In fashion, one day you’re in, and the next, you’re making a show for Jeff Bezos. Heidi Klum and Tim Gunn have announced that they’ve joined Amazon’s unscripted stable, leaving Project Runway to launch their own series on Prime Video.
“After 16 incredible seasons, I am saying ‘Auf Wiedersehen’ to Project Runway, a show that I was honored to host and help create,” Klum said in a press release. “I am incredibly proud of the show, and it will always have a special place in my heart.” “I am grateful to Project Runway for putting me on a path I never, in my wildest dreams, thought my career would take me,” Gunn added in his own, catchphrase-less statement, presaging a dark reality-competition future in which Tim Gunn no longer says “Make it work” on television.
The move means Klum and Gunn, who received their sixth co-nomination for the Primetime Emmys’ top reality host prize this July, will not be following Project Runway back to its original cable home. In the wake of the Weinstein Co.’s bankruptcy, Bravo had re-acquired the program, which has aired on Lifetime since 2009. According to The Hollywood Reporter, no new hosts or judges have been named for the 17th season of Project Runway; Deadline has reported that designer Zac Posen is also leaving the show.
The new series is set to run in 200 countries and territories, though when it will debut, what it will be called, how it will be formatted, and what the grand prize will be are still unknown. However, because this is Amazon, the press release does include a mention of the series’ “shoppable experience,” words that are no less unnatural than any of the brand-integration copy Klum and Gunn have had to recite over the course of Project Runway. Consider this your warning, potential contestants: If you think Nina Garcia’s critique of your sloppy hemline stings, just wait until you’re hearing about it in a one-star Amazon review.