Tim Gunn Not Returning for ‘Project Runway’ Revival — Fans React

Dan Clarendon February 15, 2025, 11:37 am

You won’t see Tim Gunn telling fashion designers to “make it work” on Freeform’s upcoming Project Runway revival. Gunn, who long served as mentor to the show’s contestants, revealed he wasn’t invited to join returning host Heidi Klum in Runway’s new iteration.

In an interview with People about the snub, Gunn said he expressed interest with “not a moment of hesitation” when Klum texted him with word of the revival. “So Heidi and I were texting and texting, and several months later, she sent me a text asking, ‘Are you happy with your contract?’” he recalled. “I’m a truth-teller. I don’t even mince words. I said, ‘Well, I haven’t seen a contract.’”

Gunn’s agent then contacted the executive producers of Freeform’s Project Runway. “They said, ‘We don’t want him,’” Gunn said. “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.”

The EPs later offered Gunn a “small cameo,” he said. “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?” Gunn wondered. “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.”

Tim Gunn and Heidi Klum in Making the Cut - Season 3

Prime Video

Gunn said he felt “initially devastated, then kind of humiliated” but has now made his peace with the outcome.

“I thought, how lucky am I to have had the experiences that I’ve had over the last 20 years?” he said. “This is phenomenal. I stopped the boo-hooing. 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.”

The former Parsons School of Design faculty member added that Klum was “really upset” not to have him at her side, though he said he’s “with her in spirit always” and he plans on watching her on the new Runway season.

And Project Runway fans are also really upset, judging from reactions on social media.

'AGT' Fans Are Convinced Heidi Klum Is Leaving Show

“What do you mean, Tim Gunn was not ask[ed] back for Project Runway?” one X user wrote in all caps.

“Let’s be very clear: There is no Project Runway without Tim Gunn,” another user wrote.

Someone else said, “@TimGunn must be in it, or I’m not watching. I know I’m not alone. This is shameful that the producers thought the audience was this stupid to buy a revival without Tim. #ProjectRunway must include Tim! He must be in.”

One X user called the decision “extremely upsetting,” and another fan offered “a polite but firm ‘no, thank you’” to the prospect of a Gunn-less Runway.