9/20 Show Discussion Thread **West Coast Spoilers**

[ibot2much]

Ven was NOT the person to deal with someone who was as down on herself as she was....nor should he have been put in that position by the production staff.
There was nothing about Ven that would make anybody in charge of this show think that he could help this woman.

Ness, I agree with you. However, knowing what they had with Ven, the staff should not have matched her up with him. It wasn't as if the matches were made with a blind draw....he was given this woman. It was a bad match and made for TV drama at the expense of this woman.

Again, I return to Jeffrey who was matched in the "real world" challenge with the mother of the one contestant with whom he butted heads constantly. He actually said that he would make the ugliest dress imaginable for her....and he did. He survived and went on to win when he should have been booted out that episode.

So his behavior to me was worse than Ven's....but both were put in the position by the staff.

[ness]

Ness, I agree with you. However, knowing what they had with Ven, the staff should not have matched her up with him. It wasn't as if the matches were made with a blind draw....he was given this woman. It was a bad match and made for TV drama at the expense of this woman.

Again, I return to Jeffrey who was matched in the "real world" challenge with the mother of the one contestant with whom he butted heads constantly. He actually said that he would make the ugliest dress imaginable for her....and he did. He survived and went on to win when he should have been booted out that episode.

So his behavior to me was worse than Ven's....but both were put in the position by the staff.

Gotcha.

And I can see and agree with what you're saying, too.

Jeffrey WAS an ass to his "real world" matchup, too. And, yep, I CLEARLY remember him saying that he'd make the ugliest dress imaginable for her, and actually DOING it. Yep, he won the whole thing, and I found myself throwing unbreakable items at my TV screen when he was announced as the winner. Right today, I cannot STAND that smug SOB.

Ven, to me, is in the same ballpark as Jeffrey, though. The commentary about the belt, etc., not being big enough? The not stepping up to the plate during hair and makeup?

I can see the producer/staff responsibility in Ven's case (and Jeffrey's, also) that you've posed, as well. OK, maybe Jeffrey was an-out-of-left-field situation for them. I'll give them that they didn't see that one coming, didn't know WHAT to do at that juncture, and they felt the best thing to do was to soldier on in a bad situation.

But when Ven was carrying on with Terri like he was during the construction of her outfit, I will have to say that the PR staff, PTB, whoever, could and SHOULD have stepped in and pulled the plug on Ven's whole shooting match, right then. They should've DQd him for his behavior towards the client that THEY'D set him up with. That is a lack of responsibility and ownership on THEIR part for THEIR part in the trainwreck that turned out to be Ven and Terri. And, to have kicked him out right then would've reaped benefits for them in that viewers could see that they'd let ONE designer with bad client behavior slide, but they were NOT going to have it with a second designer.

Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me.

Jeffrey, OK. But Ven? No way. The PR PTB and staff validated his bad behavior towards Terri for the sake of his completing a challenge. And at the end of the day, that is NOT right to have done.

Sure, they didn't make the same mistake of allowing Ven to cruise all the way to the end and win, as they did Jeffrey. But, THIS time, they ALSO didn't immediately act on what was happening WHEN it was happening, either. They kept Ven on when he should have been kicked out for his rudeness to an innocent woman, RIGHT THEN.

Yeah, I gotcha.

Good point, well made!

[ibot2much]

Good points ness. Also keep in mind when we consider the role the production staff has in all this----this is NOT broadcast live. It is all taped and edited long before it is shown to us. This could have been edited differently to spare the woman. It wasn't---did it hurt Ven or the woman more who just came to this show for a pretty dress?

I think we saw more of Ven and the woman JUST for the sake of TV drama when we could have seen much, much less of their interaction. He still would have looked bad on TV for the ugly outfit he sent out. She could have been spared the humiliation

[Little Sew&Sew]

I'd love to see Dmitry on Dancing With the Stars, but people would start screaming, "Ringer," right off the bat. That wouldn't bother me since the show is so manipulated now. I don't know how long its been since Dmitry danced, but if Mya could qualify as an amateur, anyone can.

