The Ringer

I got my Covid booster shot last week and felt like I was run over by a truck the next day. I'm tired of shots. I know they're necessary, but I've had enough. Is this going to be a yearly thing now? God, I hope not.

In an effort to take my mind off of Covid, Omicron, Delta, and everything else going on in the world right now, I've been watching a lot of Project Runway (the current season on Bravo and past seasons on Tubi). I used to watch Project Runway when it first started, but I slacked off after a few seasons. But I'm back now and loving it again. (Fun fact: I saw Christian Siraino walking down 8th Avenue in New York one time when I was living/working there. I had gone out for lunch and my office was near Penn Station and he was walking by, right near Penn Station at the post office.) But I digress. 

One thing I've noticed from watching the current season and past seasons is that the show sometimes has a ringer. On the current season, there was a woman who made straight-up clown clothes. All she needed for her models was a red nose and floppy shoes. As someone who loves clowns and feel they've been given a terrible reputation due to John Wayne Gacy and horror movies like It, I'm usually on board with clown-related stuff...but not for women to wear daily a la Project Runway. The clown-wear woman from the current season of Project Runway shouldn't have even been on the show from the jump. I kept looking at her clothes and wondering who DIDN'T make the cut so this woman could be on the show as the season's ringer. How many designers, who were actually talented at making real clothes for real people, were turned down so the clown woman could get a shot? 

On a past season I'm watching now on Tubi, a woman who couldn't sew and made crazy outfits has just been kicked off and I wondered the same thing. Which talented designers didn't get a shot so the crazy, non-sewing woman who tried on her own clothes to judge their sizing and didn't fit her models, could be on TV with her wacky looks? Again, the season ringer. I understand the purpose of the ringer. That person is there to drive the ratings and have viewers like me look at them and think, That designer is terrible! But it's a shame that really talented people were pushed aside for these folks.