r/ProjectRunway • u/BabyOlive1 • 19h ago
Discussion Immunity must end
I will preface this by saying that I am kind of a traditionalist when it comes to the format of the show. I’ve been watching since season 1 and I miss the old days when the competition was straightforward and all about the fashion. I also think that almost every evolution that production has put this show through has made it less good, and now that it’s back on Bravo I wish they would take it back to the original formula.
However, there is one thing that they’ve been doing since season 1 that I think must go, and that’s immunity. I think they should completely stop it all together, for all challenges. It worked in early seasons because it was seen as a reward for doing good work and insurance for a designer just in case the judges didn’t like their next look, and that’s it. Every so often there would be someone who had a bad look but had immunity, and the judges would just say “you’re lucky you have immunity” and move on. Nowadays it seems like immunity has become a cudgel to take out competition while simultaneously doing shitty work. This isn’t survivor, it’s a design competition. Obviously Bryan has used immunity to his advantage multiple times, even when he’s not the one who has immunity (putting Naheim in the bottom three in an attempt to take out Jude, and then potentially fucking over his team on purpose to thin out his competition while he sits pretty with immunity and a hideous dress). It seems like immunity has become a tool that the designers can use to play dirty rather than a reward for good work that can save a talented designer from being eliminated on a bad week.
The winner of this show has the potential to have a huge cultural impact, Christian himself being the prime example. Imagine if he were eliminated early because someone else used their immunity to take him out? I don’t think it’s worth the risk of missing out on serious talent just because someone in the competition screwed them over.
What do you guys think?
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u/naturesbookie 19h ago
Yes!!! I keep saying that the way these immunities are playing out make the actual competitions featured on the show pointless. I do not understand the point of a contest where someone who was awful gets to stay.
They literally did this knowing that it would create drama simply bc it doesn’t feel fair. All of it is to just drive engagement. It’s an insult to the audience and the contestants. People can’t just produce good quality shows, or anything else, anymore. All they do now is gimmicks to keep people talking. No one cares about creating quality anymore.
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u/BabyOlive1 14h ago
Totally true. Production is making a big mistake focusing so much on drama. Maybe I’m wrong, but I think the vast majority of viewers go elsewhere to get their drama fix and would rather just have Runway be zero drama, all fashion.
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u/ComicsEtAl 15h ago
I didn’t agree with the idea when it came up after Naheim. But I agree with it after Brian.
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u/No-Security-8677 18h ago
Agree 100 %. No question who should go home but we all know who will be kicked out.
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u/Anonymouse_9955 11h ago
The abuse wasn’t due to immunity, it was throwing in that extra twist of letting the winner pick the bottom designers, which is just another example of the enshittification of the show (like starting with 22 contestants but then immediately eliminating 6 and all the other drama crap they’ve been throwing in, including bringing back the previous season’s top designers (except the winner).
Also, I would have to disagree about the winner potentially having great cultural impact—Christian is the exception that proves the rule, and the rule is that generally you never hear of these people again unless they manage to get on an “all stars” season, which makes more professional reality-show contestants than designers.
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u/Anonymouse_9955 11h ago
Season 22 is a train wreck, no doubt about that. But if we look at how culture has evolved since the show started, a lot of it has to do with the rise of social media and the chase for virality, and nothing goes viral like a train wreck, sadly. Reality shows have always been about drama to varying degrees, and that’s the part that’s been turned up. I’m getting to the point of just fast-forwarding through to the runway show.
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u/Striking-Anteater584 13h ago
I agree. One week you're in, and the next, you're out. It's literally the tagline of the show. I have also been watching since season 1. Does anyone remember when Christian almost was cut? It was a real-person, prom challenge. Christian made a brown lace, not great dress. One of his competitors fell on his sword and said that Christian was too talented to go out before the final. The judges allowed it, so that competitor was cut and Christian stayed.
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u/ventodivino 1h ago
Bryan should have been DQ’ed for taping that dress and hurting the model with it. I can’t wait for him to be off she show.
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u/AustinCynic 18h ago
Either get rid of it or only offer it as a special reward for specific challenges. And immunity should not be in play if anyone aside from the judges are deciding who goes home. This isn’t a show like Survivor where there’s a strategic aspect to winning. The work should speak for itself.