Tim Gunn John Lamparski/Getty Images
According to Tim Gunn, the iconic Project Runway cohost was not asked back for the show’s reboot.
“Heidi [Klum] sent me a text saying, ‘There’s talk about bringing Project Runway back with us, with you and me, and would you do it?’ And I said, ‘Would I do it? Of course, there’s not a moment of hesitation in me,’” Gunn, 71, said in an interview with People published on Saturday, February 15.
“So Heidi and I were texting and texting, and several months later, she sent me a text asking, ‘Are you happy with your contract?’ I’m a truth-teller. I don’t even mince words,” Gunn told the outlet. “I said, ‘Well, I haven’t seen a contract.’ And she said, ‘You haven’t?’ No.”
He continued, “So I called my agent and he knew things were going on, but he contacted the executive producers of this new show, and they said, ‘We don’t want him.’ And [my agent] said, ‘Well, he’s done 19 seasons of Runway, 16 with Heidi. The two of them won an Emmy together as hosts, and now you’re going to separate them?’ And they said yes.”
Zach Dilgard/Bravo Project Runway is gearing up for season 21. After months of fans wondering if season 20 would be its last, it was announced in October 2024 that the long-running fashion design competition will return to the small screen. But instead of airing on Bravo, like it has since 2017, Project Runway will air […]
Gunn cohosted Project Runway for 16 years alongside Klum, 51, before the pair departed the series in 2018 for Prime Video’s fashion competition series Making the Cut.
“Our fans are upset, you know, because we have a great audience,” Klum exclusively told Us Weekly at the time. “People loved us for 16 years. I guess they were maybe upset that they’ll never see us again, but Tim and I are sticking together.”
Us confirmed in January 2025 that Klum would return to host Project Runway for the first time in eight years for the Bravo show’s 21st season — without Gunn.
“So I wasn’t asked back,” Gunn told People on Saturday. “However, several weeks after that conversation, they went back to [my agent] and said, ‘Well, we’ve thought about it and we’d be willing to offer Tim a small cameo in one episode.’ What do I do? Wave from a bus? As the designers are going into Mood [Fabrics]? Heidi comes to see me at the retirement home and we play croquet? So no thank you. And as Heidi would say, you’re either in or you’re out. And I’m out. So I wasn’t asked to join.”
Kevin Mazur/WireImage Heidi Klum has nothing but love for Victoria’s Secret. During an appearance on “Call Her Daddy,” the 50-year-old supermodel shared her thoughts on the lingerie company’s fashion show, which was recently reimagined after its 2019 cancellation due declining sales as well as years of backlash for being exclusionary and promoting unrealistic beauty standards. […]
Gunn claimed that he was “initially devastated, then kind of humiliated” by the snub, but noted, “I thought, how lucky am I to have had the experiences that I’ve had over the last 20 years? This is phenomenal.”
“I stopped the boo-hooing,” he said. “I thought, it’s really throwing hubris in the face of an angry God to mourn not being on this new show. So I’ve come to terms with it. Am I disappointed? Sure. And most of all, it’s about not working with Heidi, but we move on and things happen for a reason. I don’t know what the reason is yet, but it will be revealed.”
Gunn added that Klum “was really upset” by the decision. “She kept saying, ‘I’m fighting for you, I’m fighting for you,’ which is lovely of her and nothing that I should expect,” Gunn continued. “And I said, ‘Heidi, just take good care of yourself. Don’t worry about me. I’ll be fine.’”
He concluded, “I have her back and I’m with her in spirit always.”
