After six weeks of competition “Project Runway All Stars” season seven has a new front-runner: Irina Shabayeva has surged into the lead based on the combined predictions of Gold Derby users who make their predictions every week in our predictions center. But a few weeks ago it looked like she might not be long for this fashion world. So what changed? Daniel Montgomery and Susan Wloszczyna recently discussed the current season. Watch their slugfest above.
In week two of the competition, in the “Top of the Class” challenge, our readers thought Shabayeva should have been sent home for her overly provocative graduation party dress. But in almost every other challenge she has passed with honors. In the first six challenges she won once and got high scores three other times, which is more than any other designer. The reason she has veered between hot mess one week and judges’ pet every other week may be her bold, go-big-or-go-home approach.
“She kind of overdoes things,” says Wloszczyna or Shabayeva’s style. “If you have a drama-queen client that wants big things hanging around her shoulders, she’s the one to go to.” But Montgomery points out that “only one time has that not worked out for her, which was her really kind of tacky graduation dress … Every other week she’s been extra, but in a way the judges have really liked.” And this season we have also seen the judges praise bold attempts while eliminating boring looks that lacked ambition. If there’s one thing you can say about Shabayeva’s designs, it’s that they’re ambitious.
As of this writing Shabayeva leads our predictions with 43/20 odds, followed by former front-runner Dmitry Sholokhov (29/10 odds) and Anthony Ryan Auld (39/10 odds). Do you agree with our forecasts?
Be sure to make your predictions so that the contestants can see how they’re faring in our racetrack odds. You can keep changing your predictions until just before the next episode airs every Wednesday on Lifetime. You’ll compete to win a spot on our leaderboard and eternal bragging rights. See our contest rules and sound off with other fans in our reality TV forum. Read more Gold Derby entertainment news.
