Tim Gunn has revealed that he wasn’t asked to return to the upcoming season of Project Runway alongside Heidi Klum.
Speaking with People Magazine, Gunn shared that Klum reached out to him about the possibility of rejoining the show.
Recalling his conversation with Klum, he said, “Heidi 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.'”
However, a few months later, he learned that the producers had no plans to bring him back.
“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,” Gunn said.
The longtime mentor of Project Runway, who hosted 16 seasons, admitted that he was “initially devastated, then kind of humiliated.”
Furthermore, Gunn revealed, “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,” he added.
Tim Gunn also went on to share Heidi Klum’s reaction to him not being asked.
“She was really upset and she kept saying, 'I'm fighting for you, I'm fighting for you.”
“Which is lovely of her and nothing that I should expect. And I said, 'Heidi, just take good care of yourself. Don't worry about me. I'll be fine,’” he added.