- 1 week ago
When the pressure’s on, the drama heats up! Join us as we dive into some of the most explosive meltdowns on Project Runway—where designers clashed, broke down, and made unforgettable moments. From sobbing at sewing machines to storming off the runway, these breakdowns show that fashion isn’t always fabulous behind the scenes. Which meltdown shocked you the most? Let us know below!
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00:00What is happening? None of us want to point fingers. At who? Welcome to Ms. Mojo. And today,
00:07we're counting down our picks for the times when the designers were just as dramatic as the fashion.
00:13I don't understand it. And AJ, you've taken the bullet, and now I have to send you to the workroom
00:19to clean up your space. Number 10. Becky Ross sobs at her sewing machine. Joshua Christensen,
00:26Anya Ah Young-Chi, and Becky Ross teamed up for this season 9 challenge to pair a look with Heidi
00:33Klum's New Balance sneaker. Clearly, there was a clash of styles, both fashion and communication.
00:39Will you let me design the top for the skirt? Becky, you do dowdy dresses, you know that.
00:44Excuse me? This is not cool. Christensen swears he doesn't mean dowdy as an insult
00:51when describing Ross's style. She doesn't agree. Things get nasty fairly quickly.
00:57I'm not having drama with you, Becky. So you can cry and do whatever you need to do
01:02to get over it, but I will not sit here and console you like you're a baby.
01:07The two get into an argument that finds Ross storming off multiple times and shooing away
01:12the camera when it tries to follow her into the bathroom. Ross ends up sobbing at her sewing machine.
01:18Becky, if you're tired, take a nap, because I don't have time for it. I'll do it myself.
01:23We've all been there. Maybe it would cheer her up to hear that Ms. Mojo has a 24-7 live
01:29stream.
01:30Scan the QR code on screen to join us live for non-stop pop culture fun.
01:35Number 9. Karina Emmerich refuses to participate.
01:39Karina, Sharquita, one of you will be out.
01:47But not yet.
01:48Shar Glover and Karina Emmerich land in the bottom and are challenged to create one impromptu piece
01:54in an hour. Emmerich lost the duel and, through tears, implies that she doesn't deserve to leave
02:00over Glover.
02:01Who called that one? Anybody? Anybody think I was going home today?
02:07You were out. You were eliminated.
02:10Okay, and Tim brought me back. Are you mad?
02:13Yeah, I'm mad.
02:15She goes so far as to tell Glover that, quote, it's not about her, even though it was Emmerich
02:20who brought up her deservingness to be there. Her meltdown continues into the next episode
02:24when eliminated contestants are brought back for a challenge.
02:28Karina looks pissed.
02:29I really don't want to do this. It's very fresh. I'm still really upset. And I don't
02:36think that I would be able to put enough effort into helping her, especially how I feel about
02:41what happened last time.
02:42When she realizes she'll be working with a designer whom she lost against, Emmerich refuses
02:47to participate. She storms out without even speaking to Glover. Even Tim Gunn is startled
02:53by her behavior. I would have been okay with it. You know, I definitely would have maybe
02:57had to talk with her, like, look, let's keep our head in the game and let's, you know,
03:00stay focused. But it didn't even make it that far.
03:03Number eight, Timothy Westbrook's betrayal.
03:06I'm tired of being upset and like crying about him.
03:11So now I'm just going to be mean.
03:13I walk into the workroom and Miranda is just going off.
03:18Most remembered for his love of unicorns, this season 12 designer was definitely misunderstood
03:24by his fellow designers. He left early after a particularly tense partner challenge.
03:29When Timothy Westbrook and Miranda K. Levy are paired up for the unconventional materials
03:34runway, it leads to some hurt feelings and a tearful confessional.
03:38I didn't come here for this. Like, she keeps telling everyone, like, I know him so well.
03:43I know his aesthetic. I know his design. I know this. I know that. If you know me so well,
03:47how dare you?
03:49Westbrook's pained How Dare You is a peak workroom drama moment. As dramatic and over the top as it
03:55sounds, it's also easy to forget that Project Runway is a pressure cooker. Luckily, his disappointing
04:00run on the season didn't dent his belief in unicorns.
04:03I totally used to believe in unicorns. Oh my gosh, I won't stop believing in unicorns ever.
04:10Number 7. Bert and Josh's foul feud. In a high-pressure competition environment such
04:17as Project Runway, tensions are bound to run high. And teaming up the designers certainly
04:23doesn't help.
04:24I knew this was going to happen.
04:25He woke up.
04:26On the road?
04:27He's not happy today.
04:28Bert, put a yard of it in there. I don't want it.
04:31And you gotta, like, have an attitude that your printer wasn't working.
