Before we talk about each theory more specifically, let's recall what has been done in the past. Every season has been a bit different.
Season 1 had four show at fashion week with one half-budget decoy collection (Austin Scarlett) that was easy to pick out from the photos. Season 2 had four show with one full budget decoy collection (Kara Janx) that everyone thought was the winner. Season 3 had a final four show with no decoys. Season 4 had five shows at Bryant Park with two decoys (Sweet P and Chris March).
Team BPR has always disliked the decoy collection concept. If you are going to have all of these designers go through the time and trouble of designing and construction a twelve look collection, let them all count! Stepping down from the soap box for a moment, let's look more closely at the possibilities:
The Major Mass Chaos Theory: Assuming we chug along eliminating one designer per episode, there will be seven designers remaining when the finale is filmed at Bryant Park on Friday, September 12. That would mean there will be four (!) decoy collections. This makes sense as far as the schedule goes, but from a practical standpoint seems highly unlikely. Here's The Scarlett's take:
"That would mean 84 looks, 84 models and enough dressers and hairstylists and makeup artists to do that many looks. We heard that in February with 5 designers (60 looks/models) that is was extremely crowded backstage. Add 40% more of everything and you have a hot mess."
Space, time and budget would seem to be a big prohibiting factor to this theory.
The Minor Mass Chaos Theory: This assumes a single elimination in Episode 8 and a double elimination in Episode 9. This is plausible considering that Episode 9 is being billed as a team challenge and there would be an even number of designers left at that point. A two designer team elimination would leave six left to show at Bryant Park with three decoy collections.
The same time, budget and space limitations would apply to this scenario as well but with 72 looks to manage instead of 84.
The Bravo Doesn't Care Theory: This one continues to gain momentum amongst the Runway conspiracy crowd. Under this scenario, the final three or four show at Bryant Park with no decoys, essentially spoiling the eliminations in Episodes 10-12.
Those in support point to the fact that Bravo has already released the episode titles, guest judges and challenge descriptions for the entire season, ruining the speculating fun and surprise factors that many fans have enjoyed in previous seasons. With the impending switch to the Lifetime Network, they are abandoning the franchise as it ends its run on Bravo.
But why would they start now? Why would we not have known the winners and losers in advance of every episode this season?
The surprise "elimination reveal" is the probably the single most critical hook for any reality television program. Its what keeps viewers watching to the end of every episode week after week. Spoiling future eliminations would only hurt ratings and its important for Bravo to maintain their relationships with the current sponsors, all of whom they will want to help fund and develop future programming. It seems like it would be a bad business decision to sink the ship this early.
There are, of course, many other possibilities to consider as Season 5 winds down that could make these theories moot. There could be a Final 4, 5, 6 or 7. There could be a mass elimination or another double elimination on one of the remaining episodes. Or there could be some other new twist we haven't seen before to surprise us. But from now until September 12, we are left to guess.
What do you think? Click here to comment.
