Project Runway Rundown: Winner By DQ

You could just tell this was going to be a good one.

In fact, if it weren't for the continued presence of Blayne and his "–licious"ness, Suede and Suede's "head of ocean" and some more questionable judging, I'd call this a perfect episode of "Project Runway."

And all it took was some of New York's City's brightest, funniest and puniest (Annida Greenkard! Hedda Lettuce!) drag queens to liven things up.

Since Bravo decided this season that it wasn't even going to try to surprise its viewers, we knew from the previews that beloved former contestant Chris March was going to make an appearance and that the contestants would be working with drag queens this week. Still, that didn't make it any less delightful when Chris strolled out from behind that silhouette screen and was revealed to be wearing massive Viking horns and a disco ball top.

As the drag queens stepped onto the runway, I debated whether it'd be a good idea to remark to my g/f Erica that some of them actually looked pretty good. On the one hand, they were dudes, so there was little chance she'd get jealous, but on the other hand, she'd probably think that was a little gay, so I decided to keep my mouth shut. (Phew. It's a good thing she doesn't read this column.)

While the designers met with their clients, I caught a noticeable grimace on Straight Joe's face right before they walked in the workroom. He talked about how much of a challenge and outside his comfort zone this challenge would be, and he likened it to making a Halloween costume. (Condescending much?) Korto also seemed uncomfortable, but I didn't really get why, since most of what she's made this season is huge and bright. Korto seemed to realize this eventually, while Joe also got into the spirit of the challenge by donning his client's bra and doing a little shimmy. Meanwhile, I found myself wishing that memory-erasing thing from "Men in Black" was real, so I could forget what I just saw.

Even after the queens left there was plenty of drama in the workroom. I was happy, no ECSTATIC, to see that pretty much everyone on this show is also tired of Blayne-licious. In fact, I'm pretty sure I laughed for the first time at something Leann said when she claimed it made her want to barf...licious.


Apparently, after his win last week, everyone decided to help Keith celebrate by giving him a haterade shower. Everyone was baffled at how Keith and his swatches drew constant praise from the judges which made them look pretty jealous, but also signaled to the audience that Keith was going to be in trouble.

Also, despite the fact that I'm perfectly aware that there are dudes under those pounds of wigs and makeups, I found it a bit striking to see them walk into the workroom as themselves and how regular they looked. These guys do a terrific job with their transformations (except maybe for Acid Betty, who looks the same but with more makeup as a drag queen).

Tim and Chris March stopped by and this episode gave us the perfect look at why Gunn's visits are crucial. They each advised Suede to stick to his guns after Hedda Lettuce accused him of being lazy for only making a Godzilla glove (as opposed to a Godzilla sleeve). It seemed like a HUGE insult at the time (Terri even chimed in, sassily, of course, with "Oh no she di-uhn't"). Still, Suede and Hedda patched things ups and Hedda TOTALLY sold his garment during the runway show. (That may be the weirdest sentence I've ever written.) Hedda's attitude made all the difference in the world — the outfit looked TERRIBLE in the workroom when she was upset, but looked halfway decent on the runway.

On the other hand, Tim strongly suggested to Daniel that he wasn't going big enough with his tie-dyed yellow flamenco dress. Daniel, as usual, didn't listen, did whatever he wanted and paid for it.

He was joined in the bottom three by Keith and his sad chicken costume (ouch!) and Jerrell (who I was convinced was going to be in the top three, but whose dress was too long for guest judge RuPaul).

Can someone please explain to me how Blayne and his "pterodactyl out of a gay Jurassic Park" garment didn't land in the bottom three? I get that this challenge was about being over the top, but that kite-looking thing went WAY over the top and crossed over into ugly territory. Also, one of the "wings" was looking droopy on the runway. Are the judges REALLY saying Blayne's outfit was better than Jerrell's? Seriously?! To keep Blayne out of the bottom three is embarrassing. It's almost as embarrassing as Blayne's latest and lamest attempt to be Christian Siriano by giving himself a drag queen name (Neonlicious, ugh!) the same way Christian gave himself a WWE Diva name.

The top three was made up of Joe (who RuPaul admired for remembering to hide his client's "candy") Terri (with her incredibly platform boot/samurai creation) and Korto's (literally) flaming outfit. All three were pretty good, but, for the second week in a row, the judges picked my least favorite out of the top three to award the top prize. To put it delicately, Terri wuz robbed. I loved her face in the back while Joe (cutting lose with an UNTUCKED black shirt and jeans) was celebrating.

The bottom two came down to Keith and Daniel with Keith taking the more brutal criticism from the judges (RuPaul called him out for making too many excuses). Fortunately for him, Daniel is a gigantic idiot and dug his own hole by once again talking about his high-end tastes and how this challenge was too gaudy for him, leading to his elimination (FINALLY, the judges got one right).

I'm guessing he didn't see his elimination because this show may not be high-end enough for his impeccable tastes. If that's the case, he missed a hell of an episode.

So what'd you think of the episode? Is it just me or was RuPaul looking a little rough? Is Terri EVER going to win a challenge? Is Blayne the most annoying person on this show or the most annoying person ever? Finally, where can I score some of that crack the judges have been smoking?