by Lindsay Strouse

It's down to the final five on Project Runway, and there's a surprise in store. The contestants meet Heidi on the runway where she tells the designers they are being sent to the most "spectacular place in the city." Hm, there has to be a catch, right?

The designers are sent to a beautiful presidential suite where they finally share the champagne toast they have been waiting for all season and start to bond as a group.

The next morning, the designers meet mayor or New York City, Mayor Bloomberg. He tells the designers to create a design inspired from any New York landmark. They are given the biggest budget of the season, a whopping $500! This is definitely an opportunity to create some really amazing looks.

Michael C. chooses the Statue of Liberty, April and Mondo are inspired by the Brooklyn Bridge, Andy is drawn to Central Park and Gretchen decides to go to the Lower East Side to find her inspiration.

After getting their fabrics from Mood for the last time, the designers head back to Parsons where Tim reminds them at least one of them is going home the next day. Everyone knows it is time to step up their game, now it's time to see what they turn out.

Mondo decides to take a nap but ends up falling asleep for almost three hours. I hope it was a pretty refreshing nap to make up for the time he lost. He isn't the only one exhausted, though. The exhaustion racking up in the remainder of contestants is bringing them to the brink of insanity!

Tim comes into the workroom to check in and see how each of the designers are doing. He approves of the direction both Mondo and April are going in with the Brooklyn Bridge, but is worried that Michael C. isn't being as ambitious. Both the designers and Tim see the exhaustion in Gretchen and her design.

During the model fittings, Tim brings in Peter Butler, Garnier stylist, to help the designers "wow" the judges with their styling and accessories. There have been a lot of critiques recently in that aspect, so hopefully this will help them out.

The next day, the designers are feeling bittersweet emotions about their last day in the workroom. There is happiness in the reminder that the exhaustion is almost over, but there is still a lot of work to do with fitting and styling.

After last minute touch-ups, the designers head down to the runway for the last time before Fashion Week. This week's guest judge is Project Runway's season 4 winner, Christian Siriano. It'll be nice hearing critiques from someone who knows where these designers are coming from.

The judges (minus Heidi) once again love Mondo's design. Even though he didn't use any color this week, his use of textures and white and black fabrics are incredible. Andy's design also gets great compliments-he created a "wet" look and made the perfect little black dress.

For the first time, the judges are completely confused and unappreciative of Gretchen's design. She breaks down and admits she lost some of her steam in the process of doing all the challenges.

The judges finally point out that April has been doing a different version of the same design for the entire season and that there has never once been any joy in it. The judges are doubtful she is able to do anything other than the same aesthetic she has been doing every week.

I can see the disdain in all the designers' faces when the judges give Michael C. a slew of compliments. But hey, he made a great dress and deserved the compliments.

Each designer was asked who they thought should accompany them to fashion week and obviously, Mondo and Andy were the top choices. I was surprised yet pleased when Mondo included Michael in his choice.

After the judges debate for quite some time, they decide who will stay and who will go. The designers continuing on are Michael C., Mondo, Andy and Gretchen! The four designers give a tearful goodbye to April.

Project Runway airs every Thursday at 9/8c on Lifetime.

(Image courtesy of Lifetime)

Follow Lindsay at twitter.com/LindsayStrouse