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'Project Runway': Octavio dubbed 'jerk' for blaming Katie for their poor designs

'Octavio it’s the audacity for me I mean Katie has been struggling, but to throw her way under the bus like that is crazy #ProjectRunway,' wrote a fan

As the difficulty level of the challenges is steadily increasing every week, the designers on 'Project Runway' are going all out to secure their spot in the competition and avoid getting eliminated. The recently aired episode of the hit Bravo show featured guest clients- Tara Lipinski and Johnny Weir. Tara and Johnny enlisted the help of the talented designers to help them put together an outfit for them to wear live when commentating during the 2022 Winter Olympics.  They advised the designers to focus on the design above the waistline as only that portion would be visibly on the television. They made the challenge a bit more interesting by declaring that it would be a one-day challenge and splitting the designers into groups of two. 

As luck would have it, Katie Kortman found herself paired with Octavio Aguilar. After escaping the elimination by the skin of her teeth in the previous challenge, Katie's self-confidence was at an all-time low. In sharp contrast to Katie, Octavio has consistently been amongst the top-performing designers on the show. So, Katie felt that the best strategy for her to navigate the challenge would be to just obey whatever Octavio suggested. Octavio too felt that he should push Katie to give her best for the challenge. 

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Although the duo was to work as a team and put together color-coordinated outfits that complement each others' designs, Octavio and Katie failed miserably. Despite colors and collars being her strength, Katie had to downplay her ideas and thoughts to please Octavio and his vision. On the other hand, Octavio went all out with designing an extremely voluminous jacket for Johnny despite being instructed not to design anything voluminous. He further got Katie to make her outfit relatively simple and plain so that it would complement his design. 

Even though Octavio was extremely proud of his design, unfortunately, the judges weren't impressed with it. When they revealed that Katie and his design scored the lowest in the challenge, he immediately went into defensive mode and began blaming Katie for it. He pointed out how Katie was struggling to keep up in the competition and that he was just trying to help and guide her through it. The judges thankfully stopped him from blaming Katie and questioned the design of his jacket. 

After watching the show, fans too were annoyed with Octavio for blaming Katie and calling him out for throwing her under the bus. A fan tweeted, "Octavio……it’s the audacity for me I mean Katie has been struggling, but to throw her way under the bus like that is crazy #ProjectRunway." Another fan wrote, "Why is Katie hugging Octavio who wanted her design to be smaller & smaller and then tried to throw her under the bus during judging? What a jerk he is. #ProjectRunway #bravotv." "Dang! Octavio threw Katie under the bus...saying how she's been on the bottom a lot. Katie...stand up for yourself! He ain't better than you just cuz his voice is deeper when he speaks. #ProjectRunway," seconded a fan.

Another fan pointed out, "Octavio stayed making Katie change her look when his is the one that need to go straight in the trash! Hate that for her #ProjectRunway." "Why is Octavio blaming Katie?? His design is horrible #ProjectRunway," declared a fan. Another fan added, "What the heck was Octavio thinking, he was so busy sweating Katie’s hot mess his was too much chile. #ProjectRunway."

'Project Runway' Season 19 airs every Thursday at 9/8c on Bravo.