Tim Gunn ‘Wasn’t Asked Back’ to Project Runway with Heidi Klum: ‘I Was Initially Devastated’ (Exclusive)
Tim Gunn hosted 16 seasons of the fashion reality TV show, and he tells PEOPLE exclusively that he’s not returning
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Tim Gunn is setting the record straight on whether or not he’ll be appearing on the upcoming season of Project Runway.
In an exclusive interview with PEOPLE, Gunn revealed that several months ago, his longtime co-host, Heidi Klum, texted him about the possibility of returning for the reality TV show, which he hosted for 16 seasons before leaving in 2018 to create a new fashion competition show on Amazon Video called Making the Cut.
“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,'” Gunn, 71, tells PEOPLE exclusively.
“So Heidi and I were texting and texting, and several months later, she sent me a text asking, ‘Are you happy with your contract?’ I’m a truth-teller. I don’t even mince words. I said, ‘Well, I haven’t seen a contract,'” he adds. “And she said, ‘You haven’t?’ No. 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.”
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Gunn continues, “So I wasn’t asked back. 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.”
Upon hearing the news, Gunn says that he was “initially devastated, then kind of humiliated.” But quickly, he changed his perspective on the situation.
“I thought, how lucky am I to have had the experiences that I’ve had over the last 20 years?” he says. “This is phenomenal. I stopped the boo-hooing. I thought, it’s really throwing hubris in the face of an angry God to mourn not being on this new show. So I’ve come to terms with it. Am I disappointed? Sure. And most of all, it’s about not working with Heidi, but we move on and things happen for a reason. I don’t know what the reason is yet, but it will be revealed.”
As for Klum, when Gunn shared the news with her he says she was also devastated. “She was really upset and she kept saying, ‘I’m fighting for you, I’m fighting for you,'” he adds. “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 adds that he plans to watch the show to cheer on his former cohost. “I have her back and I’m with her in spirit always,” he says.
Disney had no comment.
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Back in January, PEOPLE confirmed that Klum would be returning to Project Runway after also stepping away from the hit franchise in 2018.
Klum, 51, originally hosted the show from 2004 to 2017 (the season 16 finale airing November 2017 was her last) and won the 2013 Emmy Award for her role, which she shared with Gunn. She was nominated nine times during her tenure with Project Runway, with the reality competition program earning dozens of nominations overall.
Season 21 of Project Runway will feature 10 episodes aired weekly, but the judges and premiere date have not yet been announced.
When Klum and Gunn left Project Runway to lead Making the Cut on Amazon Prime Video, Karlie Kloss took over hosting duties for the next two seasons, with Christian Siriano serving as mentor. For Seasons 19 and 20, Siriano took over for Kloss, pulling double duty as host and mentor.
Project Runway, which originally launched on Bravo, before moving to Lifetime and then back to Bravo, will now see its home on Freeform, Disney+ and Hulu.