04:34On season 9, contestants Bert and Josh went at it after a technical printing difficulty.
04:40Josh believed he overheard Bert's swearing and took major offense to his alleged foul language.
04:47While Bert attempted to de-escalate, Josh continued to raise the issue,
04:51and even threatened to leave the competition altogether.
04:55What did you just say as you walked away?
04:57I said so much for my clocks, meaning that I didn't get a chance.
04:59So much for your what clocks?
05:01My clocks.
05:01I don't believe there's-
05:02Your what clocks?
05:04Go back to South Carolina.
05:06You guys, we gotta pull it together here.
05:07I'm about to forfeit this whole thing because I'm not about to deal with him.
05:10Thankfully, the two hugged it out after some time to reflect,
05:14though Bert still doubted Joshua's true intentions for apologizing.
05:18I have a slight suspicion he's maybe backtracking a bit and wanting to cover himself when we go on
05:22the runway, but that's Josh.
05:24Regardless of how he did it, he did it, and that's the most important thing.
05:27Number 6.
05:28Meg Ferguson and the Great Model Swap
05:30Designers Praje Oscar Jean-Baptiste and Kenneth Barless asked their fellow contestants
05:36to swap models to better represent looks inspired by their ethnic background.
05:41Meg Ferguson initially sympathized.
05:44However, when Barless asked her to switch, she was irritated.
05:47So we're trying to see if how we can make it work because-
05:50No, we're not trying-
05:51Okay.
05:52Don't put-
05:52No, he wants my model.
05:54Because-
05:55It's about like representation.
05:57Don't show your code it.
05:58In her defense, it was late in the challenge to design for a new model.
06:02However, her relentless comments about how she felt cornered by the expectation
06:06that she make the switch earned the ire of Jean-Baptiste and Barless.
06:10I told you the reason why I would do it was because the race thing was important
06:14that you got to represent who you were and I just got called fake as f**k and you said
06:20nothing.
06:22F**k you, dude.
06:23F**k you.
06:23An argument broke out at their sewing stations, leaving Barless in tears and Ferguson feeling
06:29ganged up on.
06:29She withdrew from the competition for mental health reasons.
06:32I had the onset of a panic attack.
06:36My gut instinct was, you know, fight or flight mode and I just left.
06:45And, you know, here we are.
06:49Number five.
06:50Tim Gunn's turn to meltdown.
06:52More often than not, it's a flailing designer melting down in the workroom.
06:56In this case, it was mentor Tim Gunn who was losing his cool.
06:59What have you been doing for a full day plus three hours?
07:03It's a basic wrap-top, but I don't know why it's been taking me so long.
07:07You said it.
07:07It's a basic wrap-top and you don't know why it's taking you so long.
07:10I'm just struggling with the fact that the leather is not in the certain places that
07:14I want it to stay.
07:16You've had hours.
07:17I know and I've just been.
07:19The usually gentle and constructive Gunn was not having Saisha Shinde's lackadaisical
07:25approach to the design for the guest model, production coordinator Jennifer Cohen.
07:30Seeing that the models this week were crew members on the show, Gunn was feeling especially
07:34protective.
07:35You're the last critique of the session.
07:37So you've had more time to work than any other designer.
07:40And you're the only designer who's had nothing to put on their model.
07:44How does that make you feel?
07:45Precisely why I wanted to wait because I didn't want to.
07:48One bunch of bulls**t.
07:50Shinde's attitude has Gunn angrier than we've ever seen him.
07:54Has he ever been bleeped as much as he is here?
07:57We didn't even think he knew those words.
07:59And I'm really fed up.
08:01I mean, I just want to ask, what is the f***ing point?
08:05Wow, Tim snapped.
08:08Everyone's kind of like.
08:09Number four.
08:10Michael Brambilla demands fairness.
08:13I do believe in fairness and I believe that this one lacks that.
08:19Well, you're entitled to your opinion.
08:21It has nothing to do with the design.
08:23It has to do with what is actually going on behind the scenes.
08:26Although Claire Butendorp had cheated her way to the win this week, it's not even Claire who has the meltdown.
08:33Once the judges announced that Butendorp has won the challenge, instead of explaining why this is unfair, contestant Michael Brambilla
08:40simply storms off the runway.
08:41Not even Heidi Klum can entice him back.
08:45I came to play fair and there's no fairness in this game.
08:50It's one of the quieter but understandable crash outs we've seen on this show.
08:54But the impact is massive.
08:56Brambilla's dramatic insistence that there's no fairness in the game blows up the competition entirely.
09:02She has a retractable ruler in the apartment that she goes home and measures her garments for proportion, for fit.
09:08How do we know that?
