by Lindsay Strouse

We saw a total of 5 designers go home last week on Project Runway—who’s going to make the cut this week? Pun intended. After seeing the previews for tonight’s episode, it looks like it’s shaping up to be quite the shocker.

The remaining 15 designers head over to meet Heidi and learn what their next challenge will be. They are told to meet Tim Gunn at an East Village pet store where they will use the items inside to create a completely unique, unconventional look. Live animals are OFF-LIMITS.

Tim warns the contestants to steer clear of buying an overabundance of fabric, but since Bert has immunity for the week, he heads right for the doggie beds and pet clothes. It doesn’t exactly seem like he’s here to test his creative genius. Everyone else buys supplies from leashes to squeeze toys to neck cones. Julie even buys a bag of dog food to masquerade as some type of studding.

The designers are allowed to use muslin as a base for their construction, but are encouraged to think as much out of the box as possible. Even in the early stages of the design process, I predict we’ll be seeing some very…interesting…looks coming down the runway tonight.

With 6 hours remaining, many of the contestants begin feeling the weight of the competition. It can be difficult working with materials such as “wee-wee pads” and plastic dog cones, for they don’t always cooperate in the same way conventional fabrics might.

When Tim enters the workroom, he compliments Olivier’s execution with doggie bed fabric and Josh’s night and day transformation of the “wee-wee” pad. However, he must remind Viktor of the pressing time limits and is worried about how far behind he is than the other designers.

I think the entire room is frightened to see how Laura’s dog cone skirt is going to come out. There’s no doubt she is taking a risk, so here’s to hoping she reaps the benefits. Tim leaves the room feeling hugely excited about the work he has seen thus far.

By 7:00pm, the models enter for their fittings. There are definitely a few issues (especially with Laura’s super-short plastic cone skirt) and the tension continues to build as the time continues to diminish. Some of the designers farthest behind at this point are Bryce, Anthony and Viktor, and it is uncertain whether they will be able to finish on time.

But the show must go on…even if it’s starting to look like a circus show. On the day of the show, people start frantically gluing birdseed, ripping apart bedding and throwing dog food to the sky. With only 10 minutes left, the models head over to the hair and makeup studio. Olivier takes things into his own couture hands by sticking pieces of wooden-like chips to his models eyebrows.

After making all final last-minute touches, the designers and their models head down to the runway. Time to unleash some fashion madness.

I’m pleasantly surprised to see how luxurious Anthony’s dress of birdseed turned out and am once again blown away by Anya’s innovation and creativity. Another surprise of the evening comes from the elegant simplicity of Anthony’s wee-wee pad dress. Becky’s colorful feathered dress reminded too much of some kind of crazy Spanish Flamenco dancer and Joshua McKinley’s last-minute dress had a wow-factor I was not expecting to see.

After all the models head down the runway, the judges pick Anthony, Olivier, Bryce, Josh M., Josh C. and Fallene for the Top 3 and Bottom 3 scores.

Bryce explains his blue look consisting of a bodice made of hamster bedding and a poofy wee-wee pad, napkin skirt. The judges name Bryce as the worst look of the night and immediately critique his choice of skirt styling because of its past failures on the show.

Heidi really liked Anthony’s garment created 100% out of seed and Michael Kors thinks his model could walk right into a high-class party and look just as chic as anyone else there. Another judge favorite is Olivier’s editorial looking garment of doggie bedding complete with an ombre skirt.

Josh C. lands himself in the bottom again by choosing conventional materials and conventional cuts. The judges love Josh M.’s colorfully patterned crop top created entirely of aquarium rocks. The entire look is dramatic and fabulous (minus the drag queen make-up).

The judges think Fallene created too simple of a silhouette and Nina states the color choices reminds her way too much of Halloween or an Autumn festival.

After much heated deliberation, the judges finally reach a consensus. Olivier is named the winner of this week’s challenge and is given immunity for next week. After sending Anthony, Bryce and Josh M. to safety, it’s between Fallene and Josh C. But it can only be one, and the designer leaving us this week is Josh.

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

(Image courtesy of Lifetime)

Follow Lindsay on Twitter @LindsayStrouse