By Jeff Long
The designers meet Tim at the South Street Seaport to get the details of their challenge. It's apparently the Lexus challenge, so that's awesome. They're going to dress up some cars. Wait. No, they have to make Emmy gowns in the color of an assigned Lexus (that's some stretch) for special guests. They work in teams of two, which no one seems psyched about. They play this weird key game to find their partners then get taken in a Lexus to their clients. Christopher and Andrea are a team and Anya from Season 9 is their client! She's just as gorgeous as ever. Alicia and Raul are designing for Mila from Season 7. Kooan and Gunnar meet Irina from Season 6 and from the beginning things look contentious. Melissa and Dmitry work with April, which seems perfect to me (at least the Melissa part). Sweet Valerie from Season 8 is the muse for Nathan and Sonjia. Laura Bennett!! Oh, this is fun. Buffi and Elena (who are completely bummed about working together) are designing for her. Then, Fabio and Ven get Kenley.
During the consultations, Irina is pretty difficult. She almost makes me feel sorry for Gunnar. At Mood, Melissa and Dmitry have a problem finding the fabrics that they want. Alicia and Raul decide on a print for Mila. Tim comes in to tell the designers that the winner of the challenge will get to go to the Emmys. Ven gets frustrated that Fabio isn't as skilled as him. Elena gets stressed and it really skunks up the room. April totally seems like the best client, added to the fact that Melissa and Dmitry really work well together. Mila doesn't really like the print that Alicia and Raul choose, but she's really cool about leading them in the direction that she would prefer. Kenley continues to redeem herself for her behavior on her initial season by being a really great client. Elena is a stress ball and I felt like I was going to have a seizure watching her. Christopher starts to freak out because Andrea moves at a snail's pace. Raul totally hates the red carpet. I get it, but I don't think you're even allowed to say that.
On the runway, the guest judge is Krysten Ritter from that show with the long name that's actually pretty funny. The one with Dawson. I have to say, I kind of loved most of the gowns. Mila's doesn't look great, but I think that comes from those guys just not being that into evening wear. The dress Gunnar and Kooan made for Irina is not great. Valerie's is cute but maybe too tight? WEIRD - Gunnar and Kooan have a high score. Ven and Fabio are in the top, which was more expected. God, everyone, I really can't stand Gunnar. I did like his green sweater though.
Mila is cool about how horrible her dress is. The judges are not as cool with it. Anya is also cool, though she says that Christopher and Andrea seemed too ambitious. Christopher really reveals himself to be not as nice as we thought he was. He completely throws Andrea under that stupid bus. He's a big baby about it too. Krysten seems really embarrassed by the exchange. He's actually quite horrible. Ven is the winner of the challenge. The bottom two are Alicia and Raul. I'm sad for Raul, but he's out and I'm glad it's not Alicia.
Also? Andrea apparently leaves in the middle of the night.