I've only watched DWTS when Hines Ward was on, but I would make time for it to see Dmitry dance. I believe he said in the last episode that he stopped dancing at 18 (although it might have been 16). In his PR interview piece, when he first meets with Mondo, Seth Aaron and whoever the chick is, his age is shown on screen as 33, so . . . . we are talking about 15 years at a minimum.

Project Runway - Dmitry Sholokhov's Casting Session - YouTube

[Kip]

I'd like to see Tim Gunn on DWTS.

[Babbred]

Ibot, I totally agree that the whole Ven/Terri pairing was a stunt pulled by the producers. Ironically enough, Ven might have been right when he complained that it was. And it was absolutely edited to show the maximum amount of drama. That was a very insightful yet sad observation that you made, about who got hurt more? For the rest of her life, this poor woman will be branded as "that woman who got trashed by Ven on PR." And yet he got to "redeem" himself by not only showing his collection at FW but getting raves for his clothing. And people wonder why I'm so cynical and think there's no justice.



And I'm with you, Ness, that the producers were every bit as responsible for that trainwreck as Ven. I'm not sure he should have been thrown off during the design phase, but SOMEBODY, even Tim, should have spoken up and said "Enough! This is going to end right now!" We know that Tim can probably do it because it looks like he does something similar in next week's episode. I never thought I'd hear myself say this, but this was the only epi where I was disappointed in Tim. At the very least, he should have told the judges everything that happened, and then they should have aufed him for designing a crappy dress and not even trying.



All that being said, however....


Ness, you are absolutely spot on that no matter the producers' role and responsibility, it takes two to tango. In any job where you're dealing with people, you should be prepared to deal with different personalities. A perfect example is my job. In the classes I teach, I have super-cool jocks and cheerleaders, kids with baggage from dysfunctional homes and every other type of student imaginable. What if I decided I would only give good grades to the cool kids? Or respond to the nerds since I used to be a nerd myself in school? It's my job to work with every student to the best of my ability, not pick and choose who gets my favor. Same thing goes for a designer. And like you said, Ness, even if he found it difficult to design for this woman (like other designers have in the past for "real" women), then that is absolutely no excuse for his playground bullying and cruelty. Whinging to the other designers, refusing to help his client in any way, I'm so mad I could spit again.



The only small consolation I take from this is I don't think a major store will be selling his line. For anybody who watched that other fashion show, I would love to know what those buyers would have thought about Ven's behavior. I can just hear one of those African-American women spitting out Heidi's line. "And what exactly is a real woman?" Now THAT would have made for good drama.

[ness]

Hell, YEAH it would've, Babbred!

Please excuse me for a sec, y'all, but --- for the first time ever --- I'm gonna threadjack for a minute . . .

Let me take just a sec to give you kudos for being a teacher in this day and time. And ESPECIALLY for knowing and understanding that your role is to NOT play favorites in a classroom, but to see to it on a daily basis that ALL of your charges receive the best of your mind and heart in order to give them what they need that will help them in the world later on.

Teachers don't get enough money OR credit, anymore.

I'm sorry, everybody.

Threadjack over.

*ness covers head and slinks back to her cave*

[Shoepie]

I thought I was in the wrong thread with all this talk about Ven!

The winning costume would not be dicernable from the balcony, or even half way back on the floor. I prefered Demitri's creation.

This season is so dull. I usually rush here with lots to day but I don't even watch the show on the night it airs anymore. Very disappointing.

Heidi! Make the models part of the show in the way you did in season one. They don't need their own half hour but something, please. This cast is not compelling. Where is the humor? Jay, Santino, Andre, Austin, Laura I miss you!

[Allie]

I hear you Shopie. The designers and their clothes are kind of boring. I hate rude, nasty reality tv people, but a personality would be nice to see. Maybe some joy in creating or some introspection into your viewpoint as a designer? Something! Bad casting this year. :-(

[ibot2much]

I thought I was in the wrong thread with all this talk about Ven!

No, you are in the right thread...the one about the show from 9/20 when Ven was sent home. Remember? And we were reacting to his comment when he was sent home about having no regrets. And of course as threads do we went off on the regrets he should or should not have had.