Much to the surprise and delight of all the designers on “Making the Cut,” no one was eliminated in season three, episode four, “One Day, One Team.” So all seven contestants returned to design again in episode five, “Festival Wear”: Curtis Cassell, Rafael Chaouiche, Georgia Hardinge, Sienna Li, Jeanette Limas, Markantoine Lynch-Boisvert, and Yannik Zamboni. All sunshine and puppies and roses, right? Unfortunately, the judges’ momentary mercy curdled like milk in the sun. Let’s get into it.

“Festival wear has become big business for fashion retailers,” Tim Gunn explains. “Many large brands are creating year-round festival lines. In fact, for the Millennial and Gen-Z demographics it’s becoming tangential to resort wear.” We’re talking hippie Woodstock looks, Afropunk, all those wild desert utopia Burning Man costumes. The sky is kind of the limit with this one. The designers would be making two-look collections, one high-fashion runway look and one accessible look. And the good news is that the designers would each be working with two seamstresses, one in the design studio with the designers during the day, and one working on tech packs overnight.

However, the designers would only get one day to complete their extravagant looks. I joked in a previous recap that the time limits were getting so short that by the end of the season the designers would have to put together whole collections in 15 minutes. But, like, that does seem to be the trajectory here. The poor designers had a one-day assignment followed by a seven-hour assignment and now another one-day assignment. Quick-turnaround challenges are good for tension, but too many of them are bad for the designers and bad for the fashion. They’re looking for the next great global brand, not the fastest stitcher and pattern-maker in the world.

The designers visit the Museum of Dream Space for inspiration. “It’s like being inside a painting of light,” says Curtis about the unusual installations. “It’s like if space was a gay bar.” Jeanette is reminded of Carnival in the Dominican Republic, which she’ll bring to the runway in a bold pop of red color. Yannik wants to make a deconstructed body suit, as is his usual style (festival wear seems like it’ll be right up his alley). Curtis leans into gay pride celebrations, though he doesn’t want to be too literal with a rainbow flag motif. Sienna decides on a men’s gown, which is a creative and technical risk because she hasn’t designed menswear before. “Let me step out of my comfort zone,” she explains. Always a big risk. Doesn’t always pay off.

The beleaguered designers then get a pleasant surprise: a visit from season one champ Jonny Cota and runner-up Esther Perbandt. They offer helpful anecdotes and advice, like how Jonny cried himself to sleep some nights and Esther pushed her boundaries while blocking out her time very specifically and deliberately, and I’m sure neither of those comments will seem relevant later, no siree! Jonny closed by telling them to be true to themselves first and foremost, and “even if you stumble and fall just be proud of what you do.” Hold onto that wisdom, ladies and gentlemen, you’re going to need it.

The first big sign of trouble were the Tim Talks . They’ve gone pretty smoothly all season with a lot of praise and encouragement, plus some concern here and there, but ending with a big vote of confidence. But in this case he tells Jeanette he was “baffled” by the “matronly” top on her runway look. He also thinks Georgia’s color scheme is more pool party than festival, and for the first time he doesn’t understand what Curtis is doing at all. As he finishes his consultations he leaves them with these inspiring words: “I will leave you, and I’ll see you tomorrow.” Knowing Tim Gunn’s usual avuncular enthusiasm, that’s some seriously worrying non-praise.

Indeed, the problems abound after that. Markantoine isn’t sure what he’s doing. Curtis has gone back to the drawing board after Tim’s appraisal. Sienna is having serious fit issues with her first ever male model. And Jeanette doesn’t realize until late in the game that some of her fabrics don’t match. Rafael has to rush to finish his accessible look. Ain’t nobody happy. But after some early-morning scrambling, there’s no choice but to send something down the runway.

Tim and Heidi Klum appear at arguably the most beautiful location this season so far: Vazquez Rocks in Los Angeles, California, which give off that desert Burning Man vibe that would go especially well with festival wear. Tim even reminisces about going to Woodstock in his penny loafers with mud up to his ankles — Woodstock as only Tim Gunn could do.

Alas, the fun ends there. Judge Jeremy Scott doesn’t understand what’s going on with Curtis’s runway look, though Heidi likes his use of color. The accessible look, meanwhile, is too commonplace for a festival. No wow factor. Next up is Jeanette: “This I love,” says judge Nicole Richie about the runway look. “This is standing out,” Heidi adds. It’s a hit with all of the judges. Unfortunately, the accessible look seems to Heidi “like she did it in 10 minutes,” and Nicole thinks “it just looks like leftover fabric.”

Nicole thinks Yannik’s runway look is “exciting” with great styling of hair and makeup. Unfortunately, his accessible look isn’t accessible enough. Georgia’s runway look has a cape that’s way too short; it’s a pretty dress with a beautiful color combination, but it’s not bold enough for a festival. They do like her accessible bathing suit, though. Then comes Rafael, whose first look makes great use of metallic fabric, but whose accessible look has a lot of problems: the fabric is just tacked and pinned on the model, it’s unfinished.

