Project Runway 403 Recap: "Fashion Giant"

Considering the challenge was something I’m not terribly interested in – menswear – being designed for someone I’ve never heard of – former football player and Today Show commentator Tiki Barber – this challenge got me all excited at first.

From its opening scene, in which a dazzlingly muscled Jack shovels a mountain of meds into a bag and says, “I’ve been HIV+ for 17 years and I’ve never been healthier,” the third episode of Project Runway’s fourth season didn’t just take the designers out of their comfort zones, it dragged them out by their hair, naked, in front of an audience of millions, and made them dance.

It’s not that I wanted to see them suffer. I wanted to see them sweat. And sweat they did, copiously and from every pore, as they tried their hands at menswear, something few of them had ever done before. Even Christian, who admitted to having lost some of his self-confidence in the wake of his near-elimination last week (although he then added, “But I just know I make clothes so much better than some of the other designers” so we know it’s still really him), seemed shaken.

Heidi Klum, with what I thought bordered on sadistic glee, informed them they wouldn’t be needing their models this week. Everyone looked panicky, and it didn’t get much better when she told them the challenge was a first for Project Runway, and Tim would tell them what it was at 10 Rockefeller Plaza.

Tim then led them into the Today Show studio and diplomatically introduced this week’s guest judge for the benefit of, well… just about everyone in the room who had zero clue: “Legendary New York Giants running back and Today Show commentator Tiki Barber.”