us with her Portland-ness, her dyed hair and her meaty arms. Her sample dress on her designer profile is a red, white, yellow and blue that she calls Carmen. It is made from what looks like discarded gum wrappers and ticket stubs. Looks like she will be prepared for the challenge that makes them raid the dumpster.