Tim Gunn says he 'wasn't asked back' to “Project Runway”, which made him feel 'kind of humiliated'

Tim Gunn isn't going to be able to "make it work" on the next season of Project Runway.

In an interview with PEOPLE, Gunn confirmed he will not be returning alongside Heidi Klum for the new episodes and bluntly explained why.

To recap, the two both hosted Project Runway from its inception in 2004 through 2017, and then moved together to the Amazon Prime Video series Making the Cut. During their absence, Project Runway was hosted by Karlie Kloss and Christian Siriano. In January, Entertainment Weekly confirmed that Klum was coming back to the fashion reality TV series after an eight-year absence, but Gunn's fate was unclear at the time.

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According to the fashion guru, several months ago, Klum texted him about the possibility of returning. "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, told PEOPLE.

Gunn claimed that several months and many text messages later, Klum followed up to ask if he was happy with his contract, at which point he told her he had not seen one, much to Klum's surprise.

"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,'" Gunn recalled. "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."

Related: Project Runway cast: Where are they now?

Gunn explained that several weeks after that conversation, the execs offered him "a small cameo in one episode." His reaction? "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?" he joked. "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."

The TV personality admitted that he was "initially devastated, then kind of humiliated," but has since had a change of heart about the situation.

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"I thought, how lucky am I to have had the experiences that I've had over the last 20 years?" he said. "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, Gunn claimed she was "really upset" when she found out, and promised to fight for him. But he told her not to worry about him, and that he'd be rooting for her from afar. Said Gunn, "I have her back and I'm with her in spirit always."

Project Runway originally aired on Bravo before moving to Lifetime from 2009-2017. After Klum and Gunn departed, the show moved back to Bravo from 2019-2023. New episodes will air on Freeform and stream on Hulu and Disney+.

Reps for Freeform declined to comment on Gunn's remarks.

Read the original article on Entertainment Weekly