By Jeff Long
So, Christopher is really pissed that Gunnar was saved during the last challenge. He would have preferred that Nathan was granted clemency during the challenge when he was eliminated. Heidi tells the designers that they will be using their negotiation skills for this challenge. They get to the workroom and find a bunch of arts and crafts supplies. Tim tells them that they won't have a budget at Mood but instead will have to do their own fundraising. They'll be able to sell t-shirts as well as whatever else. And, they're going to be on teams of three. No one even pretends to not hate this. The teams are chosen from the button bag. Christopher, Sonjia and Gunnar are on the same time. Drama. Dmitry, Elena and Alicia are on the same time. Drama. Which leaves Ven, Fabio and Melissa together. Heaven.
Elena is a nightmare from the get go. Watching these guys try to sell these things is one of the saddest things I've watched in a while. It gets better the longer it goes on, but it's painful. Weird thing though is that they all made a fair chunk of change. Each team will create two looks for Fall, including at least one piece of outerwear. Sonjia is super psyched because outerwear is her jam. Elena is bossy pants in her group and Alicia and Dmitry are too timid to say anything at first.
Once they have returned from Mood, Christopher and Sonjia talk about how horrible it would be to have been chosen for Elena's team. Also, they know how much she and Dmitry fight and wonder how that is going to affect Alicia. Everyone hates these exposed darts that Dmitry is including in his dress. Seriously, they act like he shot someone. Ven is still using that fan effect and Tim tells his group that his skirt, though masterful, is standing out in their collection. In a bad way. Tim questions whether or not Sonjia has overdesigned her jacket. Elena, always a voice of calm critique, says that Christopher's coat is one of the ugliest things she has ever seen.
Elena is such an asshole to Dmitry. She's a jerk to Alicia as well. Sonjia's and Christopher's outerwear attempts are not really up to par, while everyone seems to like Gunnar's dresses. Elena wants to have her jacket zipped on the runway, which means it would completely cover the pants that Alicia had made. Alicia says no. It's ugly. Everyone else is thankful that they weren't on the same team as Elena. Christopher will be the last designer to have immunity for having won a challenge.
Anna Sui is the guest judge! The show begins and I kind of like Dmitry's exposed darts. Elena's jacket bites. You can't see Alicia's stuff. Sonjia's jacket looks great. Christopher's coat is iffy. Gunnar's dresses are, you know, pretty remarkable. I really love Ven's new skirt. I don't know about Fabio's jacket. Melissa's contribution is pretty cute.
Christopher's team wins, while the other two teams are up for elimination. Anna Sui reminds everyone that teamwork is very important. Christopher picks Gunnar as the person who should win, which I thought was pretty cool. Elena was so crazy on the runway. Completely crazy from the beginning of their critique. They hated her coat but they weren't excited about Alicia's work. Heidi hated the work from Melissa's team. Sonjia is the winner of the challenge. It looks like Fabio might be leaving. I'm bracing myself. Melissa is in. Ven is in. Elena is in. Gross. Dmitry is in. Alicia is... out. I'm sad about that too. Elena? How long are we going to let her ruin everything?