’Project Runway’ Season 22 Episode 2 Live Recap: Who Was Eliminated?

The fan-favorite fashion competition is back, and this week, multiple designers were sent home.

Heidi Klum | Heidi Gutman/Disney via Getty Images

Hi there, fashion-forward friends—it’s time for another episode of Project Runway!

Hosted by prolific model Heidi Klum, the fan-favorite fashion competition returned for its 22nd season last week. Tonight marked the second episode of the season, titled “Ready, Set, Redemption,” with even more style-centric drama promised than in the premiere. Judges Nina Garcia, Law Roach and Tyra Banks were once again on the panel, lending their expertise to the designers as they tackled yet another challenge.

Didn’t have time to catch the this week’s episode live? That’s okay! We’re here to recap everything you might’ve missed.

What happened on the premiere of Project Runway?

First, just in case you missed the season premiere, allow us to catch you up!

The season started with a two-episode arc, with the first part airing on Thursday, July 9. There, viewers were introduced to all 22 contestants in the competition—the most the competition has had in a single season—fighting for the top prize. As noted by Klum, the winner of Season 22 will take home $200,000, a spread in Elle magazine, a mentorship with the Council of Fashion Designers of America and professional representation to launch their brand.

The premiere episode challenge was “Your Best Look,” in which the designers were asked to bring along an ensemble they felt best represented their overall work. From there, they showed off their creations on the runway for Klum, Garcia, Roach and Banks, who ultimately chose six designers to be awarded immunity and six designers to be sent home.

Bryan Barrientos, Chloe Magleby, Elizabeth Shevelev, Jude Mikulencak, Bobby Diakonenkova and Andriy Volkov cemented their spots as the six winners for the premiere, receiving immunity in the next round. Meanwhile, Jennifer Daniels, Andrea Moore and LRÉ the Artist were the first designers sent home before the episode ended on a dramatic cliffhanger, leaving the fates of Jeffrey Kelly Abess, Plane Jane, Robby Crone and R’Bonney Nola in fashion limbo.

To catch up on absolutely everything you might’ve missed, check out our full live recap of the Project Runway Season 22 premiere here!

Who was eliminated to start Episode 2?

To start tonight’s episode—the second of the two-episode premiere arc—fans finally learned the judges’ final decision regarding the cliffhanger from the premiere.

As promised, one designer from the aforementioned group was safe while the other three were sent home. Abess was the designer selected to stay, while Plane Jane, Crone and Nola were eliminated.

What was this week’s challenge?

The multiple eliminations meant only 16 designers remained in the competition.

For the second challenge, the contestants were tasked with crafting what Klum called a “Redemption Look,” asking them to show the judges “personal style under pressure and on a budget,” giving them $500 and one day to create a new piece. Season 4 winner and celeb-favorite designer Christian Siriano was back to mentor the contestants, giving them his tips and tricks to create the best possible styles.

Siriano complimented several designers on their techniques but worried about others who were taking too long to finish. He particularly enjoyed Bi Pham’s pintuck, and—after the designer revealed he did them in “like 10 minutes”—Siriano even joked that Pham should quit the competition to work for him instead. However, shortly after this, Pham and Bryan Barrientos had a tiff when the latter referred to the former as an “intern,” which Pham felt downplayed his skills.

Siriano then called all the designers into a group, specifically addressing those with immunity. During the conversation, he revealed that the six eliminated designers from the last episode would return to be part of a jury to decide which designer they’d “save” during the elimination. Thus, one of the five designers eliminated at the end of the episode would get a second chance, and 12 fellow designers (six with immunity and six who’ve already been eliminated) would decide who.

Shortly after this announcement, judging began. This week, the panel saw the return of Roach and Banks, with recording artist Ice Spice as the guest judge. Once all the Redemption Looks had their turn on the runway, the panel deliberated and shared their candid feedback.

Who won the challenge?

The top three looks: Abess, Anna Molinari and Joseph McRae took the top honors for the episode.

Banks said McRae’s piece reminded her of Paris Fashion Week, while Ice Spice said she could see herself wearing Abess’s design. Roach was especially taken by Molinari’s piece, stating the gown was “giving luxury.” Ultimately, McRae was the winner of the challenge, giving him immunity for next week. The panel then dismissed the top three designers, as well as the six who earned immunity from last week, leaving seven vulnerable to the five-person elimination.

Who was eliminated?

Leaving the competition: Pham, Octavius Terry, Dani Bennett, Bao Tranchi and Yangyang Xu.

This meant that Naheim Muhammad and Aaron Potts were the two designers who made it through for another week. The show then ended on another cliffhanger, with Siriano reminding the eliminated designers they still had a chance to be saved from being sent home and giving the 12-person jury five minutes to decide which of the five contestants would receive a second chance next week.

When is the next episode of Project Runway?

The next episode of Project Runway airs on Freeform on Thursday, July 23, at 10 p.m. ET. Episodes are available to stream on Hulu and Disney+ the following day.

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