09:09I've seen it and we've discussed it.
09:12She has mentioned it to me.
09:14Well, we will look into this.
09:16If this is happening, it must stop.
09:18By exposing the cheating, he ends up getting the week's winner stripped of her prize and disqualified from the competition
09:24entirely.
09:25Claire's possession of the measuring tape in her hotel room and the fact that she used it to measure clothes
09:30that she owns and to make specifications is what is against the rules here.
09:35Number 3.
09:36Michael Costello's elimination.
09:38The first thing that came to my head was my family.
09:44What am I going to tell them?
09:45Season 8 is notorious for several reasons.
09:48The drama between the contestants was unreal.
09:52And the constant back and forth between Michael Costello and his fellow designers fueled much of it.
09:58You have bitterness in your heart, bitterness in your soul because you're not here anymore.
10:03You're out.
10:04Deal with it.
10:05Michael sees here.
10:07Clearly, the judges, time and time again, have loved his work.
10:12It just seems totally counterproductive to be having this drama.
10:16He made it all the way to the final four.
10:18However, his dreams of showing his final collection at New York Fashion Week were dashed just before the finale.
10:24Michael.
10:25Michael, you should be very proud of what you've done.
10:28You're a great designer.
10:29And we all think that you have a great future ahead of you.
10:33Michael, I'm sorry you're out.
10:34He entered the green room with his fellow contestants and immediately was inconsolable, punching the wall and collapsing in a
10:42sobbing heap.
10:43His breakdown in Tim Gunn's arms is painful to watch.
10:46He isn't just disappointed, he's ashamed.
10:49It was then they had so much high expectations of me going and everything.
10:57Michael, the fact that you're this far is extraordinary.
11:01Yeah, I know.
11:02Number two, Ken Lawrence's late night rant.
11:05Season 12's Ken Lawrence was not afraid to make waves.
11:08His talent was apparent, but it was his temperament that made him especially good for reality TV.
11:13My thing is, I don't want to sit here as if I'm the bully.
11:18And I understand that.
11:19I do want to say the degree to which you exploded last night, I would say to you, in merely
11:24a caring way, there are some anger management issues.
11:27When the cast begins to dwindle and more designers have to share lodgings, Lawrence doesn't appreciate having new roommates.
11:33He especially doesn't appreciate them expecting him to move the ironing board he's using so they can, you know, enter
11:39the room.
11:40But it's Alexander Pope who pushes the ironing board aside and kicks off a meltdown that gets ugly fast.
11:46We're not going to come in here with that.
11:50I can throw drama too, honey.
11:52I know, Ken. Calm down. Please, please calm down for me.
11:55It's no f***ing coming down. Get some f***ing body up here now.
12:01Lawrence begins screaming at the crew, demanding to be heard.
12:04He doesn't even let the fact that he's in the middle of his skincare routine stop him.
12:08You had quite a temper tantrum.
12:10Yeah.
12:11At the same time, Alexander's behavior was inexcusable.
12:14That's my temporary home.
12:16When someone pushes a button, I do go into defense mode.
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12:45Number one, Sandro Masmanidi storms out.
12:49It's a tale as old as time.
12:51Tired of being safe, Sandro Masmanidi blew up his chances on season 12 by demanding that the judges give him
12:58feedback instead of just sending him backstage.
13:01Sandro, you are safe today.
13:03You know that, right?
13:04I'm trying to, guys, get direction from you.
13:06What do you want to see from me?
13:08You have to focus your taste.
13:09It's too many ideas in one.
13:12Mm-hmm.
13:13Yes.
13:14Heidi, would you wear that pink dress?
13:16Uh, no.
13:18Masmanidi continues his tirade backstage with fellow contestant Helen Castillo.
13:22Once she is reduced to tears, Ken Lawrence gets involved and Masmanidi finally erupts.
13:28It's a time and a place for everything, and you are out of order some damn time.
13:34So you need to come the f*** down.
13:37You can f*** down.
13:38You can f*** down.
13:39Because you actin' f*** down.
13:41You actin' up.
13:42And you need to come to f*** reality and shut the f*** up sometime.
13:47You out of order.
13:48He storms off the set and onto the streets of New York City, but not before making good on his
13:53promise to smash the camera that's following him.
13:55If it weren't obvious, Masmanidi does not return to the competition.
13:59But he does leave behind a legacy of a great reality TV moment.
14:04Sanjo is a ticking time bomb.
14:06No adult should act that way.
14:08I'm gonna smash this camera, I promise you.
14:11Do you prefer your Project Runway designers to be nice and sweet or dramatic and fiery?
14:16Sound off in the comments.
14:17Sound off in the comments.
14:18Sound off in the comments.
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