Project Runway: Mmm...candy...

Man, has it only been a couple weeks since the last Project Runway? It feels like forever! This addiction is clearly getting out of control. And geez, it's already the sixth challenge? I actually expected to hate this challenge, since I prefer the ones that result in more practical (and less sponsor-related) clothing. But I actually ended up loving the results--maybe it's the Pop Art-lover in me. Aaaanyways, let's get cracking, shall we?

The morning after they re-scramble the model pairings, Tim wakes the contestants at 6 AM. Of course, he's Tim Gunn, so he looks as fresh as a dewdrop on the wing of a woodland fairy. Not so fresh? Kit, who is totally traumatized by greeting him in her pajamas. Fair enough, Kit. Tim radiates perfection so strongly that anyone adjacent to his glow would pale in comparison. Especially if they were in their pajamas.

Mysterious field trip time! Destination: The Hershey's Store, in Times Square. Elisa is excited, because "it's chocolate, and how could you not want to make things with that sort of, like, magic magic magic?" Elisa, clearly, is related to Willy Wonka. Christian is more on my end of the spectrum, all, "greeeat, we get to make shit out of candy." Cue five-minute shopping frenzy. Basically, they loot the store like, um, kids in a candy shop. (Sorry, had to.) Luckily, the store contains plenty of non-edibles such as pillows, which Chris in particular takes advantage of. Because yeah, man. You can't make an outfit out of nothing but candy. Just ask Wendy.

They've only got a day to "make it work," so everyone gets to work pretty quickly. Jillian is the only one relying mainly on real food (Twizzlers, ew), which is proving to be a bigger challenge than she anticipated. DUH. We get a combo sympathy story from Elisa, as a story about her daughter fades in to a gruesome story about Elisa getting hit by a car. This makes me suspect that Elisa will either win or be eliminated this week.

Christian, having finished his design early, chooses to go around offering unwanted advice to the other designers. They tolerate it impressively well in person, but he gets at least one, maybe two death threats in interviews. Man, that dude is pretty obnoxious. And has a huge ego. And I kind of love him. Shut up.

Tim visits, and singles Victorya, Elisa, and Sweet P (who is starting her design over) out as people in need of some serious editing. Jillian is way behind on time, since her Twizzler design required some major busy work. And is basically falling apart. Rami's design, on the other hand, looks freaking awesome (though it IS hard to tell that the skirt is made from candy wrappers, rather than condom wrappers).

The morning of the runway show, Jillian is freaking out, and her model is helping her to sew the Twizzlers on. In interviews, Christian and Chris are both kind of trashing other people's dresses, but while Christian is a bitchy queen (calling Elisa's dress a "hot mess," which, true), Chris manages to sound almost mournful when he says that he'd be surprised if Sweet P weren't in trouble. (Which, also true.)

Runway time! Heidi informs us that Hershey's will be auctioning off each look to benefit young women with breast cancer. Acclaimed cutie Zac Posen is the guest judge. Ricky's dress kind of resembles the outfit my astronaut Barbie had, but with a Hershey's theme. I guess that's what you're gonna get when one of the main colors you have to work with is silver. Chris's dress is simple, mod, and chic--pretty much the polar opposite of the costumey disaster I'm sure everyone was expecting of him. Go, Chris! Kit's dress is just as fabulous as everything else Kit has ever made, and I am officially declaring her my favorite designer.

Elisa's dress looks like crap, if you took crap and tacked on two puffy silver sleeve things. She wanted it to be "macabre, disturbing, and Gretel-like," though, so I guess...this is what you get with that kind of bizarre concept? Man, when Elisa misses, she reeeally misses. Kevin's doesn't even look like it's made out of candy-themed items, which was his goal (elegance), but is sort of drab compared to all the fun stuff on the runway. Still, very well-made.

Christian's is a bit disappointing, honestly, but definitely still not one of the worst ones. It just kind of looks like he took a nice dress and glued brown peanut butter cup wrappers all over it. Which is exactly what he did, so...mission accomplished? Sweet P's dress was a lot better than I was expecting, given the lead-up, but may be a bit too simple for the judges. Rami's is all kinds of awesome, like I said, and really embraced the challenge.

Jillian's risk-taking pays off, and her model looks fantastic in her Twizzler outfit. Nothing falls off, and it actually seems almost wearable. (But NOT delicious, Twizzlers.) Victorya's dress...well...I really feel like I can't even judge her looks, because our styles are so clearly different. It's all ruffly and princessy and UGH, and she has her model walk with this awkward, static pose. Awful, if you ask me, but the judges have liked her work so far, so who knows?

Ricky, Christian, Kit, and Kevin are safe. (Kit is SO the dark horse in this competition--mark my words. Either that, or the next tragic Alison-like elimination.) Rami gets mad praise from Zac Posen, and Michael Kors points out how well-made the dress is, and that Rami really got the spirit of the challenge. Elisa...uses a totally different explanation for her dress. So okay, first it was for her daughter, then it was macabre Gretel, and now it's a "beautiful, sexy, amazing dress that looks like candy but doesn't use candy"? What the hell? Heidi and Michael call her out on the lack of fun and joy, and Zac points out that it's in the deadly zone between wearable and fabulous.

Jillian gets praise all around, and deservedly so--that was sooome risk, and it ended up looking amazing. Victorya, finally, gets a bad review! The judges again say that it's not wearable and yet not fabulous, call it "Dairy Queen" (HA!), and criticize her model's weird walk. Chris gets criticized a little by Zac for not going far enough, but Michael says that coming from Chris, his design was a really smart editing choice, and Nina also loves it. The judges don't like how boring Sweet P's dress is, and say that it's too simple. Aww. But man, there's no way Elisa doesn't get eliminated here.

In solo deliberation, Chris gets praise for the taste level and sophistication, Rami gets props for how well-made AND how fun his garment was, and Jillian gets singled out for having an edible garment that was really well-done. Elisa gets criticized for having such a boring dress when she claims to have an avant garde aesthetic, and Victorya and Sweet P both get slammed for using such boring material to start with, and lack of imagination in the final design, in Sweet P's case.

Chris is in, Rami is the winner (of course), and Jillian is also in, as is Victorya (boo, but fair). Elisa and Sweet P basically both get criticized for being boring, but Sweet P makes the cut, and Elisa is out. SO fair. That dress was all kinds of awful. Goodbye, Elisa. When I saw your bio, I thought that it was almost unfair you were on the show, since you had so much experience. But that was before I realized that you're rather crazy. And maybe an alien, or a cult member. Best of luck in the future!