Good Defeats Evil: FIDM Grad Leanne Marshall Prevails On Project Runway

Last night featured the final showdown between fierce competitors. Project Runway’s Kenley, Korto and Leanne battled it out at Fashion Week, while two other guys debated something or other.
 

But forget Obama and Blinky McBlinkerson, in the event that didn’t revolve around constantly reminding us how America’s economy is in the shitter, Leanne Marshall came out on top in the first-ever all-female finale. Marshall, who graduated from the Fashion Institute of Design and Merchandise in San Francisco, wowed the judges with pieces inspired by the ocean’s waves.
 

Korto Momolu, a product of fashion school in Ottawa, Canada, came in a close second. She based her designs on the environment, but even Mother Nature couldn’t score her the win. The first to go, though, was FSU grad Kenley Collins, the requisite villain of the show, who got her just desserts after talking back to the all-knowing Tim Gunn earlier in the episode. She should have known she was screwed when the guru Gunn filled in as guest judge on the runway.
 

But Kenley aside, was the real loser of the show the Lifetime channel? Entertainment Weekly considers the possibility that Bravo has been trying to sabotage Project Runway since it will be moving to Lifetime next season. Let’s check out the evidence:

There was the lack of build-up buzz, the uninspired challenges, the mediocre talent level. But today brings another blow that adds even more weight to the theory that Bravo is throwing its onetime star show under the train: The finale is up against the Presidential Debates.

We know, we know. The show had this timeslot long before the debates were scheduled. But why is Part II of the finale coming right after Part I? Where’s our reunion episode filled with laughs, tears, and gratuitous Kenley bashing?

A colleague of mine also raised the point that much of PR’s core fanbase care a lot more about wedge heels than wedge issues. But even so, the debates are bound to take a huge bite out of PR’s live-viewing audience, leaving the show with record-low numbers for its send-off from the channel that created it.

It does smell a little like sabotage. But isn't that what reality TV is all about?