The last two designers don’t go over much better. Markantoine’s runway look has too many things going on, and Jeremy thinks “the fabric reads so cheap.” His accessible look doesn’t excite the judges either, and the pants look like “poopy pants.” Last up is Sienna, whose first attempt at dressing a male model, I must agree, did not go well. “It’s unattractive, it’s not flattering, it’s not cool,” says Jeremy. And her accessible look has a wedding or christening vibe more than festival, though I like this flowing white number better than the judges do. Still, Heidi wonders if any of the designers has ever been to a festival.

The designers seem relaxed and relieved when they head into the design studio for their critiques. That won’t last long. Jeremy has a look on his face like someone just ran over his dog. “I just got sad after seeing today’s show,” Heidi tells them. “Just one bad look after the next.” Jeremy concurs: “Tonight was shocking. Every one of you disappointed me. Everybody.”

Jeanette is the first called up, and after hearing the judges’ initial reactions to the whole fashion show, it must not feel good to be the first on the firing line. They praise her first design but then completely lambaste her second look. She graciously thanks them for their feedback and promises that she will do better in the future. She seems to think she’s about to be eliminated, so it’s all the more surprising when the judges tell Jeanette that she’s the winner of the assignment . Despite her sloppy accessible look, her runway look was the best moment of the entire fashion show, so that’s what will be sold in the “Making the Cut” store on Amazon. Jeanette sits back down in tears. She doesn’t look like she just won, and I don’t blame her. Nobody wants to win this way.

Rafael is next, and the situation is very much the same. He’s praised for his runway look, pilloried for his accessible look with its pins and tucked fabric looking like a diaper. Jeremy thinks that design was beneath him, but because his first look was fire, he’s making the cut. Sienna isn’t so lucky, though. Nobody liked her runway look, and her accessible look was “boring” to Jeremy and too sheer to Heidi, who didn’t like that you could see the model’s bra through the fabric. Despite her strong track record on the show, Sienna is not making the cut .

Yannik’s critiques are when things really pop off, even though he had one of the better pairs of designs. Heidi appreciated the concept and draping of the first look, but the accessible look was too hard for an everyday customer to wear. Yannik tries to defend his accessible look, but Jeremy is having none of it. “All the accessible look was shit,” he tells Yannik, though he’s referring to everyone’s accessible looks. “It was unrealistic or not well made. It was awful. For all of you … It was a waste.” He tells the designers he was so uninspired he didn’t even take any notes during the fashion show and he throws his notebook on the floor. Yannik makes the cut, but he’s sent back to his seat in tears.

Now I’m getting a little frustrated, but not with the designers.

Curtis is last up, and the writing is on the wall for him since he came close to elimination two assignments ago. He’s told his accessible look didn’t stand out, and that the designs weren’t exciting or wearable. Curtis doesn’t make the cut . Honestly, the big surprise for me is that he’s the last person eliminated. Given the rough quality of the fashion show, I figured they’d send a third person home too. I’m kinda surprised Georgia and Markantoine skated by without any vitriol thrown their way … perhaps literally thrown their way.

Jeremy insists that he’s so mad because he believes in them so much, and he reassures Yannik that he wasn’t throwing the notebook at him, as if that’s the standard we’re aiming for. But Jeremy acting like the designers’ struggles were a personal affront to him was inappropriate and unnecessary. What’s more, if you take seven wildly talented designers and they all struggle to execute the assignment, maybe the problem was the assignment and not the designers. Asking for big, bold, out-of-the-box fashion and then giving them only one day to complete their looks (right after a grueling seven-hour assignment) was setting them up for failure, and failure is what they got. But they also got a few really good pieces from the designers. In one day!

One could argue that the fashion world is harsh and you need to be tough to survive it, but the world is only harsh when people decide to be harsh, and shows like “The Great British Baking Show” prove kindness can be good TV. At the very least I hope we can get through the rest of the season without thrown objects.

Make your predictions at Gold Derby now. Download our free and easy app for Apple/iPhone devices or Android (Google Play) to compete against legions of other fans plus our experts and editors for best prediction accuracy scores. See our latest prediction champs. Can you top our esteemed leaderboards next? Always remember to keep your predictions updated because they impact our latest racetrack odds, which terrify Hollywood chiefs and stars. Don’t miss the fun. Speak up and share your huffy opinions in our famous forums where 5,000 showbiz leaders lurk every day to track latest awards buzz. Everybody wants to know: What do you think? Who do you predict and why?

MONDAY at 6 p.m. ET; 3 p.m. PT: Watch our 2-hour Emmys 2022 live streaming pre-show debating predictions for 25 categories. Senior editor Rob Licuria hosts with 9 Gold Derby editors and contributors

MONDAY at 11 p.m. ET; 8 p.m. PT: Immediately following the Emmys ceremony, watch our 1-hour live streaming post-show analyzing the winners and losers. Senior editor Matt Noble hosts with six Gold Derby editors and contributors.

Watch our lively chats with Jennifer Coolidge (“The White Lotus”) and over 250 more Emmy nominees, including…

Is ‘Titanic’ still the king of the world? On this week’s episode of Oscars Playback, experts Joyce Eng and Christopher Rosen look back on the biggest Academy Awards ever, when James Cameron ruled and Matt and Ben were mere newcomers.

Gold Derby is a part of Penske Media Corporation. © 2022 Gold Derby Media, LLC. All Rights Reserved. Deadline Media